After finishing his sophomore campaign with 44 combined tackles and five TFLs (tackles for loss), LB Cole Sullivan decided to leave Michigan. While Michigan’s head coaching change may have influenced him, the move wasn’t about what was happening at Ann Arbor. It was about the chance to learn from a coach who bills himself as ‘the linebacker doctor.’

“It was kind of funny, the first time I met him, he was like—he called himself the linebacker doctor,” Sullivan said on an episode of 10klahoma, an Oklahoma-based podcast. “He said if you’re sick, do you go to some random doctor you’ve never heard of, or do you go to a doctor that specializes in whatever is wrong with you?

I was like ‘well, I want to go to the specialist.’ He’s like, ‘Well, I’m the linebacker doctor.’ That was one of his pitches to me.”

Cole Sullivan joined the Wolverines as part of their 2024 class. At the very start, his journey took a weird turn when the coach who recruited him (Chris Partridge) left the program for the NFL after Jim Harbaugh took over as head coach of the LA Chargers. However, Sullivan didn’t move at the time and made 12 appearances in his freshman season. His fortunes changed in his sophomore season, as DC Wink Martindale expanded his role. After the season, he entered the portal and joined the Sooners.

At Oklahoma, Sullivan is joining a program where the head coach personally engineered a defensive turnaround, taking a unit from 76th in the nation to a top-10 powerhouse. Venables’ scheme prioritizes “creating confusion” through disguised blitzes and unique pressures, leading the OU defense in both pressure rate and sack rate.

Venables’s reputation as a defensive guru isn’t new; it was forged during his first stint at Oklahoma from 1999-2011, where he developed a pipeline of NFL-caliber defensive talent. That long-standing history is what gives his ‘linebacker doctor’ pitch its credibility. The Oklahoma head coach himself was a standout LB in college.

Now, the former Michigan LB has reportedly been very focused on learning the OU defensive playbook. While it is complex, Sullivan’s proven production at Michigan suggests he has the foundation to thrive under Venables’s specialized coaching, but the transition to a new scheme will be his first major test as a Sooner.

Oklahoma LB’s chance to meet Michigan again

At Michigan, over two seasons, the new Oklahoma LB recorded 48 total tackles and 5.0 tackles for loss. Last season, Sullivan was a crucial contributor to Michigan’s defense. Losing a key contributor like Sullivan to the transfer portal was a major blow to Kyle Whittingham’s Michigan in the offseason.

But in 2026, the new OU LB will meet his former teammate at Michigan again on September 12 for their second home-and-home matchup. Last season, when he was with the Wolverines, Oklahoma won the game 24-13.

Although Sullivan earned Defensive Player of the Week honors three times during that season, Michigan couldn’t enter the postseason, as its regular season ended with a disappointing loss to the Buckeyes at home. However, any signs of progress under Sherrone Moore vanished when the program fired him for cause in December.