3. Oklahoma Sooners
QB: Jalen Hurts
RB: Kennedy Brooks
WR: CeeDee Lamb
Oklahoma is always going to be talented on offense. Lincoln Riley is a mastermind in terms of scheme and developing talent. He has turned each of his two starting quarterbacks into Heisman winners and first overall NFL Draft selections.
His third project at quarterback is none other than Jalen Hurts. Hurts has played in three straight national championships with Alabama, and he is looking to get to his fourth with Oklahoma. The Sooners will run the same style of offense as before, and there is no reason to believe that Hurts won’t grow as a passer along with his running ability.
The Sooners will also have one of the best receivers in college football with CeeDee Lamb. Last season, Lamb racked up over 1150 receiving yards with Kyler Murray. Hurts isn’t the same throwing threat at Murray, but Lamb will also not have to fight Marquise Brown for catches. Lamb is incredibly talented, and he will be Jalen’s best friend in the passing game. One of the knocks on Hurts was that he relied too much on his star receiver when he started alongside Calvin Ridley with Alabama. If he is unable to grow in his ability to go through progressions, Lamb will light up the stat sheet in 2019.
The running game will have two keys coming back from last season. I could have gone with Trey Sermon, but I believe that Kennedy Brooks has more potential to grow this year. Brooks got an impressive 8.9 yards a carry with 12 touchdowns last year, and he was only a freshman. I’m sure both he and Sermon will get plenty of carries, but I would trust Brooks more if I needed the first down in the running game.
No matter who the running back is deep in the season, Oklahoma clearly has one of the best trios in college football. Add in the fact that the Big 12 is known for lackluster defense and the team will be nearly unstoppable.