Tag: Danny Stutsman

‘You always want more’: Brent Venables on where the Sooners roster is at ahead of spring ball

Brent Venables joined On3’s Andy Staples to discuss where he stands in building Oklahoma’s roster.

When [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] was hired to be the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, it was because he was one of the few people who knew what it took and what it looked like to build a national championship roster.

He knew what he needed to compete against the best the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] offered which was soon to be Oklahoma’s new home.

Fast forward and we are in Venables’ third offseason as head coach. On Monday, he joined On3’s Andy Staples to discuss where Oklahoma stands in roster building.

“I love our guys but it isn’t ever good enough,” Venables said. “So, you always want more. That’s just how coaches are. I think as you chase winning and chase success, I think that is a mindset. You always want more, bigger, longer guys. You want more depth. That’s just the way it is. I don’t know if you can ever satisfy ourselves. No doubt about it. We can compete at a very high level and we’re working hard for daily improvement to get better so we can compete.”

Oklahoma has a full summer to build even more of that depth but I don’t take what Venables said as a knock to the current guys. The best coaches want more but know how to prepare what they do have as well. That’s going to be Venables’ biggest challenge going into next season.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

‘It’s a really tough group of guys’: Brent Venables impressed by the early enrollees

Brent Venables has been impressed by the class of 2024 early enrollees.

Spring football is finally here in Oklahoma. Head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] kicked things off with a media session on Wednesday along with all of the newcomers both from the portal and the 2024 recruiting class.

Spring practice starts on Monday with the spring game coming in April 20, 2024.

Still, there is a lot of work to be done from now until the start of the season. Whether that’s getting some guys back who were injured last season like [autotag]Andrel Anthony[/autotag], [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag] or [autotag]Justin Harrington[/autotag] or if it’s replacing someone who had to call it a career in Jacob Lacey. There are also a ton of position battles still to go through as well.

Venables talked about how impressed he’s been with the 22 early enrollees. “It’s a really tough group of guys,” Venables said. “The mental toughness that I watched the last eight weeks is exemplary. It’s fantastic. Nobody shied away. These guys were prepared for the challenge that this entails. It was never easy for any of them but these guys were fearless.”

This class is arguably the best in the Venables era with the elite defensive players they were able to sign along with some stellar offensive guys as well. This only adds to that belief.

Now, the question is how many of those guys will be ready to make an impact in Year 1? Only time will tell.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

How would a two minute warning affect the Oklahoma Sooners?

Another rules change could be coming to college football but how would that impact the Sooners and the rest of the teams?

This is an offseason of change. Gone are the Big Ten, Pac 12, [autotag]SEC[/autotag] and [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] as we’ve grown to know it. Instead, the Pac 12 is essentially gone, the Big 12, SEC and Big 10 are all adding new teams to their leagues.

But that might not be the only thing that is changing this offseason. The NCAA Football Rules Committee is set to meet at the end of February to discuss some possible rule changes. The biggest one would be the potential addition of a two-minute warning during the 2024 season.

For those that don’t know, the NFL has a two-minute warning where the clock stops at the two-minute mark unless a play is ongoing in the second and fourth quarters. It is basically an extra timeout late in games.

If you remember, the rules committee made a few clock-related changes last year. The clock doesn’t stop on first downs until the final two minutes of each half. So, wouldn’t this slow it down? Well not necessarily, this would essentially fill the place of an existing TV timeout. It would give a guaranteed break at the two-minute mark and could reduce the chances of back-to-back stoppages elsewhere, which we’ve seen after kickoffs.

The Athletic spoke to the NCAA National Coordinator of Officials, Steve Shaw, who explained how this would help with the back-to-back stoppages.
“We’d really like to avoid the back-to-backs. Nobody likes that. If we did it, the media partner would have to hold their last timeout to that, so they couldn’t get their timeouts in and then get a freebie. It would be the last media timeout and give them assurance they’ll get them all in. I think TV would be supportive of it.”

This would affect game management strategy going forward like when to use your timeouts and when not to. It also would affect how you run your offense. Maybe you’re okay with running the ball just before the two-minute mark, knowing you will get a stoppage.

Clock management will become an even bigger emphasis for coaches going forward. In the game vs. the Texas Longhorns last year, [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag] sacked Quinn Ewers just before the two-minute mark. The Sooners ended up using two timeouts after their following two plays, but if you had the two-minute warning, the Sooners could have saved one of their timeouts for that final drive.

Obviously, it didn’t matter. But that is an area where it could impact teams going forward. For now, we’ll have to wait and see how much backing it gets and if it is something the committee can move forward with.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

How do the Oklahoma Sooners compare to SEC teams in ESPN’s SP+ rating?

The Oklahoma Sooners are heading into a new era in the SEC and come in at No. 8 in the preseason SP+ rankings.

The Oklahoma Sooners had a really good season in 2023 as they bounced back from their 6-7 season in 2022 to win 10 games last year. Now, they prepare for a new era of Oklahoma football with the move to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

But they aren’t the only change coming to college football in 2024. The landscape as a whole has changed. The [autotag]Pac 12[/autotag] is essentially no more as everyone but Washington State and Oregon State left for the [autotag]Big 10[/autotag] or the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag].

With the new changes and the 2024 recruiting cycle coming to a close, it’s time to look at where Oklahoma ranks in ESPN data analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+ preseason rankings (subscription required).

For those that don’t know, Connelly releases a preseason SP+ ranking every February where he bases his projections on three primary factors weighted by their predictiveness. Those would be returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history.

So, let’s take a look at how Oklahoma stacks up against the rest of the SEC.

Brent Venables cracks the top 15 highest paid college football coaches in 2024

Brent Venables has cracked the top 15 highest paid coaches in college football in 2024.

This offseason was a crazy one for college football. We saw arguably the greatest coach of all time, [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag], step down from his position for the Alabama Crimson Tide and call it a career.

Which started a game of musical chairs with coaches across the country. Now that things have started to settle down, 247Sports’ Brad Crawford took a look at the top 15 highest-paid coaches in the sport, and Oklahoma Sooners’ head man [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] has cracked the top 15, coming in at No. 15 making $7.25 million.

Venables contract details: Prior to his hiring ahead of Oklahoma’s 2022 season, Venables was one of college football’s highest-paid assistants as a defensive coordinator at Clemson, where he engineered the ACC’s top scoring defense nearly every year of his tenure. Venables made $2.5 million with the Tigers before seeing a sizable increase with the Sooners. Venables made $7.1 million in his first campaign before that number increased and he responded with 10 wins during the 2023 season at Oklahoma. – Crawford, 247Sports

The last line is the big one. Venables earned his money by helping lead Oklahoma to a 10-win season after going 6-7 the year prior. Now these next two years are going to be huge. Venables was brought in because [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag] felt he was the best guy to lead Oklahoma into the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

Now, it’s up to Venables to prove Castiglione right in that assessment and get Oklahoma back to competing for conference and national championships the next few seasons.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Billy Bowman and Danny Stutsman snubbed from ESPN’s way too early All-American team

ESPN released their way too early All-American team for 2024 and two Sooners were noticeably absent.

What a season [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] and [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] had for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023. It was such a great season that both had tough decisions to make about their future.

Thankfully for Sooner fans, both announced they would be returning in 2024 for a final season in the Crimson and Cream. The two made at least one All-American team in 2023 so having that going into a new conference along with several other defensive guys announcing they would be returning is huge for the Sooners.

Right now, we are in that weird period where there just isn’t much going on in college football. So, that means it’s time for the “Way-Too-Early” lists and this one comes from ESPN as they released their Way-Too-Early All-Americans for 2024.

Both Stutsman and Bowman were noticeably absent. Instead, Harold Perkins, Deontae Lawson and Barrett Carter made up the linebacker position and Caleb Downs and Malaki Starks made up the safety position. While it stinks to be snubbed, this might actually be a good thing. It might add that little extra motivation for next season for both players.

Stutsman kind of makes sense because, after his great start to last year, he fell off at the end of the year due to an injury. But Bowman had a great season and was his best at the end of the year. It’s hard with there being only two spots at safety but it’s hard to argue Bowman doesn’t deserve to have a spot.

So, they’ll just have to prove it on the field.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Red River Rivalry among games in 2024 with biggest College Football Playoff implications

The Red River Rivalry almost always has major implications for bowl season and the playoff. In 2024, it’ll be no different.

The 2023 college football season for the Oklahoma Sooners was a year of redemption. The Sooners finished 10-3 after a 6-7 campaign in 2022.

But that wasn’t the only redemption they got. They also beat their arch rival the Texas Longhorns in the final seconds after getting beatdown the previous season.

This year both the Sooners and the Longhorns head to the SEC, leaving behind the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag]. But even though they’re in a new conference, the national implications of that game don’t go away.

Instead, with the resurgence of the Longhorn program, dare I say they are back, the implications for the College Football Playoff next season only grow. ESPN ranked the top 12 games with the biggest implications for the new 12-team playoff and the Red River Rivalry came in at No. 7.

Why it will matter to the committee: A win against Texas would give them some much-needed margin for error, because if they don’t win the SEC, they will need to beat some of those teams to earn an at-large bid. The same goes for Texas, which will have already faced Michigan (see No. 4), and plays Georgia the following week. – Heather Dinich ESPN

This comes as no surprise because it’s very possible a two or even three loss SEC team will get into the playoff. A win in that game could help overshadow any losses either school has. It’ll also most likely be where ESPN’s College Gameday resides for that week assuming both teams are having good starts to their 2024 season.

Let’s just hope that once again the team in Crimson and Cream rises to the top.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Danny Stutsman among top draft-eligible players for 2025 NFL draft per CBSSports

The Sooners got a big lift with Danny Stutsman returning to school as he is a top 20 NFL Draft-eligible player per CBSSports.

The Oklahoma Sooners got some massive news this offseason as their leader, [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], announced he would be returning to school for one final season. Stutsman finished the year with 104 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and three sacks.

You could tell a major difference from when he was on the field and when he wasn’t. Stutsman missed the second half of the game vs. the Kansas Jayhawks and the whole game vs. the Oklahoma State Cowboys, both Sooner losses in the regular season.

Stutsman decided to return to school one more season after reports surfaced he was going to enter the NFL Draft. Stutsman confirmed those reports but felt he didn’t want to have any regrets.

CBSSports put out their early top 20 NFL Draft-eligible players and Stutsman made the list.

I don’t know that Stutsman has the athleticism to wow you in a combine setting, but he’s got enough to succeed at the next level. Plus, I don’t care what his cone drill looks like; just put on the tape and watch Stutsman play. He’s a heat-seeking missile who flies to the ball and puts and end to the play. He had 104 tackles for the Sooners this year, including 16 tackles for loss, three sacks and an interception. – Tom Fornelli CBSSports

With Oklahoma heading to the SEC, they bring one of the most experienced defenses in the country with them. Stutsman wasn’t the only one who announced their return as Billy Bowman and Woodi Washington both decided to comeback. Hopefully, with that comes a big jump on that side of the football so the Sooners can get back in the national championship picture.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Where are the Oklahoma Sooners heading in 247Sports 2024 bowl projections?

The Sooners first year in the SEC could end with them in the Mayo Bowl if 247Sports’ way too early projection is correct.

The Oklahoma Sooners 2023 season just came to an end less with a loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl just a few weeks ago. But we are already looking ahead to their first season in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] with our Way-too-early 2024 SEC Power Rankings. It’s also the first season of the 12-team playoff.

The Sooners go into next year with one of the most experienced defenses in all of college football after a number of starters and key contributors announced their returns for 2024. But on the offensive side of the ball, they have to replace one of the most prolific passers in college football history as well as nearly their entire offensive line.

Yes, we are excited about the [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] era and think he will be better than Dillon Gabriel, but until we see it, that is a question mark for next season.

247Sports shared their way too early bowl projections, and because of the turnover, the Sooners ended up in the Mayo Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes.

The Mayo Bowl will be an ACC and SEC matchup next season. Hearing that name probably makes a lot of OU fans groan, but I have said an 8-4, 9-3 season in the SEC your first year will be a success.

I know it’s Oklahoma, and they should be better than that. They will be in the future, but they still have a roster to build, thanks to what [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag] left or wasn’t able to recruit to begin with. That’s not to say this staff hasn’t had their own mistakes because offensive line recruiting hasn’t had the star power, and the development on that side of the ball hasn’t been great either.

But if 8-4, 9-3 is a success, the two teams that played in the Mayo Bowl a year ago went 8-4. What might make Oklahoma fans mad, though, is 247Sports has four SEC teams making the playoff, and of course, Oklahoma isn’t one of them. Neither is the Alabama Crimson Tide, for what it’s worth.

Ultimately, this is an early projection that is a good talking point in the offseason. Oklahoma can definitely make the College Football Playoff next season, but there is going to have to be a major jump and some questions answered.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Oklahoma officially announces Zac Alley as Sooners co-defensive coordinator

The Oklahoma Sooners officially announce the addition of Zac Alley as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

What was reported more than a week ago is no official as the University of Oklahoma announced the hiring of [autotag]Zac Alley[/autotag] as Sooners co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Alley comes to the Sooners after helping Jacksonville State finish top 10 in turnovers per game and interceptions per game. The Gamecocks were 33rd in the nation in points allowed per game, helping Jacksonville State win nine games in their first season at the FBS level.

“This a tremendous opportunity,” said Alley in the Sooners official release. “Oklahoma is an elite and historic program that has consistently competed for championships. The opportunity to come to OU and work for someone I really respect and who thinks like I do on defense and who wants to be aggressive and get after people on that side of the ball is exciting.

“Everything I do is based on what Coach Venables did at Clemson. That’s been the foundation for how I’ve built defenses. I always respected how he handled himself as a coach and as a man, and I wanted to emulate that as best I could. From the moment I met him, I always wanted to be like him, have a career like his, lead the best defense in the country like him. He’s obviously had a huge influence on me and I’m excited to be back with him.”

More: Social Media Reacts to the report of Zac Alley as OU’s next defensive coordinator.

Oklahoma’s new defensive coordinator has familiarity with [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] after spending time with the Clemson Tigers from 2011 to 2018 as both a student assistant and graduate assistant. He then spent two seasons at Boise State, coaching the inside and outside linebackers before taking the defensive coordinator job for the University of Louisiana-Monroe and head coach Terry Bowden.

The strong relationship with Brent Venables and the success Alley’s had at his previous stops provide the Sooners continuity on defense and a rising star to help lead the defense.

More: What does Zac Alley bring to the Sooners?

“I’m incredibly excited to welcome Zac to our coaching family here at Oklahoma,” said Venables in the release. “He’s going to fit in really well from a cultural, chemistry and philosophy standpoint. Obviously, there’s a familiarity and comfort based on our background together at Clemson. He’s exceptionally hard-working and tough, and has earned his way up the professional ladder by going out on his own and establishing himself. He’s incredibly bright, innovative and passionate.

“Our players are going to love him. He’s got great humility and confidence, and is always finding ways to get better. He’s coached linebackers and the defensive line, he’s been exposed to the secondary and he was an award-winning special teams coordinator at Boise State. Wherever he’s been he’s molded his units into better versions, and he’ll do the same here. He really fits in well with our staff.”

Oklahoma’s defense took a positive step in 2023, improving in scoring defense, turnovers, and total defense. They are an ascending group that will need to take another step as they prepare for their first season in the SEC.

The Sooners keep the rest of their defensive staff intact while also returning stars [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], and [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag]. Oklahoma also brings in one of their best defensive recruiting classes in the modern era for Alley and the Sooners to work with.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.