CFB insider makes bold prediction for Brent Venables as Oklahoma enters 2025 season with new QB 

Brent Venables will be heading into the 2025 season with renewed hopes and aspirations after stumbling big time last year. The Sooners looked terrible last sesaon because of their QB woes with Jackson Arnold and a rusty offense, ending the season with a 6-7 record.

Arnold's inconsistent performances and injury troubles limited Venables’ strategies. The team struggled to create turnovers, which eventually pushed them towards the bottom of the leaderboard.

According to college football insider Greg McElroy, the Sooners are a tier 2 team in the SEC with limited hopes to contend for the national championship. But he believes they could certainly make the Playoff.

McElroy also believes the team has a better chance with John Mateer this year, who transferred from Washington State in hopes of improving his stock in the SEC. Although his relocation from a subpar schedule to the mighty SEC has raised concerns, McElroy believes he would be perfectly fine in his new role.

“I am in the camp that believes he (Mateer) can elevate very easily to this level of football. I think he's the real deal,” McElroy said in his ESPN podcast on Monday. (22:00) “I think he's one of the best quarterbacks in the countrynand should immediately provide a huge boost to an offense that, at times last year, was outrageously inconsistent. I also look at the defensive line. The defensive line goes five deep, deep to tackle. They have great edges. I mean, really, really good edges.

"You bring over Marvin Jones from Florida State, who's in Georgia before that very talented guy to pair with R Mason Thomas. Now you have great edge defenders on either side of the deep tackle group. Like I said, it's the best in the SEC. I think it's the best defensive line overall in the SEC,” he added.

McElroy admitted that most people are not sold on the Sooners this year. But he believes that the team could perform fairly well in the SEC with their reinforcements this year.

---

Brent Venables will face a tough schedule in 2025 season

The Sooners have a 70% return prediction heading into the new season, which will benefit them a lot considering the kind of schedule they have. Venables and Co. will open the campaign with Illinois State at home and go on to face Michigan in Week 2. They will have in-league rivals Auburn in Week 4 and the mighty Texas in Week 6.

Similarly, the games against South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Alabama in consecutive weeks, back-to-back, will test Mateer's mettle to play top teams consistently.

It will be a major platform for him to build his NFL draft stock and a chance for Venables to shut down his critics by making the CFP in 2025.