In the fourth start of his career, Michael Hawkins Jr. showed some glimpses of his abilities as a passer and runner. As a replacement for Jackson Arnold, who transferred to Auburn, Hawkins made some impressive plays, including his spectacular touchdown pass to Zion Kearney and his last-second score to Jake Roberts.

But there was still a lot of room for the true freshman to improve when it came to reading defense and footwork in the pocket. But we’ll spare Hawkins; He had way too many drops from his receivers and was working with his third different QB coach in a season. He will return to Oklahoma next season, the only player from the 2024 QB room to do so. His potential is high, but he needs to be developed properly.

The Sooners alternated between three defenders for most of this game. Gavin Sawchuk, Xavier Robinson and Taylor Tatum all had a lot to offer, but only Sawchuk was able to find a good rhythm. The running back rotation was confusing to say the least, especially after Robinson’s strong finish to the regular season.

Oklahoma’s game plan featured a lot of passing, and aside from a few drives, there was little commitment to the run game. It was nice to see Sawchuk finally get some leeway in 2024, but it obviously wasn’t enough. OU hasn’t lost any key contributors from this space in the portal so far, so we’ll see if someone can take over the position’s leadership in 2025.

Oklahoma’s young group of wide receivers did some good things in this game, but they let Hawkins down with too many drops and weren’t able to create much separation for big plays. Without Deion Burks or Jayden Gibson, the Sooners only had four scholarship wideouts available for this game.

Ivan Carreon led the way with seven catches for 72 yards. Zion Kearney had a great 56-yard touchdown reception from Hawkins.

There will be a complete overhaul at WR for the Sooners next season after injuries and poor play ruined a group that had so much potential in August. This is another place where Oklahoma will need to be much better for Venables next year if they want to turn things around in the SEC.

Without Bauer Sharp transferring to LSU, it was Jake Roberts who led the way for the Sooners in this game. He had a few drops but also had two big catches on the final drive, including the score that brought OU within one point with six seconds left.

Overall, though, it was more of the same for the Sooners at the tight end position. Too often they played 10-on-11 when it came to run blocking because there was a shortage at tight end. Offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley has announced his final commitment to OU, a development that Sooner Nation is thankful for this holiday season. He will return next season as tight ends coach, a unit that needs to get much better.

With a more mobile quarterback under center, OU’s offensive line didn’t give up as many sacks as it could have on Friday. Hawkins was able to make so many plays and end up with positive yardage because of his athletic caliber.

However, the O-line failed to open enough gaps in the running game after the first two drives and was unable to block anyone on the game’s decisive play, when Hawkins was sacked on the two-point conversion attempt.

The Sooners hope they’ve found something with some of the young players up front, but the offensive line’s poor play has been one of the biggest storylines of the season. There isn’t a position on offense that the Sooners don’t need to improve significantly in 2025.

Oklahoma’s defensive line has been this team’s strength in 2024, and they played well against Navy, especially early on. In his final game in the purple and cream, Ethan Downs once again played well and helped kill many of the Midshipmen’s option concepts. However, the team grew tired toward the end of the game, especially after a long drive in the fourth quarter that left Navy in the lead.

With Downs, Da’Jon Terry, Trace Ford and Caiden Woullard ineligible and the Sooners awaiting NFL draft decisions on R. Mason Thomas, Damonic Williams and Gracen Halton, this unit could look very different next year. However, Oklahoma has built solid depth on offense and could be very good on the D-line in 2025, especially if they can get a few guys back.

Without Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma’s linebackers played well for most of this game, but Horvath’s long touchdown run was a direct result of a second-level collapse, and Navy’s long TD drive in the fourth quarter was exactly what couldn’t have happened. It may seem a bit nitpicky, but this is a 6-7 program in a place where you’re not used to running 6-7.

With the likely returns of Kip Lewis and Kobie McKinzie and intriguing depth at the back, the linebackers could be a force again in 2025. The Sooners will need to continue to excel on defense next season, especially given the upcoming offensive rebuild.

Navy is not a team that puts a lot of stress on the opposing secondary. However, there were still too many open targets for Horvath in the passing game, and some better throws from the Midshipmen QB would have resulted in even more points for Navy. The Sooners generally did a good job against the Navy option game, but were burned a few times by the play-action pass. Horvath’s 95-yard scoring run shouldn’t happen even against a secondary with much faster players.

It was another mixed bag on special teams for the Sooners. They once again failed to deliver in the second leg, a trend that continued throughout the season. They couldn’t block kicks, which they haven’t been able to do all year. Navy missed a field goal, but OU responded with a miss of its own.

Punter Luke Elzinga made another nice fake punt in that game, but also sank an 11-yard punt later in the same half. 2024 was a year where the Sooners didn’t make too many mistakes on special teams, but didn’t impact the game in a positive way for themselves.

They have to do better in the future. There will be a new cast of faces next season as Elzinga, Zach Schmit, Josh Plaster and Tyler Keltner are all ineligible.