Oklahoma Sooners head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] was adamant about the past, present and future of the OU football program as the Sooners became official [autotag]SEC[/autotag] members on Monday.
Venables joined ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum on the SEC Network live from Norman as the SEC celebration festivities were in full bloom. If anyone needed selling on the Oklahoma football legacy, Venables made an extremely compelling argument.
“We’re one of the top five legendary, iconic, winningest programs in the history of college football,” Venables said on “The Paul Finebaum Show.” “This is a program, whether it’s the 47-game winning streak or the most conference championships in the history of college football. The national championships, all the Heisman Trophy winners. The countless players that are now in the Hall of Fame, both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. The consensus All-Americans, you start going through all the draft picks, things of that nature, this program stands on its own two legs.”
But Venables wasn’t only excited about what has already happened in Norman. He exuded the promise that the Sooners have in the here-and-now as well as down the road.
Venables began with his offense, speaking on his new quarterback, sophomore [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag].
“I love where we’re at,” Venables said. “We’ve got tremendous experience coming back at the skill positions. Certainly Jackson, this’ll be his first full season. Jackson is as talented a player as there is in college football. He’s a winner. He’s won his whole life. Smart guy, great instincts. He’s got tremendous skill, he’s got great toughness to him. He can run it, he can throw it. Again, this is a game of development. … Wherever he ended the season in his first collegiate start, he’ll be on another planet. My expectation of where we start at the beginning of the year, he’ll develop and get better. He’s tough, he’s got great self-awareness to him. He’s got all the traits that allow you to have to kind of go through it, both the good and the bad, and he responds to adversity. Just a tremendous leader and players play hard for him.”
Venables was then asked about his calling card: the defense.
“We’ve made steady improvement,” Venables said. “It’s been incremental. It can’t ever happen fast enough. You’re never satisfied. But this will be Year 3. First time that we’ve had third-year players in our system, give or take seven or eight starters back, so we have some experience within our schemes.”
The third-year head coach lauded the attitude of his players and the attention to detail that is becoming the culture at OU.
“We’ve developed in the weight room, this’ll be going on our third year, so that’s the weight room, that’s nutrition, that’s recovery – all those areas that are incredibly important. But I love our buy-in, the investment that our players have in that locker room. This is a very highly invested team. Several guys chose to come back. They wanted to help lead us. There’s multi-layered reasons guys want to come back, but one of the reasons is to leave your mark. They have an opportunity to do that going into the SEC with a group of guys that are tough, hard-working guys. Really exciting.”
Venables also didn’t bite when questioned about the public perception that the rival Texas Longhorns are ahead of OU leaving the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] and entering the SEC.
“This is a program that’s been established for a very, very long time. We don’t look at other programs to try to compare ourselves. Doesn’t do us any good. We focus inside out. That’s what we need to do to be an SEC championship-caliber football program. So that’s where our focus is,” Venables said.
These comments, and others, show the alignment of the football leadership at Oklahoma, firmly invested in preserving the rich history of the Sooners. They also show that, though nationally the Sooners aren’t predicted to make a run this year, their head coach isn’t focused on the outside noise.
Venables may finally have enough of the right pieces in place to make another leap in 2024. He’s also building up the future of the program, and the folks in charge are dedicated to doing whatever it takes to win at a high level in the SEC.
Venables has seen what a national championship program looks like in the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] era, winning two national titles as the defensive coordinator at Clemson in 2016 and 2018. The Tigers went toe-to-toe with the SEC’s biggest bully (Alabama) and have the hardware to show a couple of victories. He’s also seen what it can look like in Norman, as the defensive coordinator on the 2000 national title team. His statements to the frontman of ESPN’s SEC coverage illustrate the mindset and the culture that he’s obsessed with building at Oklahoma.
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