Oklahoma Football’s Returning Production, By the Numbers

NORMAN — Oklahoma played its best season of the name-image-likeness era in 2025.

The Sooners finished 10-3 and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019. They rattled off four wins in a row — against Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and LSU — to end the regular season and punch their ticket to the CFP.

OU will have many of its key players from that team back in 2026. And coach Brent Venables is confident that his squad can go even further.

“A lot of excitement, enthusiasm, momentum, kind of coming off of last year and seven plus weeks of training our players, building the team, and certainly that's an ongoing process,” Venables said. “A lot to be excited about.”

At his spring football media day press conference, Venables shared several statistics about the 2026 team’s returning production.

Here are some of the notable numbers:

Offense

Oklahoma Sooners, John Mateer — Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer celebrates after a touchdown run against Alabama in the CFP. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Oklahoma’s offense will have 20 returners.

While that number doesn’t seem particularly high, it’s worth noting that the Sooners signed multiple wide receivers, tight ends, running backs and offensive linemen from the transfer portal. Plus, seven of those 20 returners were starters in 2025.

OU will have 90 percent of its rushing yards back in 2026. Tory Blaylock and Xavier Robinson combined for 901 yards last year, and those two will likely get the majority of the snaps in the backfield, along with true freshmen Jonathan Hatton Jr. and DeZephen Walker.

And, of course, John Mateer will be back behind center for Oklahoma. Mateer’s 2,885 passing yards accounted for 95 percent of OU’s team passing yards last year.

Backup Michael Hawkins Jr. started the Kent State game and played in the fourth quarter against Temple and finished the year with 167 yards. He transferred to West Virginia after the 2025 season.

Oklahoma also has 104 returning starts from offensive linemen Heath Ozaeta, Jake Maikkula, Ryan Fodje, Michael Fasusi and Eddy Pierre-Louis, according to Venables. That number doesn’t include transfer tackle E’Marion Harris, who played 1,694 snaps for Arkansas over the last three seasons.

Wide receiver and tight end are the positions returning the least.

Isaiah Sategna led OU with 965 yards and eight touchdowns last year, and he’ll be back in 2026. Deion Burks and Jaren Kanak had the most yards after Sategna, and both of them are out of eligibility. The Sooners will call on transfers Parker Livingstone and Trell Harris, as well as returner Jer’Michael Carter, to make up for those departures.

“The challenge on the offensive side, take the bottom of both sides of the ball and how quickly can we raise that floor?” Venables said. “That’s going to be what defines this football team.”

Defense

Oklahoma Sooners, Taylor Wein — Oklahoma defensive end Taylor Wein logs a sack against Alabama in the CFP. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Oklahoma’s stout defense paved the way for its CFP trip in 2025.

The Sooners will be without stars R Mason Thomas, Gracen Halton, Kendal Daniels and Damonic Williams in 2026, as all four of them are headed to the professional ranks. But OU will have plenty of proven players on the defensive side.

Venables said that the players who combined for 52% of Oklahoma’s 45 sacks will return.

Defensive end Taylor Wein, who opted to play one more season in Norman instead of declaring for the NFL Draft, led OU with seven sacks in 2025. Thomas was close behind at 6.5, but a handful of others with multiple sacks last year — like Jayden Jackson, Danny Okoye and Adepoju Adebawore — will all be back.

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Those four returners were also integral in helping OU record 122 tackles for loss. Venables revealed that OU’s returning defensive players made up 45 percent of the team’s tackles for loss a year ago.

Oklahoma’s secondary will look even more familiar.

The Sooners’ returning defensive backs logged 60 percent of the pass breakups in 2025. Safety Peyton Bowen and cornerback Courtland Guillory tied for a team-high seven pass breakups in 2025.

OU notched nine interceptions a year ago, and seven of those came from players who will be back in 2026. Peyton Bowen, Eli Bowen and Jacobe Johnson each logged two picks in 2025.

Special teams

Oklahoma Sooners, Tate Sandell — Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell prepares for an attempt against LSU. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

OU’s special teams unit is almost entirely the same.

Kicker Tate Sandell, who won the Lou Groza Award in 2025, is back after making 24 of his 27 field-goal attempts during his first season at OU. Austin Welch is the only other Sooner who attempted a field goal last year (missed attempt against Temple), and he is out of eligibility.

All-SEC First Team punter Grayson Miller is also back, and he booted 59 of OU’s 63 punts in 2025. Backup Jacob Ulrich and Mateer combined for the other four punts, and both of them returned to Norman after the season.

Sategna accounted for all 24 of OU’s punt returns a year ago, and he’ll presumably hold down that spot again in 2026.

The Sooners only returned two kickoffs for 16 yards in 2025. Peyton Bowen returned one for 15 yards, while running back Jaydn Ott returned a kick for one yard. Ott is out of eligibility after spending his final college season at Oklahoma.