Everything Brent Venables Said Before His Oklahoma Sooners Host Michigan

Brent Venables’ ultimate test has begun, and he seems to be on an upward track so far. However, a huge game awaits the Sooners in Week 2, as Michigan visits for a high-stakes game on September 6. Here’s what the Sooners HC said in a press conference ahead of Oklahoma’s 1st faceoff against a ranked FBS team.

On Sherrone Moore and his Oklahoma career

“Obviously, he was a great player, a great leader, ultra-consistent. He was a guy that loved to compete, super physical. You know, one of the linemen that just, man, he did the methodical very, very well. You know, just day in and day out, ultra-consistent and really smart. And guys gravitated to his leadership style.”

On Gentry Williams’ comeback

“Yeah, excited for him. He’s been through a lot. Great example of a guy just not giving up on, you know, his opportunity. It’d been easy for him to try to start over or maybe even just kind of give in and think it wasn’t in the cards. And so, really thankful for his toughness and his resolve to figure it out. And he’s a wonderful leader. […] He’s a really connected guy, one of our best leaders on our team. And, excited to see him have success and know he’s gonna play his best year of football.”

Brent Venables on facing Bryce Underwood

“We wanna get after every quarterback that we play, you know. […] It reminds me a lot of Trevor Lawrence. Just quick, decisive, accurate, poised, tough, consistent. And there’s a reason he was the number one player in America. And, he’s got a maturity and a work ethic and leadership ability to go along with that.”

“So just really, we look at, you know, what’s it gonna take to win? How do you win? What’s the formula to win? And there might be byproducts of that.  […] It’s really about us. It’s about the fundamentals. It’s about the efforts, about the physicality. It’s about putting ourselves in a position to be successful based on what is on tape and don’t get into a lot of the, you know, conjecture.”

Venables on Owen Heinecke

 “Yeah, no, he’s doing incredibly well. Really proud of Owen. And the same thing is, he’s got a stick-to-it-ness about him. He’s got a bad case of the wants. And he’s created, you know, an opportunity for himself through a lot of hard work.  He kept trying to throw himself into practice the last couple of years prior to this year. He’d sneak in there in the rotation, and I’d go in there and rip him out.” 

“[…] It was, you know, he would really piss me off because there’s a very calculated rotation, and then he’d get in there and he’ll be the first one to tell you. He’d go in there, and he would not be where he’s supposed to be, and then that would make me even more mad. But I kind of liked him doing that, and he kept doing it.  You know, I didn’t look at it as disrespectful.  I just saw it as a guy that, man, I know I can do something. So, really, he believes in himself, and he’s made a believer out of everybody.”

Venables about Kevin Wilson

“He’s got a great pulse for the moment, what you need, what you don’t need, what’s good, what isn’t good. And he’s got great instincts as somebody like the great players do, when to take your shot, when not to, what’s common, what isn’t from the opponent. And he’s got a great understanding of just the human psyche, the player psyche, part of it as well, when it’s enough and when it isn’t, those types of things. So, he’s able to share some of that wisdom.” 

On Jadyn Ott’s presence in the team

“He’s one of the more explosive players in college football, and he was banged up last year. He was banged up in camp, but looks to be close to 100%,  and when he’s at his best, we’ve all seen people that know his journey, you know, what he’s capable of, so he’s a real weapon, and I think he’ll play a real factor in, you know, our season moving forward, so I’m excited about that, to have, you know, another weapon like that, you know, on our offense, and we’re going to need it.”

Brent Venables about Bobby Stoops reaching out

“You know, Coach Stoops came and spoke to the team a couple of, maybe week ago or so, and he brought up that 2000 team, and just, you know, kind of the red October, and then all of the headwinds and the choppy waters that the rest of the season brought. […] It looks easy, looking back, 13-0, ‘Man, they must have been dominant.’ But we weren’t, and it takes everybody.” 

On the OKC Thunder’s NBA finals run and impact on fans

“That’s great for the state and a lot of people. You give people the hope, and during the course of the season, just week in and week out, man. There’s a buildup to every game, and there’s only 11 left guaranteed on the schedule, and six left here in our stadium. So, we don’t ever take it for granted. We talk about that a lot internally, the responsibility, as young men that put the crimson and cream on, what goes along with that, and be excited about that, that relationship that you have with your fan base.”

Brent Venables’ message to fans about the Michigan game

“I’m really excited for our fans. Our fans have an opportunity to really affect the game tremendously. Last week was fantastic, the best walk of champions that we’ve had in the several years that we’ve been here, by a long way. I think opening up maybe that area to the tailgating provided, you know, more of an opportunity for people really to be fully immersed in, you know, game day, and what that’s all about. I think that’s super cool. Our players feed off of that, that additional, you know, emotion. That’s real, and when we came out of the stadium, that was fantastic, so we’re gonna need them.”