From impossibly bad, to unthinkably worse is one way to describe the news coming out of Monday football practice in Norman.
Though the severity is not yet clear, and the absolute nature of the circumstances by which it occurred remains murky, Sooner defensive tackle David Stone has suffered “an apparent knee injury,” reported SoonerScoop’s George Stoia.
We can bicker about who might be the best player on the team, but Stone’s clearly in the running and now appears gone, creating a huge blow to the only side of the ball keeping Oklahoma in football games.
In fact, without him, the Sooners likely lose to New Mexico last Saturday.
Not good at all.
There is also this.
Stone or no Stone, a column was coming out today and wasn’t about the defense, but the offense, about which I’ve suddenly seen the light.
So let’s start here.
Ever heard of a guy named Daylan Smothers?
Well, he was a true freshman in 2023, receiving 11 carries, after which he transferred to North Carolina State, where in 2024 he rushed for 571 yards at 6.4 per carry and in 2025 for 939 yards at 5.9 per carry. He’s now at Texas, where he’s carried 41 times for 198 yards, including the Longhorns’ last two touchdowns against then No. 1 Ohio State two Saturdays ago.
Wait, it gets better.
Ever heard of Eugene Brooks or Cayden Green, a couple offensive linemen?
Green started five games at left guard during his 2023 true freshman season and Brooks, arriving a year later, played in only three games his true freshman season. Each transferred out after one year in crimson and cream.
Brooks is now at UCLA and Green at Missouri, where he was a first-team preseason SEC selection to enter the season. Green is a consensus pick to be gone by the middle of the second round in the coming draft. Brooks is expected gone by the end of the second round by NFLdraftbuzz.com in the following draft.
How about that?
One more.
Michael Hawkins was in Norman only last season, having backed up Jackson Arnold two years ago and John Mateer last season.
Through three games as West Virginia’s starting quarterback this season, he’s completed 26 of 38 throws, five for touchdowns without an interception, while also running for 322 yards at 7.3 per carry and six touchdowns.
No, Hawkins probably wasn’t an all-world quarterback the Sooners let get away, but he was never without capabilities and he went to a program led by a skipper, Rich Rodriguez, who knows how to exploit and manage offense talent, imagination and creativity baked into the formula.
That’s more than any offensive coordinator has done for any quarterback since Brent Venables breezed into town from Clemson.
Meanwhile, after one year on the job, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has since been made to run an offense, very much of the time, at least, that is nothing like the offense he ran at Washington State.
Sure, left to his own devices, Mateer might well have failed anyway. But wouldn’t it have been nice to see him have the chance. It couldn’t possibly have gone any worse.
Other players could have made the point, too, like Tawee Walker, Zion Ragins and no less than Dillon Gabriel, whom the Sooner braintrust was fine and dandy with not trying to keep, fearful Arnold might bolt and what a tragedy that would have been.
Now, let’s talk coaches.
In 2024, when Arbuckle was still at Washington State, here was OU’s offensive staff:
Seth Littrell, offensive coordinator; Joe Jon Finley, tight ends; Kevin Johns, quarterbacks; Bill Bedenbaugh, line; Emmett Jones, receivers; DeMarco Murray, running backs.
One year later, Arbuckle seemingly at the offensive helm, Finley, Bedenbaugh, Jones and Murray all remained on staff at the same positions, while Johns packed up for Stillwater.
This year, though Jason Witten has replaced Finley and the Kansas City Chiefs took Murray off Sooner hands, forcing Deland McCullough’s hire, Jones and Bedenbaugh remain, while Kevin Wilson bounced forward from offensive analyst to assistant head coach for offense.
Those may be fine names, yes, but were any of them chosen by Arbuckle? Or were all of them chosen by Venables?
In the press releases announcing both Witten’s and McCullough’s hire, no quotes from Arbuckle were included, though plenty were given to Venables and the subjects themselves.
Wilson did not get a press release.
Does any of that seem odd to you? Does any of it, or all of it, point toward Venables having both autonomy over the defense and virtual autonomy over the offense, too?
Seems like it might.
Or does the 31-year-old Arbuckle really have it, though it appears he hired none of his position coaches, save assistant quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski, previously an analyst, who joined him coming from Pullman to Norman.
So, maybe, you get what you deserve when you put so little trust in your opposite coordinator, when you’ve plucked and picked your offensive staff for that coordinator, when you’ve rolled over that coordinator in announcing who you’ve plucked and picked, when your entire offensive track record since taking the program has been insanely suspect since; see Smothers, Brooks, Green, Ragins, Hawkins, Gabriel, Littrell and Finley for proof.
I feel compelled to point out, I really like Brent Venables, I always have and I love it every time he goes on about not taking shortcuts, building relationships and culture.
Also, he appears to coach in fear of giving up a level of control to others every highly successful head coach must give up, especially those who remain coordinators. Too often, he surrounds himself with folks who may or may not be the best choices but he already knows very well, like Ted Roof, Zac Alley, Littrell, Wilson, Murray and Finley.
It’s not working now.
It never worked in the first place.
I’m open to alternate explanations.
But this one feels right.
I think Joe C and the OU fan base were so bitter about Lincoln Riley leaving that they wanted to keep tight control over the search. That meant choosing someone willing to work with whoever was left behind. I also suspect the AD, the university president, and others in the OU football establishment wanted more influence over the program, and that kind of oversight likely scared off or narrowed the pool of candidates who would want the job.
They hired Ben Arbuckle as offensive coordinator but only let him bring one assistant with him. That might be understandable if the offense had been strong before he arrived, but it wasn't.
It didn't stop with BV or Arbuckle, either. They picked an AD with no experience and paid him handsomely, which leaves him indebted to the current administration. Dont get me started with Nagy being the great evaluator of talent. As you pointed out, we have individuals now with orther teams performing well.
The OU football information is so controlled that I would not doubt what Hoover reported initially is true but OU wants to control the narrative and everyone else falls inline for fear of being cutoff from access. .