Oklahomans in the bowls: State connections for pre-Christmas college football bowl games

From the Cricket Celebration Bowl, which kicks off bowl season on Dec. 14, to the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 20, virtually every bowl game will have some type of connection with Oklahoma.

Here’s a breakdown of which players and coaches involved in the games have ties to the state for pre-Christmas bowl games:

More: College football bowl game rankings: The 35 postseason matchups from best to worst

Dec. 14

Cricket Celebration Bowl

• South Carolina State vs. Jackson State

• Kickoff: 11 a.m., ABC

• South Carolina State: Safeties coach/special teams coordinator Kevin King spent time as an assistant at Panhandle State.

• South Alabama vs. Western Michigan

• Kickoff: 8 p.m., ESPN

• South Alabama: Redshirt junior safety Lardarius Webb Jr. is an Oklahoma State transfer. Webb has 39 tackles, two interceptions and three pass breakups in 12 games this season. Freshman offensive lineman DeShaun Gonzales is a Panhandle State transfer.

• Western Michigan: Redshirt junior running back Jaden Nixon is an Oklahoma State transfer. Nixon has rushed for 876 yards and 12 touchdowns and has nine catches for 74 yards in 12 games.

Dec. 17

• Memphis vs. West Virginia

• Kickoff: 8 p.m., ESPN

• Memphis: Senior defensive lineman Reggie Grimes II is an OU transfer. Grimes has two tackles, a quarterback hurry and a sack in 10 games. Junior linebacker Brett Kerhu is an OBU transfer. Kerhu has one tackle and a quarterback hurry in 10 games.

• West Virginia: Redshirt junior wide receiver Jaden Bray is a Norman product and Oklahoma State transfer. Bray has two catches for 88 yards in five games. Bray also has a tackle. Redshirt senior cornerback Dontez Fagan is an Ardmore native and former Millwood standout. Fagan has 34 tackles, three pass breakups and a fumble recovery in 12 games.

Dec. 18

• Western Kentucky vs. James Madison

• Kickoff: 4:30 p.m., ESPN

• Western Kentucky: Redshirt senior offensive lineman Stacey Wilkins is an OU transfer. Wilkins has appeared in three games, including starting the Conference USA Championship Game at left tackle. Redshirt senior tight end Colton Cable is a Tulsa Union product. Cable has appeared in 13 games, primarily on special teams with some action as an offensive lineman.

• Cal vs. UNLV

• Kickoff: 8 p.m., ESPN

• Cal: Sophomore defensive back Jasiah Wagoner is an OU transfer. Wagoner has one tackle in three games. Redshirt senior punter Lachlan Wilson is a Tulsa transfer. Wilson is averaging 45.02 yards on 51 punts. Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Mike Bloesch coached offensive line at Tulsa from 2016-19 after spending the 2015 season as a quality control coach with the Golden Hurricane. Passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Sterlin Gilbert was Tulsa’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2015.

• UNLV: Sophomore wide receiver DeAngelo Irvin Jr. is a Midwest City product. He has five catches for 32 yards in 12 games. He also has seven carries for 38 yards, completed a 42-yard pass, has four punt returns for 34 yards and nine kick returns for 177 yards. Freshman wide receiver Kayden McGee is from Muskogee. He has two catches for 48 yards in three games. Redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Will Thomas is a Tulsa Union alum. Senior defensive tackle Cooper Webb is a Davis native and NEO transfer. Webb has six tackles and a sack in six games — four starts. Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brennan Marion is a Tulsa alum and coached running backs at Oklahoma Baptist in 2016. Special teams coordinator James Shibest was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State in 1990-91. Offensive line coach Vance Vice is an Oklahoma State alum.

Dec. 19

• Georgia Southern vs. Sam Houston

• Kickoff: 6 p.m., ESPN2

• Georgia Southern: Fifth-year wide receiver LV Bunkley-Shelton is an OU transfer. Bunkley-Shelton has 28 catches for 306 yards in 12 games.

• Sam Houston: Redshirt freshman running back DJ McKinney is a Tulsa Union alum. McKinney has 95 carries for 479 yards and three touchdowns. He also has 11 catches for 79 yards in 11 games. He also has four tackles and a fumble recovery. Freshman wide receiver Kaden Taylor is a Northwestern Oklahoma transfer. Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Ryan Gilleylen is a Southern Nazarene transfer. Offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen was a student assistant at Northeastern State in 2000 and a graduate assistant there in 2001. He was a GA at Oklahoma State in 2001-02, served as a quality control coach for the Cowboys in 2008 and was NSU’s offensive coordinator from 2009-11. Running backs coach John Johnson is an Oklahoma State alum. Johnson coached running backs at Tulsa in 2014 after spending time coaching wide receivers, special teams and serving as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma Baptist. Defensive ends coach Greg Richmond is an Oklahoma State alum who received his master’s from Langston. He was an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Cowboys in 2007-08, coached defensive line at Douglass High in 2010 and was Northeastern State’s defensive line coach from 2010-12. He was Tahlequah’s defensive line coach in 2014 and returned to OSU to coach defensive line from 2018-22. Defensive backs coach Julian Wilson is an Oklahoma City native and OU alum.

Dec. 20

• Ohio vs. Jacksonville State

• Kickoff: 11 a.m., ESPN

• Ohio: Redshirt freshman running back Rickey Hunt Jr. is a Millwood product. Hunt has 74 carries for 362 yards and two touchdowns and six catches for 23 yards.

• Jacksonville State: Senior cornerback Kenney Solomon II is a Tulsa transfer. Solomon has three tackles and a pass breakup in seven games. Defensive coordinator Luke Olson spent 11 seasons on Tulsa’s staff, spending the 2022 season as the Golden Hurricane’s defensive coordinator. Olson is a Tulsa native and Southern Nazarene alum.

• Tulane vs. Florida

• Kickoff: 2:30 p.m., ESPN

• Tulane: Junior wide receiver Mario Williams began his college career at OU. Williams leads the Green Wave with 54 catches for 940 yards and five touchdowns in 12 games. Williams also has two carries for 12 yards.

• Florida: Secondary coach Will Harris coached defensive backs at Northwestern Oklahoma State in 2013.

• Indiana at Notre Dame

• Kickoff: 7 p.m., ABC/ESPN

• Notre Dame: Associate head coach/running backs coach Deland McCullough has two sons who went to OU, including Dasan, who played for the Sooners in 2024 before entering the transfer portal.

Dec. 21

• SMU at Penn State

• Kickoff: 11 a.m., TNT

• SMU: Redshirt junior offensive lineman Savion Byrd is an OU transfer. Byrd has started nine games at left tackle and two at right guard and has played in every game this season. Redshirt junior offensive lineman Nate Anderson is an OU transfer. Anderson started the season opener at right tackle and has appeared in every game this season. Senior offensive lineman Ben Sparks is a Norman product. Sparks started one game at left guard and appeared in 10. Graduate defensive lineman Kori Roberson Jr. is an OU transfer. Roberson has 23 tackles, a sack, three pass breakups and two quarterback hurries in 12 games. Defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux is an OU alum who spent six seasons coaching defensive ends and defensive line with the Sooners. He was also an assistant at Tulsa from 2012-14.

• Penn State: Junior kicker Chase Meyer is a Tulsa transfer.

• Clemson at Texas

• Kickoff: 3 p.m., TNT

• Clemson: Graduate safety Tyler Venables is the son of OU head coach Brent Venables. Venables has appeared in 13 games with one start and has 16 tackles, one for loss.

• Texas: Running backs coach Tashard Choice began his college career at OU.

• Tennessee at Ohio State

• Kickoff: 7 p.m., ABC/ESPN

• Tennessee: Volunteers’ coach Josh Heupel is an OU alum and spent 2006-14 as an offensive assistant with the Sooners, coaching quarterbacks and serving as co-offensive coordinator. His coaching career began as a graduate assistant with the Sooners in 2003-04. Outside linebackers/special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler began his collegiate coaching career as a defensive graduate assistant at OU in 2003-04. Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State in 2008-09. Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle is an OU alum who began his college coaching career as an offensive quality control assistant for the Sooners in 2009-11 before serving as a graduate assistant from 2012-14. Secondary coach Willie Martinez was OU’s secondary coach from 2010-11.

• Ohio State: Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator from 2018-21.

Dec. 23

Myrtle Beach Bowl

• Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA

• Kickoff: 10 a.m., ESPN

• Coastal Carolina: Offensive line coach Derek Warehime is from Choctaw and a Tulsa alum. Warehime began his coaching career as a student assistant for the Golden Hurricane in 2005.

• UTSA: Defensive coordinator/safeties coach Jess Loepp is a Turpin native and UCO alum. He began his coaching career as a volunteer coach at Oklahoma Bible in 2002, was a graduate assistant at Tulsa from 2003-05, coached safeties there in 2007, served as the Golden Hurricane’s director of high school relations in 2009 before coaching safeties there once again from 2010-12. Assistant head coach/cornerbacks coach Nick Graham is a former Millwood standout and Tulsa alum. He began his coaching career as a student assistant with the Golden Hurricane in 2013. He was a defensive analyst at Tulsa in 2014-15 and coached defensive backs at UCO from 2016-18. Linebackers coach Galen Scott coaches outside linebackers and secondary at TUlsa in 2008 and cornerbacks there in 2009.

Idaho Potato Bowl

Dec. 24

Hawaii Bowl

• South Florida vs. San Jose State

• Kickoff: 7 p.m., ESPN

• South Florida: Head coach Alex Golesh was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma State in 2008. Pass game coordinator/wide receivers coach L’Damian Washington served as OU’s interim wide receivers coach in 2022.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: College football bowl games: 2024 schedule, time, TV, Oklahoma ties