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Identity crisis: What kind of team will the 2015 Sooners become?
For all the dread that has attached to Oklahoma Sooners fans following last season's disappointment, the great unknown of the 2015 season should provide healthy measures of excitement and intrigue to crowd out the cynicism.
For one, entering coach Bob Stoops' 17th season, it's almost as if he's starting over. No longer an outright powerbroker in the Big 12, the Sooners are in search of an identity, and that's no joke.
Stoops made a back-to-the-future move by hiring Mike Leach-disciple Lincoln Riley away from East Carolina as his offensive coordinator. Riley is one of four new coaches on Stoops' staff, and other assistants, as laid out by Sooners Illustrated, have changed jobs, such as longtime running backs coach Cale Gundy moving over to coach receivers.
From a personnel standpoint, five scholarship players have either been dismissed or transferred since the end of last season. The biggest name was running back Keith Ford, who is headed to Texas A&M. The coaching change at his position led Ford to transfer, he said.
The latest transfer was redshirt quarterback Justice Hansen, a local product from Edmond, Okla., who grew up dreaming of playing for OU but who didn't seem to be a good fit for Riley's offense.
So the question begs which one of the Sooners' remaining quarterbacks does fit Riley's version of the Air Raid. The short answer is Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield, who ran a spread offense as a walk-on freshman at Tech under former gunslinger Kliff Kingsbury. Last season's starter Trevor Knight remains in the mix, as does last year's backup Cody Thomas.
What will the 2015 Sooners look like? What will they evolve into?
Those are questions that can't be answered right now. Come August, Stoops and his coaches will begin to make the decisions that should begin to carve an identity for this team.
And that should give Sooners fans plenty to talk about.
(h/t Sooners Illustrated)
Photo Credit: Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports
