Brent Venables’s inaugural year at Oklahoma was filled with ups and downs. Coming off of an 11 win season, many fans, myself included, expected this to be a ten win team at minimum. However, things didn’t quite work out that way this year.
After finishing the regular season at 6-6, Sooner fans are upset, and deservedly so. If they lose to Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl, OU will finish with a losing record for the first time since 1998. Oklahoma definitely had some standout players this year, but at the same time, they also had several that did not live up to expectations. Without further adieu, here are five studs, as well as five duds from Oklahoma’s 2022 season.
Five Studs from Oklahoma’s 2022 Season
Number One: Eric Gray
We’ll start off with the good, since we could all use a bit of positivity right now. Amidst the chaos of the off-season, Oklahoma was able to retain some playmakers to will them to victory in some of the closer games of the year, the first of these being Senior halfback Eric Gray. Gray transferred to Oklahoma from Tennessee in 2021, and in his one year under Lincoln Riley, he performed far below expectations. However, this year in an entirely new system, he finally found his step.
He rushed for over 1300 yards, as well as 11 touchdowns. Averaging 6.7 yards per carry, Gray couldn’t be stopped. After a bit of a slow start, the All Big-12 rusher racked up over 100 yards on the ground in four of his last five games. Suffice to say, Gray did his job, and he did it well.
Number Two: Anton Harrison
Anton Harrison was not only one of the best players on the team, but one of the best in all of college football. After a Junior season in which he only allowed one sack, many experts have him being taken in the first round of the NFL Draft come April. NFL Draft Bible’s Jack Borowsky even has Harrison listed as the number one OT prospect in the entire draft class, and he explains why in this article.
Harrison was an anchor on an offensive line unit that, all in all, was pretty solid outside of the LG position. He made a ton of space in the run game, and provided QB Dillon Gabriel a clean pocket to throw from. Harrison earned first team All Big-12 honors in a year in which the Big-12 was loaded with talent up front. He has already announced that he will be declaring for the NFL Draft after a season to remember for Oklahoma.
Number Three: Brayden Willis
After years of being buried on the depth chart behind the likes of Jeremiah Hall and Austin Stogner, Brayden Willis was finally able to have the breakout year that everyone was waiting for. Willis excelled not only as a pass catcher, but as a blocker as well. He was a key piece in the run game this season, and made blocks that allowed chunk plays on the ground. Although his receiving stats aren’t exactly eye-popping, he still played a pivotal role in the receiving game. His catches seemed to come when Oklahoma needed them the most.
Willis was yet another Sooner to earn All Big-12 honors in 2022, sharing a spot on the second team with Kansas TE Mason Fairchild. He likely earned himself some money with his play this season, going from undrafted, to likely being taken in the sixth or seventh round. Willis is certainly one of the more underrated TE prospects of this draft class, and I firmly believe that he will carve out a role for himself wherever he ends up at.
Number Four: Michael Turk
That’s right. In Oklahoma, we cheer for the punter. Michael Turk had an unbelievable impact on nearly every game for the Sooners in 2022. The first team All Big-12 punter averaged just under 47 yards a punt, and had a long of 67 yards. He consistently pinned the ball inside the 20-yard line, and set the defense up with good field position. Although it isn’t the most flashy position, Turk was easily one of the best players on the field for Oklahoma this season, and one of the best people off of it.
Number Five: Ethan Downs
The last spot was a close one between Downs, Danny Stutsman, and Billy Bowman. However, I feel as if Downs was ever so slightly above the other two, although, had he not been injured, Billy Bowman would absolutely be in this spot.
Ethan Downs had sky high expectations coming into this season, and although he didn’t quite have the season that I expected him to have, he still made a massive impact on the defense down the stretch. In my preseason predictions for who would have the biggest breakout year, I listed Ethan Downs at number one.
Downs had an extremely slow start to the season for the Sooners, however, once he began to get more familiar with Brent Venables’s defense, he really came alive. Similar to Brayden Willis, Downs didn’t exactly light up the stat sheet, but he still had a massive impact. It got to a point in which teams would essentially stop running the ball towards his side of the field because he was so disruptive. He earned All Big-12 honors this season, and has built some momentum to go into the off-season and 2023 with.
Five Duds from Oklahoma’s 2022 season
Number One: Davis Beville
Even though it was a small sample size for Beville this season, he was so incredibly awful that he comes in as the number one dud of the year. In his lone start against Texas, he went 6/12 for 38 yards and an interception, averaging just 3.2 yards per completion. In fact, the Oklahoma staff’s trust in Beville was so low, that for the majority of the Red River Shootout, they opted to run the Wildcat formation with a mix of Brayden Willis and Eric Gray at QB.
I don’t have much more to say about Beville other than that OU was lucky that Dillon Gabriel wasn’t hurt for more than two weeks. With the addition of five star QB Jackson Arnold in January, the Sooners should have a bit more depth going into 2023.
Number Two: David Ugwoegbu
You wouldn’t be able to tell by the stat sheet, but Ugwoegbu was definitely one of the biggest disappointments of the season for me. I didn’t expect him to light the world on fire, but he just wasn’t very good this season. For starters, he is out of position… a lot. When he was in position, he just didn’t have the speed necessary to close in and make the play in the backfield. I can’t tell you how many times where it looked like he had a for sure TFL, just for the ballcarrier to beat him to the sideline and get around him for a big gain.
To his credit, when he was able to get to the ballcarrier he typically made the tackle. In my opinion, he would fit much better as some type of EDGE rusher instead of a true middle linebacker. If he decides to come back for his final year of eligibility, perhaps he makes the switch. With the likes of Kobie McKenzie, Jaren Kanak, and Kip Lewis right behind him, I doubt he starts at middle linebacker again next year.
Number Three: McKade Mettauer
Although he wasn’t awful this year, McKade Mettauer definitely wasn’t great. A transfer from Cal, Mettauer was coming in as an All Pac-12 offensive lineman in 2021. However, that just wasn’t the case this year. He struggled with blocking assignments in pass protection, and would often let guys go in unblocked. In the run game, he didn’t get much push whatsoever. It almost seemed as if he was just trying to get in the way of the defender instead of pushing him around and making space.
There isn’t a whole lot more to say about Mettauer, other than the fact that I’m a little disappointed. I thought he was going to have a great year, but I was wrong. I’ll take my L on this one.
Number Four: Marcus Major
I’m going to preface this one with the fact that Major was injured for a good chunk of the year. That absolutely contributed to his drop off in production throughout the season. However, he still just wasn’t great this year. He started off the year pretty well, having rushed for four touchdowns through the first three weeks of the season. After that though, his production dropped off significantly. He ran for just 227 yards on the season, and did not score another touchdown after week three against Nebraska.
Marcus Major has definitely had a rocky career so far, and his time is running out. Whether it’s been injuries, academic issues, or just simply not getting touches, it hasn’t exactly panned out for the hometown hero. He still has a couple of years of eligibility left, so it’ll be interesting to see if things do end up panning out for him at Oklahoma, or if he decides to go elsewhere.
Number Five: Reggie Grimes II
Reggie Grimes, like Marcus Major, had a phenomenal start to the season. He racked up four sacks through the first two weeks of the season, and it seemed as if Grimes was primed for a historical season. However, his production saw a steep decline after week two, and he never quite recovered. He became almost a non-factor as the season progressed, and teams began to exploit that. He got pushed around in the run game at times, and after the first couple weeks of the season, he just wasn’t putting much pressure on the QB.
Grimes will have to have a great off-season this year if he wants to maintain his starting status. With the likes of R Mason Thomas and PJ Adebawore in the room next year, nothing will be guaranteed. We’ll see if another off-season with Jerry Schmidt will have him ready to play.
Oklahoma obviously had many struggles this season, but their biggest issue was the lack of a true X-Factor type of player on their team. If they had, say, a Caleb Williams or a Perrion Winfrey back on the team this year, Oklahoma could have easily went 9-3 or 10-2. However, it was the lack of ability to win those close games that got the Sooners to where they are today. They were 0-4 in one score games this year under Brent Venables. If they can iron out some issues over the off-season, there is no reason why Oklahoma should be anything less than a 9-10 win team next season.