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Another Oklahoma Defender Announces Plans to Return

The Sooners' har-hitting safety has decided to return for his senior year in Norman.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings
Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Oklahoma will begin the New Year with a little good news.

Senior safety Robert Spears-Jennings on Tuesday announced his decision for 2025, and he’s coming back to Norman.

Spears-Jennings, who just finished his junior season as one of OU’s most consistent performers in the secondary, will “run it back” in 2025 as a member of the Sooner defensive backfield.

The 6-foot-1, 219-pound Spears-Jennings came to OU as a consensus 4-star defensive back from Broken Arrow, OK. He chose the Sooners over offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and others.

He played in all 13 games this season and made 11 starts. Spears-Jennings finished the season second on the team with 66 tackles behind senior linebacker Danny Stutsman. Spears-Jennings also had 5.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 quarterback sacks. His real contributions were in the takeaways department, as he had one interception, two fumbles recovered and four fumbles forced, which ranks fifth in the nation.

As a sophomore in 2023, Spears-Jennings made two starts and played in 12 games. He totaled 38 tackles, including 24 in the Sooners’ last five games.

Spears-Jennings played in the Sooners’ last nine games as a true freshman in 2022 and totaled 15 tackles.

While the transfer portal has taken a toll on the Sooners’ efforts in 2025, the defensive losses have been mostly negligible and there haven’t been any early departures yet for the NFL Draft.

OU has gotten some good personnel news in recent days, with players like linebacker Kip Lewis, defensive end R Mason Thomas and defensive tackle Damonic Williams all announcing their plans to play for Brent Venables' squad next season. (Thomas’ return was announced by OU collective 1Oklahoma but was quickly deleted.)

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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