Oklahoma
Inside Jonah Laulu’s impressive OU football Pro Day: He’ll ‘play a long time in the NFL’
OU football defensive lineman Jonah Laulu talks about Sooners’ Pro Day
OU football defensive lineman Jonah Laulu talks about Oklahoma Sooners’ NFL Pro Day
NORMAN — When Jonah Laulu approached the Everest Training Center for OU’s Pro Day early Tuesday morning, a bolt of excitement shot through his body.
After missing out on an invite to the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine in February, the former Sooners defensive lineman was ecstatic to finally showcase his athleticism in front of professional scouts. His numbers didn’t quite pop in 2023 as he finished with just 11 total tackles, including three for loss and a sack in three starts, so nailing Tuesday was crucial for his future.
“It’s been really exciting,” Laulu told The Oklahoman on Tuesday. “I just think it’s crazy because all these scouts are here and they actually get to lay their eyes on me and see me in person, see how I move as a bigger guy. Just training, I’ve been looking forward to getting through this, man, because I’ve been wanting to show what I can do for sure.”
In what was otherwise a low-key pro day for OU’s standards in recent years, Laulu stole the show with his unofficial metrics. He finished with a 9-foot, 10-inch broad jump and a 36-inch vertical, both of which would’ve ranked first among defensive tackles at the combine.
He also showcased his speed in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drills. His 40-time ranked No. 6, his 20-yard shuttle ranked No. 3 and his three-cone came in at No. 2 among defensive tackles at the combine.
More: Which Oklahoma football players have most to gain as Sooners start spring practice?
“I’m not mad I didn’t go to the combine, it makes sense,” Laulu said. “I didn’t have some crazy season, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t play football. I can still play football and it gave me more time to get ready, so I’m not even mad about it. Everybody wishes to go to the combine and all that stuff, but it’s OK.
“I had friends that went there and I kind of just lived through them vicariously. I was living through them, asking them, FaceTiming them about how their experience was, and I mean, I feel like I didn’t miss out, so I’m still happy to do what I did today.”
Laulu quickly stood out among OU’s participants and he was pleased with his overall results. While he wasn’t as happy with his 40-time, his overall numbers are sure to get the attention of scouts around the league.
Laulu has spent the past three months relentlessly training like a track athlete at BUILT4IT, a gym in Dallas that specializes in developing athletes for the next level. Kavon Frazier, the gym’s founder and chief executive officer, was impressed with Laulu’s consistent mindset and work ethic.
“He’s really professional and that’s one of the first things we noticed,” Frazier told The Oklahoman. “I’ve seen all types of guys when they first come in and guys that are more so frontrunners who are excited at the beginning, but then when Week 4 or 5 comes, they get burned out and start to hit a wall.
“Jonah never hit that wall. He came in very excited and very humble at the same time and he just kept being very consistent all throughout training. He put in the work and obviously he reaped the results.”
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Not getting invited to the combine allowed Laulu to buckle down and get his body ready to showcase to scouts. He built a bond with the gym’s director of performance Jaid Taylor and was one of the hardest workers at the facility.
Laulu enjoyed getting to train with different collegiate and professional athletes from around the country and apply some of what they do to his own game.
“We all come from all these different places and we had different coaches,” Laulu said. “We’re taught different things and it’s just cool to compare and contrast how we were taught, how we trained at our schools and how they went about things over there compared to how they did things over there. I just had a great experience and I definitely would go back there again for sure when I have off time if I’m with a team in the offseason.”
Laulu spent two seasons at OU after transferring from Hawaii following the 2021 season. The Las Vegas native appeared in 26 games with the Sooners, including six starts.
He also spent time playing the defensive end position as well as playing in the interior of the Sooners’ defensive line, making him more attractive to NFL teams looking for players who can adapt to playing multiple positions.
“They definitely helped my development as a defensive lineman and a football player,” Laulu said. “Just the way Coach (Brent) Venables thinks, his defense and how he attacks people. I just learned how he thinks. I think it definitely made me a better player and just the way I think about things and go about football.
“It also definitely helped me as a defensive lineman, going from defensive end to interior defensive line and just showcasing my ability to play both. I can play on the edge, I can play on the inside and I think teams will see that. I’ll have a better opportunity to make a team, make a 53-man roster, so I’m just excited to see what happens next. I don’t know what’s about to happen.”
More: OU Board of Regents approves donations for Patty Gasso statue, Sooners’ football contracts
Following his final drills Tuesday, Laulu turned to walk out of the indoor facility with his parents, but stopped to check his phone first.
Nothing yet.
Still reeling from the performance he displayed, Laulu couldn’t stand still. That’s life for most players that weren’t invited to the combine and are hoping to break through at the next level.
For now, Laulu is focused on himself, laying low and continuing to work out every day so he’s ready if his phone rings.
“Just think about being home, you have no job and you’re just chilling and working out every day, waiting to be called by someone to tell you they’re hiring you,” Laulu said. “Imagine you have no job and you just sent out 32 job applications. You’ve just got to be ready to drop everything and go. And if it doesn’t work out, you come back and wait for the next call.”
Frazier is a six-year retired NFL veteran who knows what it takes to suit up and go through the grind that is the next level. He said Laulu reminds him of former LSU standout Breiden Fehoko, who went undrafted and will enter his fifth season in the NFL in the fall.
There’s no doubt in his mind Laulu is built for the NFL because of the consistency he leads in his life.
“He’s going to play a long time in the NFL,” Frazier said. “He definitely turned some heads, he’s going to start getting a lot of calls and he’s going to get a lot of visits.”
NORMAN — The Oklahoma Sooners liked their wide receiver room a year ago. They want 2026 to be even better.
Isaiah Sategna’s return helps that desire. Earning experienced pass catchers Trell Harris and Parker Livingstone via the transfer portal gives you added play makers. But after the Sooners Spring Game on Saturday, an unlikely hero emerged.
When Jahsiear Rogers flipped from Penn State to Oklahoma last December, he drew the usual excitement that comes with a new commitment. But few expected him to climb the depth chart this quickly, even with the injuries that hit Emmett Jones’ room.
Rogers did just that and more on Saturday. He led all pass catchers with five receptions for 70 yards in Oklahoma’s annual Red/White game.
“I knew it was time to showcase,” Rogers said after the game. “It was amazing to see the fans and get used to the OU way. I’m a playmaker. They really want to put the ball in playmakers hands. I pretty much knew I had to lead the white team.”
Rogers got the ball rolling early. On the second offensive play for the white team, backup quarterback Whitt Newbauer rolled to his right wide, then stopped and looked towards the middle of the field where he saw Rogers running open. Newbauer connected with Rogers for a 39-yard gain.
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With Rogers on the white team, he is running against (most of) Oklahoma’s starting defense. As fate would have it, on that 39-yard reception, Rogers beat his favorite teammate to compete against — Reggie Powers.
“He is just a leader, good guy,” Rogers said of Powers. “Me and him go after it every day in practice. Reggie is strong. When I come at him, I have to really come at him.”
Rogers’ big play over Powers was the second-longest catch of the spring game — Sategna’s 50-yard reception that appeared to be a touchdown before coaches pulled it back to set up a red-zone rep. The other four catches weren’t flashy, but they were important in their own way, and Rogers looked like he belonged on the field.
“I love it. As long as I can get the ball, I can be me. I love it,” Rogers said. “When I am on the field, I am ready to go. I am ready to be a playmaker.”
The season is still months away, and Rogers hasn’t earned a spot high on the depth chart yet. A strong spring and an encouraging Red/White Game can only lead to early playing time if he carries that momentum into summer and fall camp.
More experienced players will return from injury and receivers who’ve been in the program for a few years will have an extra leg-up.
But Rogers is taking everything in stride and leaving no stone unturned in his development.
“Just learning from the older guys,” Rogers said. “Manny Choice, Isaiah Sategna, Trell Harris, Mackenzie Alleyne. Really all of them. We lean on each other, learn from each other. That is kind of how our room is.”
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The Oklahoma baseball team is back in the mix and trending upward.
After a rough few weeks in Southeastern Conference play, the 14th-ranked Sooners have won three of their last four games to get to .500 at just beyond the halfway point of the league slate. Friday’s 9-6 win over Missouri allowed Oklahoma to move to 8-8, tied with three other teams for eighth in the standings.
Friday’s win wasn’t truly that close, even. OU took a 9-3 lead into the ninth before Mizzou made it somewhat interesting with three runs in the frame. Two of them came with two outs, though, and Mason Bixby induced a groundout with the bases empty to hold on.
The large edge came via a home run-happy night. The Sooners popped four over the wall at Kimrey Family Stadium, including three in a four-run seventh inning that gave OU a four-run lead.
Jason Walk, who hit one of the four homers, had the best day at the plate. He went 2 for 5 with the shot, three RBIs and a run. Camden Johnson, who also homered, went 2 for 3 with a walk, a double and two runs, and Dasan Harris went 2 for 4 with a home run, two RBIs, and three runs. Trey Gambill hit the Sooners’ other jack.
Oklahoma jumped out to a four-run lead in the second behind four hits and a walk. Missouri helped the Sooners out with an error that resulted in a bases-loaded situation and three unearned runs registered to Tigers starter Josh McDevitt.
The runs were more than enough for Oklahoma’s LJ Mercurius, who pitched six strong innings, giving up three runs on six hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
Game 2 in the series is set for 4 p.m. Saturday and the finale will be played Sunday at 2 p.m., weather permitting.
Just miles off Route 66 in Rogers County stands one of Oklahoma’s most unusual roadside attractions: a 90-foot concrete totem pole built largely by one man over more than a decade.
Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park is home to what is widely described as the world’s largest concrete totem pole, created by Oklahoma folk artist Nathan Edward Galloway during his retirement years.
The park sits near Chelsea and continues to draw visitors traveling Oklahoma’s stretch of Route 66.
A project decades in the making
Credit: Rogers County Historical Society
According to the National Park Service, Nathan Edward Galloway was born in 1880 in Springfield, Missouri. He later worked as a manual arts teacher at Sand Springs Home before retiring in 1937 to property near present-day Chelsea in Rogers County.
After retiring, Galloway began building what would become Totem Pole Park. Using concrete, steel rebar, wood, and red sandstone, he created a series of colorful, highly decorated totems and structures across the property.
Atlas Obscura reports that Galloway began construction in 1938 with the goal of building durable totem poles from sturdy materials, and he surrounded his land with tapered concrete monuments and decorative features.
Between 1937 and 1948, Galloway constructed the park’s centerpiece: a 90-foot-tall totem pole carved with bas-relief designs. Travel Oklahoma describes it as a Route 66 icon and a state landmark.
Eleven years and 90 feet of concrete
Credit: Rogers County Historical Society
The main totem took roughly 11 years to complete, according to Atlas Obscura. The structure is made of red sandstone framed with steel and wood, then covered with a thick concrete exterior.
The tower features more than 200 carved images, including representations of birds and Native American figures facing the four cardinal directions. Near the top are four nine-foot figures representing different tribes.
Galloway’s version differs from traditional totem poles of the Pacific Northwest, which are generally carved from red cedar.
The structure rises from the back of a large, three-dimensional turtle. The turtle base was carved from a broad sandstone outcrop on the site and painted in bright colors.
The totem is hollow and rises about nine stories, with the ground level measuring about nine feet in diameter. Inside, plastered walls feature painted murals of mountain-and-lake scenes and bird totems, along with Native American shields and arrow points. At the top, the cone is open to the sky.
Picnic tables supported by small concrete totems, a totem barbecue fireplace, and gate structures designed to resemble fish fill the park grounds.
The Fiddle House
Credit: Rogers County Historical Society
Beyond the towering pole, Galloway’s artistic interests extended into music and woodworking.
An 11-sided structure known as the “Fiddle House” sits on the property and resembles a Navajo hogan, according to the National Park Service. The building houses many of Galloway’s hand-carved fiddles and other creations.
The Rogers County Historical Society says the Fiddle House Museum retains many of Galloway’s handcrafted violins and artifacts.
From neglect to restoration
Credit: Rogers County Historical Society
Galloway continued working on the park until his death in 1961. After he died, the site gradually fell into disrepair.
In 1989, the Rogers County Historical Society acquired the property. A major restoration effort took place from 1988 to 1998, with art conservators and engineers studying the structures and repairing damaged materials.
Additional repainting and preservation projects began in 2015.
Today, Totem Pole Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains open year-round with free admission and is managed by the Rogers County Historical Society.
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