Who Will be the Breakout Star for Oklahoma in 2025?

The Sooners on SI staff picked their candidates for the Sooners' breakout star with the season kicking off next weekend.

Oklahoma defensive tackle Damonic Williams tackles Quinn Ewers. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

With the 2025 season under two weeks away, John Hoover, Ryan Chapman and Carson Field selected their picks for the Oklahoma player who will be the breakout star of this year’s make-or-break campaign. 

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE

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Hoover's pick: WR/KR Isaiah Sategna

Oklahoma receiver Isaiah Sategna works through a drill during fall camp. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

When there’s a new quarterback and a new offensive system, sometimes the leading receiver emerges during spring ball or training camp. From all indications, that has happened with Isaiah Sategna, the Sooners’ explosive possession receiver who transferred from Arkansas. After a productive spring was cut short by a mild hamstring injury, Sategna’s fall camp has put him in position to emerge as John Mateer’s go-to target as a fourth-year junior. He had 37 catches for nearly 500 yards for the Razorbacks last season, and has played 28 games as an SEC wideout. If it doesn’t happen at wideout, Sategna could revert to his 2023 form, when he led Arkansas in punt returns and kickoff returns.

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Read More Oklahoma Football

• Who Will Be the X-Factor for Oklahoma's Defense?
• Who Will Be the X-Factor for Oklahoma's Offense?
• Who Will Be Oklahoma's Best Newcomer in 2025?

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Chapman’s Pick: DT Damonic Williams

Oklahoma defensive tackle Damonic Williams hunts down the Tulane quarterback. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Damonic Williams was Oklahoma’s big transfer portal win a year ago, and he enjoyed a nice 2024 season. The former TCU Horned Frog totaled a career-high 35 tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss and one sack. But he wanted more from himself — especially as a pass rusher. If Williams can push the pocket from the interior alongside Gracen Halton, who finished second on the team to R Mason Thomas with five sacks, then opposing offensive lines will struggle to contain Oklahoma’s defensive line regardless of the production defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis gets opposite of Thomas. 

Field’s Pick: WR Zion Kearney

Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Zion Kearney celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the Armed Forces Bowl. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Wide receiver Zion Kearney appeared in all 13 of OU’s games as a true freshman in 2024 but wasn’t a regular option in the passing game — until the bowl game. In the Sooners’ Armed Forces Bowl loss to Navy, Kearney broke out with two catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. His score came on a 56-yard reception from Michael Hawkins Jr. Kearney is listed at 6-2 and 215 pounds. He was a consensus 4-star prospect out of high school and showed a flash of his potential in the bowl win. Kearney will have to compete against returning wideout Deion Burks and five transfers for playing time, but the receiver should have plenty of opportunities to make big plays in 2025 after his impressive bowl performance and an offseason where OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has seen “big strides in his game.”