On3 analyst includes Oklahoma Sooners in preseason power rankings
Another notable college football analyst released his preseason Top 25 on Wednesday. J.D. PicKell's rankings also included the Sooners, as they were slotted in at 16th, right between two teams from the Big Ten. OU was one spot below Illinois and one spot above Michigan, who they'll welcome to Norman on September 6th in Week 2.
PicKell hosts "The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell", and he had Oklahoma as the eighth out of 10 total SEC teams within his Top 25. Texas (No. 1), LSU (No. 7), Georgia (No. 8), Alabama (No. 9), Texas A&M (No. 10), South Carolina (No. 11), Florida (No. 13), Tennessee (No. 18), and Ole Miss (No. 20) were the other SEC teams that made the cut.
The Sooners will play a ridiculous seven games against teams PicKell has in the top 25, with six of those games coming against SEC foes. Only OU's games against Auburn and Missouri are against SEC teams that PicKell didn't include in his list.
PicKell is one of a handful of analysts who have been high on OU this offseason and he believes they can be much improved this year. Head coach Brent Venables brought in OC Ben Arbuckle, QB John Mateer and RB Jaydn Ott to help jumpstart the offense, and the program hired GM Jim Nagy this winter. Player retention from both the transfer portal and the NFL Draft, especially on defense, was fairly solid over the offseason, and the program believes the pieces are in place for a narrative-changing season in 2025.
The Sooners will begin the season at home against Illinois State on August 30th at 5:00 p.m.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin.
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