By Allan Taylor and Alex Hickey
MORGANTOWN — Jalen Hurt donned a different shade of crimson, aiming to become the Sooners’ latest transfer legend.
Tom Herman may have a Heisman QB of his own if Sam Ehlinger keeps improving in Austin.
At Oklahoma State, Mike Gundy plucked another no-name play-caller from the small-school ranks with a crystal-clear mission: Supply the ball to Chuba Hubbard.
Matt Campbell — now under contract through 2024 — has lifted Iowa State to a rare seat among the favorites in next fall’s Big 12 race. The springboard is Brock Purdy, a sophomore who his coach says “was put on this earth to play quarterback.”
Gary Patterson has a wide-open quarterback race and a plea to the heavens for TCU to stay healthier than it did in 2018.
As the coaching carousel welcomes Neal Brown, Matt Wells and good ol’ Les Miles into the mix, we reflect on the spring-time revelations and what it means come fall.
OKLAHOMA
Last year: 12-2 overall, 9-1 in Big 12
Coach: Lincoln Riley (24-4 in two seasons)
Key losses: QB Kyler Murray, WR Marquise Brown, OL Ben Powers, OL Dru Samia, OL Bobby Evans, RB Rodney Anderson
Returning/arriving: Will the Sooners successfully replace a Heisman-winning quarterback for the third straight year? They’ve hedged their bets on transfer Jalen Hurts, who led Alabama to back-to-back national championship games. That the Sooners reached last year’s College Football Playoff was miraculous given the state of their 101st-ranked scoring defense. Oklahoma hopes to solve that problem with defensive coordinator Alex Grinch arriving from Ohio State. Grinch knows how to dial up a defense to accompany a powerful offense having spent the previous three seasons working for Mike Leach at Washington State.
TEXAS
Last year: 10-4 overall, 7-3 in Big 12
Coach: Tom Herman (17-10 in two seasons at Texas; 39-14 in five seasons overall)
Key losses:
DL Charles Omenihu, WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey, RB Tre Watson, TE Andrew Beck, LB Gary Johnson, LB Anthony Wheeler, DB P.J. Locke, DB Kris Boyd
Returning/arriving:
QB Sam Ehlinger, who will enter 2019 with Heisman buzz and an intent to avenge everyone who has ever flashed the “Horns Down” sign. Texas should be able to score, with WRs Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay and sophomore RB Keontay Ingram.
IOWA STATE
Last year: 8-5 overall, 6-3 Big 12
Coach: Matt Campbell (19-19 in three seasons at Iowa State; 54-34 in seven seasons total)
Key losses: RB David Montgomery, WR Hakeem Butler, LB Willie Harvey
Returning/arriving:
The bad news for the Cyclones is they must replace two explosive playmakers — NFL draftees Montgomery and Butler. The good news? Virtually everyone else is back, including all five offensive linemen, tight end Charlie Kolar and seven of the top eight defensive linemen.
QB Brock Purdy, who emerged for 2,250 yards and 16 TDs as a true freshman, also figures to be more refined.
Iowa State will go into 2019 with legitimate hopes of winning its first conference title since it took the 1912 Missouri Valley crown.
OKLAHOMA STATE
Last year: 7-6 overall, 3-6 in Big 12
Coach: Mike Gundy (121-59 in 14 seasons)
Key losses: RB Justice Hill, QB Taylor Cornelius, WR Tyron Johnson, DE Jordan Brailford, offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich
Returning/arriving: Though Hill was explosive, freshman RB Chuba Hubbard averaged a team-high 6 yards per carry, with three 100-yard efforts in the final four games. WR Tylan Wallace is big-time, and three OL starters return. Gundy wasn’t afraid to hire another small-school play-caller, nabbing Sean Gleeson after six years at Princeton. Gleeson’s QB decision between four-star redshirt freshman Spence Sanders and Hawaii transfer Dru Brown likely won’t be resolved until August. CB A.J. Green should be an All-Big 12 performer, while last year’s subpar defensive front is being rebuilt.
TCU
Last year: 7-6 overall, 4-5 in Big 12
Coach: Gary Patterson (167-63 in 19 seasons)
Key losses: DE L.J. Collier, DE Ben Banogu, LB Ty Summers, QB Shawn Robinson
Returning/arriving:
WR Jalen Reagor broke loose in 2018 for an offense that otherwise languished. RBs Sewo Olonilua and Darius Anderson endured junior-year drop-offs but could reignite behind an OL that regains four starters. The QB situation remains a tossup between redshirt freshman Justin Rogers, junior Michael Collins, K-State grad transfer Alex Delton, and elite true freshman Max Duggan. Aside from standout CB Jeff Gladney, watch to see whether South Carolina grad transfer DE Shameik Blackshear can finally deliver on the promise he showed as four-star recruit.
BAYLOR
Last year: 7-6 overall, 4-5 in Big 12
Coach: Matt Rhule (8-17 in two years at Baylor; 36-40 in seven years overall)
Key losses: WR Jalen Hurd, WR Chris Platt, DL Greg Roberts, DB Verkedric Vaughns, DL Ira Lewis
Returning/arriving: Everything is built around quarterback Charlie Brewer, who threw for 3,019 yards and 19 touchdowns as a sophomore. Brewer loses two of his top three receivers, but senior Denzel Mims averaged 14.4 yards per catch with eight touchdowns. Sophomore Tyquan Thornton is a star on the rise, averaging 17.7 ypc on his 20 catches last year. Baylor also returns all of its running backs from last year.
The Bears must figure out how to protect Brewer (39 sacks), but if they’re able to do so they could be a handful in Rhule’s third season.
WEST VIRGINIA
Last year: 8-4
Coach: Neal Brown (first season at WVU; 35-16 in fifth season overall)
Key losses: QB Will Grier, LB David Long, LT Yodny Cajuste, WR Gary Jennings, WR David Sills, TE Trevon Wesco, S Dravon Askew-Henry
Returning/arriving: New coach Neal Brown comes at an ideal time for a rebuild, and make no mistake about it — the Mountaineers are in fixer-upper mode in 2019 after coming a few plays short of playing for the Big 12 championship last season.
West Virginia is one of the few Big 12 teams that will be replacing its most important player on both sides of the ball, and on offense WVU is replacing arguably its top five players. WVU will have plenty of depth at running back. Kennedy McKoy, Martell Pettaway, Leddie Brown and Alec Sinkfield all return.
Oklahoma transfer Austin Kendall will try to seal the QB job in August after spending his career behind Heisman winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. The Mountaineers must replace the production of Jennings and Sills. Junior T.J. Simmons looked like he’ll lead that effort.
On defense, WVU has to replace the Big 12 player of the year David Long, but new coordinator Vic Koenning’s hybrid of 3-4 and 4-2-5 schemes may confuse enough opponents and create improvement on that side of the ball.
TEXAS TECH
Last year: 5-7 overall, 3-6 in Big 12
Coach: Matt Wells (44-34 at Utah State in six seasons; first season at Texas Tech)
Key losses:
LB Dakota Allen, WR Antoine Wesley, WR Ja’Deion High, S Jah’Shawn Johnson, CB Vaughnte Dorsey, RB Demarcus Felton, K Clayton Hatfield
Returning/arriving:
Three straight losing seasons became Kliff Kingsbury’s undoing, despite offenses electric enough to land an NFL head coaching gig. Wells has an offensive background, too, with Utah State producing the nation’s second-best scoring unit (47.5 points per game) in 2018.
Sophomore QB Alan Bowman — outfitted with special padding protect the lung that collapsed during last year’s loss to WVU — returns, as does elusive backup Jett Duffey.
Grad transfer RB Armand Shyne aims to avoid the injuries that curbed his Utah career, and ex-Penn State CB Zech McPhearson could help. Former WVU coordinator Keith Patterson is back in the Big 12 after Utah State’s defense tied fir the FBS lead with 32 takeaways.
KANSAS STATE
Last year: 5-7 overall; 3-6 in Big 12
Coach: Chris Klieman (first season; 7th season overall, 72-13)
Key losses: OL Dalton Risner, DB Duke Shelley, QB Alex Delton, DB Eli Walker, RB Alex Barnes
Returning/arriving:
K-State’s biggest change is on the sidelines, where Bill Snyder has retired for the second time after a 10-year second stint in Manhattan. Klieman comes to the Wildcats from FCS North Dakota State, where he won four national titles. Klieman’s Bison teams were built on defense and a strong run game.
Alex Delton, who split time at QB with Skylar Thompson, transferred to TCU. The Wildcats were without their most dangerous weapon, WR Isaiah Zuber, this spring. Zuber underwent offseason surgery.
KANSAS
Last year: 3-9 overall, 1-8 Big 12
Coach: Les Miles (first season at Kansas; 142-55 in 17 seasons overall)
Key losses: QB Peyton Bender, WR Steven Simms, LB Joe Dineen, LB Keith Loneker, DT Daniel Wise
Returning/arriving: Miles returns to the sidelines after a two–year vision quest that including acting in beer commercials and a direct-to-video movie about the Challenger disaster. His foray into the entertainment world continued at the Kansas spring game, where he “performed” on-stage with rapper Rick Ross. Said Miles: “I feel I was a little inept.”
His Herculean task is making the Jayhawks less inept. “I doubt he’ll be influenced by this league in changing what he does,” former assistant Gundy said of the run–first Miles.
Miles is banking on the return of RB Pooka Williams, the Big 12 freshman of the year. But Williams must mitigate an offseason domestic battery charge first.
