OU football offensive lineman Jake Maikkula and defensive end R Mason Thomas will participate in practices this week, Brent Venables said Monday.

NORMAN — Mark your calendars, Oklahoma’s 2026 schedule is here. The conference schedule includes different opponents from OU’s first two seasons in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. The Sooners will still play South Carolina, as well as its three permanent opponents — Texas, Mississippi and Missouri.

Golding and Co. add another impressive staffer for the 2026 season, continue assembling group for next season.

Alabama and Oklahoma have only played a couple of games since last playing each other, with the Sooners having bested the Tide by 2 points in a low-scoring slugfest on November 15th. Now, they’re matched up yet again in the first round of the College Football Playoffs, with the winner getting the privilege of taking on #1 Indiana.

Brent Venables has got to be feeling good about where the Oklahoma Sooners are in his fourth season with the program. There have certainly been ups and downs for him in Norman, but he currently has the Sooners ranked No.

In 11 regular-season games, Jackson logged 25 total tackles, 11 solo tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks. Last year, the defensive tackle registered 30 tackles, three tackles for loss and two tackles for loss as a true freshman and even earned Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and ESPN Freshman All-American honors.

Head coach Brent Venables entered the year on the hot seat, but has seemed to quiet that noise with the strong year. The team has been led by one of the best defenses in the country. The Sooners rank No.