Sad News: Brendan Zurbrugg Sooner Star Says He Will Never Play With Sooner Again’Till Brent Venables Will Leave The Team….

The Oklahoma football world mourns the loss of legendary country music star Toby Keith on Tuesday, with the 62-year-old passing away after a long battle with stomach cancer. The Oklahoma Sooners Twitter page posted a heartfelt message in memorium to Keith, thanking him for his unwavering support of the school. The country music award winner died in his sleep in Oklahoma. The OU Athletics family is incredibly saddened by the passing of our dear friend Toby Keith. It’s a profoundly sad reality to exist in a world where Toby doesn’t. He brought life and joy to every room he entered, and our hearts are dimmer today without him. An American icon and a… pic.twitter.com/NAcSDKgyFa

It was the lone coaching position we did not receive consistent news about; however, information came on Monday about a former Big 12 assistant leaving his program to join Kalen DeBoer’s staff for the Crimson Tide. Parker Thune, who covers the Oklahoma Sooners for Rivals, reported that Jay Nunez is leaving Oklahoma to be Alabama’s special teams coordinator.

Before arriving in the Big 12, he served as a special teams coach, assistant head coach, defensive tackles coach, co-recruiting coordinator, and tight ends coach at Eastern Michigan University from 2017 to 2021. Nunez operated special teams at Southern Illinois University in 2016 and was a quality control assistant for special teams at the University of Minnesota from 2011 to 2015.

He has had success at each coaching stop, but it will be interesting to see what Nunez does for the Tide.

Sooners Illustrated’s Josh Callaway, James D. Jackson and Tom Green give a temperature check on the Oklahoma quarterback and running back room, react to the NFL Scouting Combine invite list, recap the weekend for OU men’s and women’s hoops and preview the start of Sooners baseball season.

As the calendar moves into the middle of February, the Sooners Illustrated Podcast is back with a brand new episode to break down the latest in Oklahoma football and basketball.

With spring camp approaching, host Josh Callaway and analysts Tom Green and James D. Jackson began a series of “status reports” on each position group for the Sooners – beginning first with the quarterbacks and running backs on Tuesday’s show.

“Jackson Arnold has all the ability in the world,” Green said. “Incredible arm, we saw that on display at times for a stretch during the year, we saw it in the bowl game. But we also saw some things that he obviously needs to work on. And that’s going to come as he gets more comfortable in Seth Littrell’s offense.”

“This running back room is a lot better (moving into next year),” Jackson said. “Bringing a guy like (Taylor Tatum) in to this group with Gavin Sawchuk, who we all assume is going to lead the way this time…I think this is a very comfortable position for OU fans to be in.”

The staff then react to the NFL Scouting Combine invite list before turning their attention to the hardwood with the latest action for men’s and women’s basketball after a pair of big wins – while also diving into the rumored interest from DePaul in Porter Moser for their head coach opening and his denial on Monday.

“(Moser) seemed genuine to me,” Callaway said. “He shot it down pretty definitively, he didn’t leave a whole lot of wiggle room there. It doesn’t make a lot of sense (for Moser) to jump to the DePaul gig. It doesn’t sound like he’s interested in it.”

“I think it was very telling the way (Moser) handled that,” Green said. “The way he said ‘same comment as last year.’ And then you go back and look at what he said last year ‘I’m not interested, I have no interest (in the Notre Dame job). Oklahoma is home, the Sooners are home, I like what we’re building here.’ And now he’s actually seeing the fruits of his labor in that rebuild.”

The guys then close the show by previewing the start of Oklahoma baseball season, which opens with a matchup with Oregon on Friday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX.

Listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify and the player above or watch the show in its entirety on our YouTube channel below. Be sure to like, comment, subscribe and leave a review wherever and however you take in the Sooners Illustrated Podcast.

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