Oklahoma is in Set at CB With Eli Bowen and Courtland Guillory Charging in 2026

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s season came to an abrupt halt last Friday, but the experience gained in 2025 forms a great foundation for the Sooners’ 2026 secondary.

Safety Robert Spears-Jennings is off to the NFL Draft after four productive years in Norman, but Peyton Bowen can return alongside a group of talented underclassmen ready to step up and shine for the last line of OU’s defense.

And Jay Valai has a pair of potential stars at cornerback.

Despite missing the first four games of the year due to injury, Eli Bowen stepped back into the lineup against Kent State and picked up where he left off in 2024.

The sophomore finished the year as Oklahoma’s fourth-highest graded member of the secondary in coverage per Pro Football Focus amongst defensive backs who played significant snaps this year.

He finished the year with a pair of interceptions, including a massive Pick-6 in the first meeting with Alabama, as well as a pair of other passes defended. Opposing receivers caught 20 passes on the 36 times Bowen was targeted for 221 yards and one score.

Oklahoma Sooners, Eli Bowen — Oklahoma defensive back Eli Bowen celebrates an incomplete pass against Missouri. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Five of those catches were allowed in the College Football Playoff rematch with Alabama, an area of Bowen’s game where he believes he can take a big step this offseason.

“It’s just not giving up big plays,” Eli Bowen said after the defeat. “… Or not letting the receivers get space. I thought I was doing that the rest of the season before this, but this game wasn’t our best game with that.”

Bowen’s corner counterpart, Courtland Guillory, was even better.

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Guillory earned Freshman All-American recognition for his year, and he finished the season ranked third in coverage for OU’s defensive backs.

In 13 games, he played 640 snaps on defense.

Guillory allowed 21 catches on 27 targets for 203 yards and one score, and he was credited with allowing zero receptions in the CFP loss to Alabama.

Oklahoma Sooners, Courtland Guillory — Oklahoma defensive back Courtland Guillory celebrates after a stop against Alabama in the CFP. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

“Man, I love Courtland,” Eli Bowen said. “He played with so much energy, so much passion. It’s just hard to not be contagious when you’re around a guy like that.

“He reminds me of Kip (Lewis) with the passion he plays with, so I have full trust in him, full faith in him and I know he’s going to be great.”

Eli Bowen and Guillory can be the Sooners’ top cornerback duo for two more seasons, as next year Bowen will be a junior and Guillory will be a sophomore, and they’ll take the lessons of 2025 into the spring to take further strides in 2026.

“We don’t have to play perfect to win every game, but we just got to play good enough as a unit to win every game,” Bowen said. “… We just gotta move forward and keep pushing forward and keep leaning on each other to make the plays when they come to us.

“… At the end of the day, we had a whole season of building and getting better and building into next season and into the playoffs, so I don’t think (the CFP loss) blurs our vision at all, but it’s just a little bump in the road.”