Oklahoma Sooners Coach Brent Venables
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00:00But have there been any pleasant surprises, whether it be an individual or just about this team so far in spring?
00:05There's been lots of them. There's been lots.
00:12Some of the young returning office linemen have been really good.
00:19I've said several of their names already.
00:25Daniel from England, he's been fantastic along with Fedeci,
00:30and Heath Ozieda, Brooks, Josh Sosa.
00:37Those guys inside.
00:40Talked about Bragg on Logan Howland at the beginning of spring and the progress that he's been able to make.
00:46And then we're getting the best version out of Jim Taylor and Jacob Sexton as well.
00:51We expect that.
00:54I was really excited about Helms and he got a little bit of a sprain in his hamstring.
00:59We just want to make sure we don't make it worse this time in the summer.
01:02But I expect him to maybe be back here this week.
01:06But I love what I saw from him. He's honest.
01:09You can feel his presence when he's out there. He's huge.
01:14And then again, talked about Bauer-Sharp.
01:17And then Von Mitchell has done some really good things.
01:21He's not just from a receiving standpoint learned how to block.
01:27Mixed it up with some All-American type linebackers.
01:30I love our group of linebackers.
01:33We are this far away from where we were two years ago.
01:38The linebacker, the development, the depth, what it looks like.
01:44What I really like about this linebacking group,
01:48Zach and Skouska, they've done a nice job of developing position versatility.
01:55So we've got several guys that can bring in four positions to create depth.
01:59More opportunity.
02:01So when a guy gets banged up, you know, it's not limited with your options.
02:06But that's been the heart and soul.
02:09One of the great leadership groups. I love where Ethan Downs.
02:12The game has slowed down for him.
02:15He's playing fast and physical.
02:17And that guy, like Trace Ford, he's played a lot of football.
02:21I'm really excited about what BJ is.
02:23He's a little over 250 pounds today.
02:26But great.
02:28You can tell he's played a lot of football.
02:32He plays quick.
02:34He's long. He's big.
02:36He's got some really good young players.
02:48The other guys inside.
02:50Nigel Smith.
02:52His versatility as well.
02:55I feel like I've missed somebody in there.
02:58Up in our inside guys.
03:01BJ Terry has been a great leader.
03:03A really great leader.
03:05I really think that Grayson is going to play his best football since he's been here.
03:14He's pushing 295.
03:16Looks really good.
03:18And then the volunteers.
03:21He's playing his best.
03:23He's the most improved, probably, of that group of returning players.
03:27He's powerful.
03:29He's close to 300 pounds.
03:31He's got great quickness.
03:33Really strong at the point of attack.
03:35He can rush the passer.
03:37And then Champ Sanders has been doing great.
03:45I know it's been talked about a lot.
03:48Jamie Stone.
03:50Marcus Strong.
03:51Those guys.
03:53Really, we're better at corner right now than we were a year ago.
03:58Some of this experience.
04:00A lot of this experience.
04:01We had a lot of guys that never started a college game.
04:04The only guy that ever started a college game in last year's squad.
04:08Going into last year was Willie Washington.
04:14That was a little concerning.
04:18I really like where we're at.
04:20Everybody's better than what we were a year ago.
04:22I know there's a few guys like Jentry that are out this spring.
04:31We've got to really improve the group of players.
04:35The young guys that we've brought in.
04:37Whether it's Eli Bone.
04:39Eli Bone can go in and be a secondary player.
04:41Right now, the game is easy for Eli.
04:47I'm really excited about Jacobie Johnson.
04:50Kyle Walker.
04:57We've got a transfer.
04:58You guys saw him out here.
04:59Number 12.
05:02Dennis has done some great things.
05:04You can tell he's played corner for a long time.
05:07Again, a year ago, we had several really good athletes that had not played much corner growing up.
05:13At times, it showed that lack of skill development for the position.
05:18Again, he was named a couple of guys that were playing in a much different place than what we were a year ago.
05:25Jeff Long, fast, athletic.
05:28Kevin Dolby.
05:30He's one of the most disruptive players on the whole defense.
05:33He can play anywhere.
05:35He plays like he's 75 at 250 pounds.
05:39He's wide open.
05:41Again, I like the song.
05:44He can play outside.
05:46He can play inside.
05:48Again, trying to help guys develop.
05:50I know every one of these guys want to play a long time.
05:53We want to try to help put them in a position to give them exposure to what that looks like long term.
06:02I like the song.
06:03He's going to play outside.
06:05He's going to play inside as well.
06:08I don't want to pigeonhole him.
06:12We've been cross-training lots of guys.
06:15We've had lots of positions.
06:17We're safe.
06:18We're really excited about them.
06:20I think we lost some good ones last year as far as experience.
06:25Reggie and Keith in particular.
06:30We've got Billy, RJ, and Peyton as cornerstones coming back along with some really good young ones.
06:38I'm excited.
06:40McCarty's having his first time as a football player.
06:44It's been the spring.
06:46He's not taking any reps.
06:47He came off the ACL and then the Taurus last spring.
06:50The first day of conditioning come back.
06:52He missed all last year.
06:54He's getting looks.
06:58We've got Reggie, Boganowski, 14.
07:08Jay Hardy.
07:11He ain't nothing he can't do.
07:14He can play corner.
07:15He can play cheater.
07:16He can play safety.
07:17The football game is easy for him.
07:19We've got some really good football players returning and then a lot of our new guys.
07:26They find the ball.
07:27They know how to maintain leverage.
07:29They understand the difference in stresses.
07:312D, 3D, quarters, man-to-man.
07:35Confident players, but they show up with great humility, eagerness to work and compete.
07:41As opposed to, hey, this is the first time they've failed.
07:44They never really got too dialed.
07:46They've always been the guy until there's a transition because they can't get out of their own feelings.
07:51That's not an issue with any of our guys.
07:54There's not a more humble, hard-working guy on our team than David Stone right now.
08:00He'll be the first to tell you, man, I've got a lot to learn.
08:04I've got to get better at it.
08:05He's showing up every day with that mindset.
08:08That's how you do it.
08:09You try to repeat that.
08:11You try to be very intentional about that.
08:13Sometimes you just get lucky.
08:16The good environments that they come from and where they come from.
08:20Reggie coming from Centerville, that's a program right there in the state of Ohio.
08:28A state that has great football programs, top to bottom.
08:32He's coming from a program that's about something.
08:36He's brought a lot of that with him.
08:39Some things that you can't bring with you.
08:42Just like when I went to Clemson.
08:45Couldn't take 13 years of relationships and credibility with me.
08:52Had to go and start all over with all of those.
08:54Just like these guys.
08:56They've got to earn trust, earn relationships, develop a reputation by showing up every day.
09:02Earn the respect of their teammates by how they do what they do.
09:08You can't bring the stars, the tackles, the sacks, the touchdowns with you.
09:15You've got to start completely over.
09:17It takes a special dude to do that.
09:21These are 17, 18 year old guys.
09:24Not 24, 25, 30 year old guys.
09:27That's what I, as a 53 year old coach who's been a part of a locker room for 35 years in college.
09:34As a player and a coach.
09:36Those are things that get me excited.
09:38Both in the short term and the long term as you build things the right way.
09:42I want guys that are multipliers.
09:45Guys that are going to reproduce who they are.
09:47Reproduce in their own environments.
09:50If that's excellence and hard work and toughness and consistency.
09:56Especially in talent and leadership skills.
10:00Then that's great.
10:02We'll reproduce that.
10:04I love it.
10:05You brought up quality.
10:07What did you see from him this week in terms of adjustment?
10:10Yeah, just that it's all easy to him.
10:15Again, an eagerness to have a great role and show mean versatility.
10:23He's done some of that in the past.
10:25More of it now than ever.
10:28Corners.
10:30It's one of the hardest positions to play.
10:33But from an X and O standpoint, not really difficult.
10:36That part's good.
10:38He still plays both every day.
10:41One side and the other side.
10:43Really excited to work with him.
10:45He's a leader.
10:46He's a tough guy.
10:47He's always making guys better.
10:48He's a guy that's going to celebrate calling his team a success all the time.
10:53Coach, what goes into the preparation for the next open portal?
10:56Whether it be that evaluating potential needs and wants for your own team.
11:00Or just having to deal with the ever-present threat of the potential
11:03of a departure from your own roster that maybe you weren't anticipating.
11:06Yeah.
11:07You've just got to stay ready.
11:08I think it's the biggest thing.
11:11Certainly always assessing your own team.
11:17Where you're at.
11:18You're over there.
11:19Everybody stays.
11:20But that's not likely in this environment.
11:24Adjust and be ready.
11:26Prepare to adjust when it happens.
11:29Be proactive from what that's going to look like
11:34and where needs might be.
11:36Be prepared based on what, from an availability standpoint,
11:41might be available.
11:46The NFL, you know who's getting ready to be a free agent.
11:50You can have a real board that says, all right, these are the free agents.
11:54That window is a small window for students to try to stay aware in college football.
11:59But I'm not going to.
12:05It's always a lot of fighting.
12:07You need no needs.
12:08You know, put this team to one-thirty.
12:12Address those first.
12:13So, in many ways, it's kind of simple.
12:15But there are some preparation things that staff is always prepared.
12:21They understand how the landscape in college football is.
12:27Are there any receivers that you can look at and say,
12:30maybe we can use another body to react?
12:32Yeah.
12:33I'm not going to talk through that.
12:37But, yeah, for sure.
12:39That's part of being prepared.
12:42Thanks, Coach.
12:43Thanks, Coach.