FORT WORTH, Texas  —  The first-seeded Oklahoma women’s team defeated Kansas State for the second time this season on Friday with a 4-0 sweep to advance to the Big 12 Women’s Tennis Championship semifinal.

The big stories for Saturday’s scrimmage include the safety position and our first chance to see Jovantae Barnes.

New Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables hasn’t missed a chance to promote Saturday’s Red-White Game in the months since he took over the program. Aside from fans getting their first look at the 2022 team, turning the spring scrimmage into a marquee offseason event is a chance to move on from an unsatisfying 2021 season. Celebrating one of the most beloved Sooners of all time is on the agenda, too.

The action between the lines at this year’s Red-White Game almost feels secondary to the vibes around it. Normally, that would be the best way to experience what usually turn into dull affairs. The intrigue regarding how players will fit into OU’s new offensive and defensive schemes gives this year’s edition some extra flavor, though.

With that in mind, here are a handful of things to keep an eye on when the Sooners hit the field for their final scrimmage of the spring.

The quarterbacks

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We know that the competition to win the starting job this season never happened – new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby essentially crowned Dillon Gabriel as QB1 the moment the Central Florida transfer committed to the Sooners. With Gabriel slated to play for both sides in Saturday’s action, we should get a better idea of what OU’s signal caller will look like this season. Early reviews from people in the know are solid.

Depth thins out quickly, which likely explains why Gabriel is pulling double duty. We may have a better sense on Saturday night if third-year sophomore Micah Bowens and/or freshman Nick Evers will give the Sooners an adequate backup.

Pay especially close attention to Lebby’s play-calling when run-first QB Bowens is at the controls.

How the safeties are deployed

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You could interpret this multiple ways. First, how many nominal safeties play together at any one time? Second, how are they aligned? For instance, watch the assignments of the deep safeties.

And who is playing where? It sounds as though Billy Bowman and Key Lawrence may have the inside track on the free and strong safety spots. Does that match what we see on Saturday, or is Bowman playing more of a nickel spot? Speaking of which, North Carolina transfer Trey Morrison will have a chance to show if he can make an impact at nickel this season.

Finally, is there any chance OU will roll with hybrid linebackers at nickel? Keep an eye on Shane Whitter and Jaren Kanak in that regard.

Competition at cornerback

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Let’s stick with the secondary theme. One player generating serious buzz during spring camp is Kani Walker, a redshirt freshman who transferred to OU from Louisville. He looks the part physically, but we can evaluate if he can actually play it. Meanwhile, if D.J. Graham happens to audition at any other positions on Saturday, it might give us an important clue about future personnel assignments.

Barnes’ debut

Perusing the rosters of the two sides, it stands out that upperclassmen Eric Gray and Marcus Major are playing together at running back for the White team. That means heralded freshman Jovantae Barnes will be the main option for the Red squad. Unexpected, but appreciated.

Barnes has a shot to become a feature RB for the Sooners as soon as this season. We should have plenty of opportunities on Saturday to observe how far he has to go.

Are the interior defensive linemen causing trouble?

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Nose tackle Perrion Winfrey and defensive tackle Isaiah Thomas made for a disruptive combo last season. Venables and defensive line coach Todd Bates have a tough time ahead replacing their presence in the middle of the line.

A strong outing from players like Tulane transfer Jeffrey Johnson, Jalen Redmond and Isaiah Coe would help quell some of the concerns about the departures. (Granted, that might raise new fears about the offensive line.)

NORMAN – Oklahoma rowing is set to compete in the Lake Wheeler Invite in Raleigh, N.C., this weekend, with competition scheduled to start in the morning on Friday, April 22 and conclude Saturday, April 23.

Lincoln Riley’s PR problem at USC prompts unenlightening essay about his time at OU.

I was really hoping that the last column I wrote about Lincoln Riley and his departure from Oklahoma would be just that – the last column I ever wrote about Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma Sooners.

I mean, you would think the USC Trojans’ head coach has so much on his plate at his new job that he would want to move on as much as anyone else. The Trojans are preparing for their spring game this weekend. Recruits need wooing. Boosters need handshaking. Bands need leading.

Turns out, however, Riley would have us believe he has been harboring an unbearable amount of regret about how his tenure in Norman ended. So much so that he felt compelled to publish an open letter in the Players’ Tribune explaining the curveball life threw his way.

In addition to a laundry list of wins by the program while he was both an assistant and head coach, the piece included nothing Riley hasn’t already said about his decision. Riley “absolutely own(ed)” that he “could have handled some parts of the situation better” – who’s to say what they were. He closed by letting everyone know about how great things are at USC and that he’s working really hard.

Oddly enough, the timing of Riley’s unburdening came on the heels of a rough couple of weeks at his new gig. First, Josh Conerly – one of the best offensive line recruits in the 2022 class and widely considered a lock for the Trojans – jilted USC at the last minute. Even worse, Conerly signed with Pac-12 rival Oregon and new Ducks head coach Dan Lanning, whose roots at Georgia stand in stark contrast to a coach who left his last job to avoid coaching in the SEC. Then, former OU players Spencer Rattler and Austin Stogner gave Riley’s leadership a less-than-stellar review in an article by Chris Low of ESPN published last week.

Considering the timing and the content, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Riley thinks he has a PR problem related to OU. And where there’s a PR problem in college football, there’s a recruiting problem.

Riley could have explained himself to a journalist. Los Angeles isn’t exactly hurting for media outlets, and he could have spoken with any number of writers who cover OU sports. Instead, Riley went to a forum where he couldn’t be challenged to offer his own glossy version of events.

If Riley is expecting gratitude for what he accomplished at OU, he got plenty of it when he was with the team. But if he’s already edgy enough about recruiting that he thought this was a good idea, it seems ominous that he chose to manage the optics around the situation rather than figuring out if he has a problem to fix.

Either way, this is all getting old.