Big 12 football: Storylines for each team in 2023 with spring practice approaching

Apr 06, 2023

February is more than halfway complete, and with the looming arrival of March means spring football kicking off at schools across the country. It sets the stage for what will be a unique year for the Big 12 Conference, which fields 14 teams for one season — BYU, UCF, Houston and Cincinnati join the league this year — before Oklahoma and Texas make an expedited move to the SEC in 2024.

The 2022 season saw the Big 12 reach the national championship game for the first time since the 2009 season with TCU's unexpected run to the College Football Playoff before the Horned Frogs were ultimately humbled as Georgia roared to a repeat title. The Horned Frogs, of note, lose may key contributors and even a top assistant from last year's storybook season, and that's just one of many top storylines throughout the league.

And as Oklahoma and Texas embark on their Big 12 curtain call, will it be a memorable one for either? The Longhorns look to be the early favorite on paper to win the league, something they have not done since '09, and the Sooners are on a mission to prove their first sub. 500 finish in 24 years was nothing more than an anomaly.

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Here are top storylines surrounding all 14 teams heading into spring:

Exit Jaren Hall, enter Kedon Slovis, who comes to BYU with considerable Power Five experience. Slovis started his career at USC where he broke onto the scene in 2019 before later transferring to Pittsburgh for the 2022 campaign. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native was a 3,000-yard passer during the 2019 campaign and started all six of USC's games during the abbreviated 2020 season before struggling during his final season in Los Angeles, throwing 2,153 yards across nine games — all starts — that year. At Pittsburgh, Slovis threw for 2,397 yards but had a career-low 10 touchdown passes while also matching a career high nine interceptions.

BYU will need Slovis' best version of himself if the Cougars look to be competitive in their first year of Big 12 play. Gone is wideout Puka Nacua, the Cougars' leading receiver in 2022 (625 yards) after declaring for the NFL Draft, but Slovis will have Keanu Hill at his disposal after Hill finished second behind Nacua in receiving yards a year ago (572). If the passing game struggles, BYU will likely be relying on UNLV transfer Aidan Robbins, a 1,000-yard rusher for the Rebels last fall, to bolster the offense via the ground.

This isn't Dana Holgorsen's first time coaching a program during its Big 12 entry. His run at West Virginia saw the Mountaineers enter the league during his second season at the helm in 2012, and now he gets to guide the Cougars into their new home that will reunite them with a number of old Southwest Conference foes. Some Big 12 talent from this past season will be joining him, too, as Houston landed Texas Tech quarterback Donovan Smith, West Virginia tight end Mike O'Laughlin, Oklahoma State wide receiver Stephon Johnson and Oklahoma linebacker David Ugwoegbu via the NCAA Transfer Portal this cycle.

Notably, Smith, who beat Houston while still playing at Texas Tech last year, provides a solution at quarterback with 2022 starter Clayton Tune now onto the next chapter of his career. Big 12 West Virginia teams under Holgorsen won at least seven games all but once — a 4-8 finish in 2013 was the exception — so expect the Cougars to hold their own with decent number of opponents come Big 12 play.

At the start of the 2022 season, Cincinnati looked like the best bet of any Big 12 newcomer to have immediate success upon entering the league in 2023. The Bearcats had not lost a regular-season game since 2019, were riding back-to-back AAC titles and cracked the College Football Playoff in 2021. Then came head coach Luke Fickell's abrupt departure for Wisconsin in late November, zapping much of the momentum that existed around the program ahead of a major transition.

Louisville's Scott Satterfield was hired to replace Fickell, and the jury is still out on what the Satterfield era will bring. His time guiding the Cardinals brought moments of optimism, but an overall 25-24 mark left much to be desired. He now enters his first spring as Cincinnati head coach with the team needing to reload in several areas, including an offensive line that only returns a single starter in Gavin Gerhardt. But with any new coaching staff, questions exist on how the team as a whole will respond to new leadership. Answers should come by the end of spring.

Between a coach that has reached the national championship game in Gus Malzahn and a roster that isn't short on Power Five-caliber talent, the Knights seemingly have an on-paper edge over their fellow Big 12 newcomers in seeing immediate success in the league. Quarterback and former Ole Miss signee John Rhys Plumlee returns and gets two of his top three receivers back from last season in Kobe Hudson and Javon Baker, the latter a former Alabama transfer who led the Knights with 796 yards a season ago. Between UCF, Houston, BYU and Cincinnati, the Knights' have averaged the highest-rated recruiting class over the past four years, and the schedule isn't overly intimidating in 2023, either. The biggest tests are seemingly the Big 12 opener at defending league champion Kansas State and a road trip to Oklahoma several weeks later.

Joey McGuire's debut season as Texas Tech head coach went about as well as one could reasonably expect, with the Red Raiders beating Texas and Oklahoma in what proved to be each's final visit to Lubbock and ultimately recording the program's first eight-win season since 2013. With 14 seniors returning in 2023 — quarterback Tyler Shough among them — it's tempting to tab the Red Raiders as a sleeper Big 12 title candidate in the way TCU caught the league and the country by surprise last season.

Spring ball should reveal — or at least give some better hints — of what highs Tech is capable of once the games kick off. A big loss comes on the defensive side of the football with Tyree Wilson declaring for the NFL Draft, but the Red Raiders picked up a pair of EDGE rushers via the NCAA Transfer Portal in Oregon's Terrell Tilmon and Syracuse's Steve Linton. The schedule isn't exactly the easiest for Tech, either. The Red Raiders catch the top three finishers in the league from last year — K-State, TCU and Texas — in addition to hosting Oregon as part of non-conference play. There are also potentially tricky road trips to BYU and West Virginia on the docket.

The Deuce is loose ... and now looking to make Kansas State fans proud in the National Football League. So who steps in to fill the gap after a sensational run by Vaughn in Manhattan? You don't simply replace a versatile talent like Vaughn, who rushed for nearly 3,000 yards combined over the past two seasons and had more than 1,900 yards from scrimmage in 2022 alone. Even with quarterback Will Howard returning after a breakout season that elevated K-State's passing attack, the impact from losing Vaughn on offense figures to be quite pronounced. Howard will also be without two of his top targets from 2022 — Kade Warner and leading receiver Malik Knowles — with both also now pursuing professional careers, though Philip Brooks and Iowa transfer Keegan Johnson still give him experienced targets to work with.

But as for the future at running back, DJ Giddens and Florida State transfer Treshaun Ward, a former top 100 running back prospect in the 2019 cycle, are the two names K-State figures to be banking on to keep the rushing attack potent. Giddens showed promise as a redshirt freshman in 2022, rushing for 518 yards and six touchdowns across 89 total carries. At Florida State, Ward had a strong 2022 campaign, rushing for 628 yards and seven touchdowns on 95 carries. Spring camp will give Chris Kleiman's staff a chance to weigh where the two backs sit against one another, but expect both to contribute in 2023.

The Big 12's top scoring offense from 2022 is bound to look substantially different in 2023. As if losing the headlining trio of quarterback Max Duggan, wide receiver Quentin Johnston and running back Kendre Miller, among others, was not already enough, TCU also lost offensive coordinator and Broyles Award winner Garrett Riley to Clemson. Head coach Sonny Dykes went out and replaced him with Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, who had a past in the Big 12 working at top TCU rival Baylor under his father, Art Briles. Arkansas' offense ended 2022 ranked 15th nationally in yards per game while under Briles.

Expect transfers to play a big role as TCU looks to reload in 2023. Three Alabama transfers — wide receiver JoJo Earle, running back Trey Sanders and offensive lineman Tommy Brockermeyer — landed in Fort Worth this offseason, as did LSU receiver Jack Bech and Oklahoma State receiver John Paul Richardson among other notables. Chandler Morris, a former Oklahoma transfer and who beat Duggan for the starting job in 2022 before suffering an injury in the season opener, tracks to have QB1 duties this fall with Duggan gone and Sam Jackson now at Cal.

Notably, West Virginia's defensive line took some hits with Dante Stills declaring for the NFL Draft and Jordan Jefferson transferring to LSU. But the wide receiver room has even less experience — virtually no seasoned-contributors, for that matter — in Morgantown entering 2023 after Kaden Prather rather unexpectedly transferred to Maryland after being a shoe-in as the Mountaineers' WR1 for the coming season.

West Virginia's experience at quarterback — Garrett Greene might just be the top option — isn't exactly extensive either, and the lack of a seasoned veteran to throw to in a system that also underwent an offensive coordinator change this offseason only adds to that challenge. Neal Brown's staff did add two receivers via the transfer portal — NC State's Devin Carter and Kent State's Ja'Shaun Poke — who combined for 768 yards at their previous homes in 2022. They'll be expected to adjust quickly and contribute in meaningful ways at a position that needs help.

No Big 12 team has more returning production this year than the Jayhawks. Seventeen offensive and defensive starters are expected back from a 2022 team that reached Kansas' first bowl game since 2008, and the Jayhawks, as a result, have big expectations heading into the 2023 season. What's more: Lance Leipold and company helped to fill in some of the gaps — and build for the future — with a 25-man recruiting 2023 recruiting class.

Kansas currently has one of the Big 12's best quarterback rooms with one of the conference's best quarterbacks in Jalon Daniels and an experienced backup with starting experience in Jason Bean, and keeping the former healthy will be crucial in 2023 after Daniels missed nearly all of Big 12 play with an injury suffered against TCU — a battle of undefeated teams at the time of the game — in Week 6. Even with the time missed, Daniels ended 2022 throwing for 18 touchdown against just four interceptions while rushing for an additional 419 yards and seven scores.

Dave Aranda took a gamble exiting spring football a year ago, declaring Blake Shapen starting quarterback in a move that triggered a transfer by primary 2021 starter Gerry Bohanon. Candidly, it's one Aranda might want back in hindsight. Shapen displayed inconsistencies all season as Baylor sputtered to a 6-7 finish after starting the year picked to repeat as league champions. The outlook — or should we say the options — at quarterback didn't get any better this offseason when Kyron Drones transferred and four-star Dripping Springs (Texas) product Austin Novosad flipped his commitment from Baylor to Oregon.

Some good news finally came for Baylor, however, with the addition of Mississippi State transfer and former four-star prospect Sawyer Robertson. He now figures to be the primary challenger for Shapen, who will have to demonstrate that he's clearly the better option over Robertson during spring ball and fall camp to keep his position in Waco. Aranda knows the weight of the decision he'll be making once the dust settles, so expect this to be a major storyline in the months to come.

The pileup of one-score losses that doomed Iowa State in 2022 can be attributed to the offense, which sunk a team boasting one of the league's top defenses to a 4-8 mark. Head coach Matt Campbell acted swiftly after the season's end in parting ways with offensive coordinator Tom Manning and promoting assistant Nate Scheelhaase to that role. You need a quarterback to win in the Big 12, and Hunter Dekkers now has a full season of starting experience under his belt after passing for 3,000 yards in 2022. But he needs to clean up his turnover count after owning a 19-to-14 touchdown-to-interception ratio last year.

Dekkers also loses his top target from 2022: Wide receiver and first-team All-Big 12 selection Xavier Hutchinson, who caught for north of 1,100 yards last season. Iowa State has not added any players at receiver via the transfer portal, so watch for third-year wideout Jaylin Noel — Iowa State's second leading receiver last year at 572 yards — to perhaps increase his workload. Iowa State also needs a reliable running back after failing to produce even a 500-yard rusher in 2022. Jirehl Brock returns as the leading rusher from a year ago at 445 yards. Second-year rusher Cartevious Norton was second at 312 yards and also returns this season.

Oklahoma State has seen better offseasons, to say the least. A tailspin to the 2022 campaign that resulted in a 7-6 finish was followed by a sizable exodus that hit both the roster and Mike Gundy's coaching staff. Quarterback Spencer Sanders, running back Dominic Richardson, wideout Braylin Presley, defensive end Trace Ford and linebacker Mason Cobb were just some of notables among more than a dozen Cowboys players to hit the NCAA Transfer Portal. Defensive coordinator Derek Mason also resigned after just one season on Gundy's staff, and his replacement came from the Division II level in the form of Gannon's Bryan Nardo.

In total, there are 33 new faces to the Oklahoma State football roster in 2023 entering spring football. The future at quarterback — typically a position of strength in the Gundy era — is a pressing storyline provided Sanders is now gone after holding that role for multiple seasons. The Cowboys did add a former Big 12 starting quarterback in Michigan transfer Alan Bowman, who began his career at Texas Tech but was bit by injuries while in Lubbock. But all things said, there is a lot to prove for the group in Stillwater ahead.

Oklahoma's biggest liability in 2022, unquestionably, was the defense. It was not the first time that was true in recent years, but the lack of discipline on that side of the football was jarring considering Brent Venables made a living on that side of the football before being named Oklahoma head coach in late 2021. The Sooners finished eighth in the league in total defense and scoring defense, averaging 30 points per game allowed in the latter of those two stat lines. Five times, Oklahoma allowed its opponent to surpass 40 points scored.

The Sooners will need top defensive talent to step up in 2023 if Venables and company look to prove last year's woes were an anomaly. There is considerable returning production at various roles: Linebacker and 2022's leading tackler Danny Stutsman, safety Billy Bowman, defensive linemen Reggie Grimes II and Ethan Downs are all back in action. Touted 2022 linebacker signee Jaren Kanak has a full year on campus under his belt, and look for transfers, headlined by Indiana EDGE Dasan McCullough, to make their presence felt too.

No position at Texas took a bigger hit this offseason, arguably, than running back. Not only did unanimous All-American Bijan Robison declare for the NFL Draft after a decorated three-year career in Austin, but so did No. 2 running back Roschon Johnson. With two veterans in the backfield departed, Steve Sarkisian and company needing to identify a serviceable replacement through spring and into the summer months.

Jonathon Brooks is the Longhorns' top returning rusher, and though he only saw 30 carries last year, Brooks showed promise by managing for 197 yards total and five touchdowns. Keilan Robinson, a former Alabama transfer who rushed for 322 yards two years ago in 2021, is also a name to watch. Expect five-star freshman Cedric Baxter Jr. to also play a role early in his Longhorn career. Of note, wide receiver Savion Red transitioned to running back this offseason, and the Longhorns staff will get a better look at him in that capacity once spring ball arrives.