Oklahoma
Why New Oklahoma QB Coach Kevin Johns Was ‘Like a Pig in the Mud’ Working With Jackson Arnold
Kevin Johns is stepping out of the shadows and into a much larger role on Oklahoma’s coaching staff this week.
The former Dayton signal caller-turned-quarterback guru was brought on staff in the offseason as an offensive analyst, but he will now serve as OU’s quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator alongside Joe Jon Finley after Seth Littrell was dismissed on Sunday.
Finley will call the plays, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables emphasized during his weekly Coaches Show on Monday, due to his familiarity with the system and because Finley fluently speaks the language of the offense.
Johns’ role has evolved in Norman after analysts were permitted to take on a much larger on-field coaching role by the NCAA this summer.
“Kevin, when he got here, was hired later in the winter, early spring as an analyst, off-the-field coaches were not allowed to coach,” Venables said. “So he was looking at advanced scouting and not really in the nuts and the bolts and the X’s and the O’s and learning all the new language and things.
“He’ll pick up some things, but that wasn’t his forte. He wasn’t breaking down things and having to prepare stuff day to day for the coaches. He’s more of an advanced-scout guy.”
That doesn’t mean that Johns won’t be a huge addition to the Sooners, however.
From 2008-2010 he served as Northwestern’s wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.
In 2011 he joined Kevin Wilson’s staff at Indiana to serve as the co-offensive coordinator, and in 2012 he was also tasked with working with the quarterbacks with the Hoosiers.
He stayed on staff at Indiana until 2017, when he moved to Western Michigan as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
In 2018, he served as Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach under Kliff Kingsbury before moving to Mike Norvell’s Memphis staff from 2019-2021 to serve as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He took the same job at Duke from 2022-2023, where he helped develop current Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard.
“The success that he’s had and the exposure that he’s had at several places,” Venables said. “… (He) was at Indiana for several years where they broke 55-plus Big Ten records and led the Big Ten in scoring when he was the OC and quarterbacks coach, I think ’16-’17, and the development pieces that’s there.
“He understands — everywhere, he’s had to maybe do more with less. I love that about coaching, when you see people have success at places where maybe they don’t always have the best resources but you’re able to maximize guys. You’re essentially able to put people in positions to be successful.
“And that was behind this decision that we’ve gotta maybe do, whatever that looks like, a better job of putting our guys in a better position to be successful.”
Johns and Finley will have a tough task ahead to improve OU’s offense on the fly.
The offensive line has struggled mightily in 2024. After surrendering nine sacks to South Carolina on Saturday, the Sooners now rank 132nd out of 133 FBS teams in sacks allowed.
There won’t be some massive schematic overhaul, either.
It’s the middle of the season, the tweaks will be subtle, but Venables’ goal is for Johns and Finley to be able to put the offense in better spots for the final five games of the season.
“There’s obviously always a collaboration, but we’ve figured out what doesn’t work, I know that,” Venables said. “There’s certainly things that haven’t worked, and so you push those to the side and try to lean on expertise.”
“… He and Joe Jon will work together, with the rest of the staff; everybody has a role, but those will be the two voices putting stuff together, and then Joe Jon will call it on gameday.”
Venables expanded on the decision to name Finley as the play caller, too.
“They did not pass that (analyst) rule until fall camp where these other off-the-field people can actually coach,” Venables said. “Because of all this time where (Johns) hasn’t been intimately involved with the offense, but the X’s and the O’s, the verbiage — all the depth of that. (Johns has) been more organizational, advanced scouting.
“… He’s a leader, and so I put him in some of those roles that need really good leadership so you get the right looks and stuff like that. Here we are, and you got a week to make sure you have all your verbiage down and things like that. It’s just a lot. It’s not really fair to put him in that position. But he’ll have a lot of influence.”
Finley and Johns will be rolling with Jackson Arnold at starting quarterback against Ole Miss, Venables announced on Monday.
Arnold was reinserted into the lineup against South Carolina after Michael Hawkins Jr. committed turnovers on each of the first three drives.
Arnold finished the game 18-for-36 passing for 225 yards and a score.
It’s not yet clear if Finley, Johns and Arnold will have more weapons at wide receiver available to work with against the Rebels.
Monday’s practice went well, Venables said, and he’s excited to see Johns get to work as OU’s quarterback coach for the rest of the year.
“He was like a pig in the mud (Monday) with the quarterbacks,” Venables said. “He’ll be a great asset for those guys.
“… He’ll be a great vessel for those quarterbacks to get another lens and to get another view of things. … He was on point. He was really good.”
Oklahoma
Three Big 12 Transfers Oklahoma State Is Reportedly Interested In
PORTAL TRACKER
Oklahoma State’s newly constructed staff got on the board Saturday, picking up portal commitments on offense and special special teams, so how about some defense?
Three Big 12 defenders have been linked with Oklahoma State via the transfer portal over the past few days, including a pair of former OK Preps standouts. Here’s a look.
Kanijal Thomas, CB, Kansas State
Thomas is an Oklahoman, playing his high school ball at Del City. He visited Stillwater on Saturday, according to On3.
He was a redshirt sophomore for the Wildcats in 2025, playing in seven games as a true freshman in 2023 before an injury saw his sophomore season end two games in.
Thomas played in eight games at K-State in 2025, finishing the year with five tackles, a PBU and a forced fumble. According to PFF, he gave up four catches for 21 yards this season on seven targets.
Now listed at 5-foot-11, 186 pounds, Thomas was a three-star prospect coming out of Del City in the 2023 class. He picked K-State over offers from OSU, Texas Tech, Iowa State and others.
Maurion Horn, CB, Texas Tech
Another Oklahoma kid, Maurion Horn has spent the past four seasons in Lubbock, where he has played in 30 games during that time. According to 247Sports, Horn will visit Stillwater on Monday.
He started all of Tech’s games in 2024, finishing that season with 56 tackles, three tackles for loss and five pass breakups. He played in seven games and dealt with some sort of injury, appearing on Tech’s availability report in Weeks 4, 14 and 15.
Horn has been targeted 88 times in his career, per PFF, where he has allowed just 47 catches.
He was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class out of Broken Arrow. He ended up picking Tech over offers from OSU, OU, Texas, Baylor, Arkansas and others.
Braylon Rigsby, Edge, Texas Tech
Listed at 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, Braylon Rigsby will join his Texas Tech teammate in Stillwater on Monday, according to 247Sports.
He’s played in 26 games across the past two seasons in Lubbock, accumulating 25 tackles and three tackles for loss during that time.
Per PFF, Rigsby has 21 QB pressures in his career to go with two QB hits.
He hails from Woodsville, Texas, which is near the Louisiana border. Rigsby was a three-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, coming in as the No. 861 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking.
Oklahoma
Capture of Nicolas Maduro: What it could mean for Oklahoma
Elite Delta Force captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife about 2 a.m. Saturday morning.
It happened in the Caracas, the capitol of Venezuela.
Social media posts how strikes ordered by President Trump into Venezuela and its military bases.
News 9 political analyst Scott Mitchell said the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America has not always been smooth and adds so many dominos will fall as a result.
“Venezuela is the beachhead for our adversaries that’s Cuba and Russia and China and Iran and it looks as if this latest situation where that they were assembling Iran swift attack boats that was sort of the last straw,” said Mitchell.
Retired war correspondent Mike Boettcher said the planning on capturing Maduro began in mid-December.
He adds Venezuela is a massive oil supplier whose oil has been taken off the market for years because of sanctions.
He has concerns about what comes next.
“That disrupts a lot of things.It even has an effect on the war in Ukraine, as Russia, you know, has used higher oil revenue because Venezuela’s oil was off the market.Oil prices went up.It helps fund the war in Ukraine,” said Boettcher.
The ramifications could even reach Oklahoma.
“China gets a 30 percent discount on the oil.If Venezuela goes for a more legitimate government and the sanctions are lifting, then they’re flooding the oil markets and that means bad news for the Oklahoma economy,” added Mitchell.
Following the capture of Maduro, President Trump said the U.S. will take control of the oil reserves in Venezuela.
Sources also say there are plans from the current administration to recruit American companies to invest billions of dollars in their oil industry.
A verified video shows the current state of Venezuela after the military operation.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State expected to lose talented EDGE to transfer portal
Oklahoma State EDGE Kyran Duhon plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned. Duhon was a member of the 2024 recruiting class.
Duhon spent one year at Oklahoma State, logged 16 total tackles (eight solo) across nine games. He began his career at UTEP, where he had a productive true freshman season, Duhon finished 2024 with 43 total tackles, including seven sacks and two PBUs.
At UTEP, his one season there resulted in second team All-Conference USA honors. He was also named to the On3 True Freshman All-America Team as well as the the Conference USA All-Freshman team.
However, Duhon’s stay in Stillwater didn’t go as expected. Oklahoma State finished the season with a 1-11 record, which included the Cowboys firing longtime head coach Mike Gundy after a 1-2 start. Doug Meacham was named interim head coach but ended the year 0-9.
Eric Morris has since been named as the program’s next head coach. He comes from North Texas, which finished with an 11-2 record and a trip to the American Conference championship game this past season. However, it doesn’t appear that Duhon will be sticking around during the changing of the guard at Oklahoma State this offseason.
Before college, Duhon was the No. 1,706 overall player in the class, and was recruited as the the No. 165 linebacker during the cycle, per the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was ranked as the No. 242 overall player out of Texas.
Once the NCAA transfer portal opens on Jan. 2, players can officially enter their names in the NCAA transfer portal and go on to initiate contact with their preferred schools. The portal will be open for 15 days and close on Jan. 16.
Notably, players who are on teams competing in the national championship game are allowed five extra days to make their portal decision. The College Football Playoff championship game will be played on Jan. 19, so the players on those teams will be allowed until Jan. 24 to enter the portal and choose their next school.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
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