Why Oklahoma DE R Mason Thomas Believes OU's New Offense is 'Hard to Defend'

ATLANTA — Iron sharpens iron — at least Oklahoma’s players hope so.

Both sides of the ball look different on both sides of the ball for the Sooners. For Oklahoma’s returning players, this has provided them with a new challenge.

“When I do look at it and it looks different, I’m like, ‘I need to start studying them. They look a lot different,'” senior defensive end R Mason Thomas said.

Offensively, the Sooners added reinforcements extensively via the transfer portal.

The biggest splash Oklahoma made was the signing of quarterback John Mateer, who threw for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns at Washington State in 2024. 

The Sooners also added playmakers in running back Jaydn Ott and wideouts Javonnie Gibson, Jer’Michael Carter, Isaiah Sategna, Keontez Lewis and Josiah Martin, while adding Derek Simmons, Luke Baklenko and Jake Maikkula to the offensive line.

The reinforcements are much-needed for the Sooners, who never found an offensive identity in 2024. They specifically struggled through the air, finishing No. 121 out of 134 FBS squads in passing offense, averaging 175.8 yards per game.

With Mateer now leading the unit, safety Robert Spears-Jennings says the offense has more swagger than it did in 2024.

“It's definitely more challenging because they bring energy,” Spears-Jennings said. “I feel like our whole offense has embodied their swag and their energy because once they score a touchdown their whole side is over there running celebrating with the guys. And that's what you need, you need energy. I feel like these guys here love playing football.”

It’s not just the player personnel that look different on Oklahoma’s offense.

The Sooners added offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle — also from Washington State — to spearhead the unit.

At WSU in 2024, Arbuckle helped the Cougars average 36.8 points and 440.4 total yards per contest. He served two years in Pullman after leading the nation’s best passing offense at Western Kentucky in 2021.

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Arbuckle is known for his high-flying, air-raid style, and that has made things difficult for OU’s returning defensive players during practice.

“It looks a lot different. They do a lot of things we might not have seen from previous OCs,” Thomas said.

Thomas noted the importance of playing against the unique style of Arbuckle’s defense during practice, as it can prepare them for various looks the Sooners may see from opposing offenses this year.

“Our coaches will look at it and be like, ‘It’s technically the same.' They just put certain things in certain positions,” Thomas said. "It's been hard to defend that. I’m not used to it, these past three years.”

Practice hasn’t been easy for Oklahoma’s offense either.

The Sooners lost a handful of key contributors to their 2024 defense — linebacker Danny Stutsman, cornerback Woodi Washington, safety Billy Bowman Jr. and defensive end Ethan Downs — but retained Thomas, Spears-Jennings, linebacker Kip Lewis and several other veteran players.

Oklahoma finished sixth out of 16 SEC teams in scoring defense, giving up 318.2 total yards per game. The Sooners led the conference in defensive touchdowns (three) and combined for 35 sacks.

After playing a schedule primarily filled with Mountain West opponents last year, Mateer feels like the defensive challenge presented in practice will allow him to adjust quickly to SEC football.

“It's made me a lot better,” Mateer said. “It's not easy to go against that good of a defense every day because you've got to come with it every day. And I try to and this offense does, but it doesn't make it easy. They're good and schematically they're good and confusing and then they've got good players. You add that together, it's not real easy, especially for an offense that's trying to learn.”