Anonymous Big 12 coach says Oklahoma's defense has the least talent it has had 'in years'

The Athlon Sports 2023 National College Football Annual, a preview of all 133 FBS teams, has just been released. The writers tackled a number of marquee storylines to follow in 2023 and revealed their preseason top 25. But one of the more intriguing aspects of the magazine is the anonymous interviews done by various coaches throughout the college football landscape. And in one of the anonymous interviews, an opposing coach was critical of the level of talent the Oklahoma Sooners have entering this season.

“With (Dillon) Gabriel coming back, they’re going to be one year better on O. But they’re the least talented on defense that they’ve been in years. We’re curious what Brent changes up on in his schemes to account for the deficiencies. You can’t run some of that Clemson stuff with what they’ve got in the front seven.”

“Probably the best way to explain last season is that they’ve got a head coach who hasn’t made all the hard decisions yet. They’re caught between eras, what they were — and also what was slipping — with Lincoln (Riley) and what they want to be heading into the SEC next year.”

Venables came in at a critical time for the Sooners program. After the 2022 season, Oklahoma had to recover from former head coach Lincoln Riley bailing on the program, along with a ton of talent on the roster that he recruited. Also, Oklahoma is preparing for a jump to the SEC, arguably college football’s toughest conference.

Things may not be the way Sooners fans would like them to be right now, but in Venables, they have a coach who is familiar with the program and is a solid defensive recruiter. It’s going to take some time, but Oklahoma has a head coach that can lead them back to the pinnacle of college football.

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Peyton Manning says Oklahoma, Texas joining SEC will ‘only make it better’

There are plenty of people excited for Oklahoma and Texas to join the SEC. And you can count former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning among them. Manning loves the SEC. But he acknowledged he was a little biased since he played for the Volunteers. Still, Manning only pointed out the positives of two new schools joining the conference.

Time for some exciting new rivalries and possibilities beginning in 2024.

“I guess I kind of knew that it was kind of in the mix,” Manning said at the Passing Academy held at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. “I’m biased. I think it’s the top conference and great competition and those two storied programs, I think, will only make it better and creates, I think, some interesting rivalries as well.”

Not only will Texas and Oklahoma join a new-look SEC, but the conference will also go to single standings and eliminate divisions.

That was seen as a big win for the SEC.

“They haven’t been (abolished) yet. But our focus, as I’ve indicated, has been consistently on the single standings model,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “I was told not to say single division. A single standings model has been and remains the focus.”