Brent Venables addresses how Oklahoma will attack spring transfer portal window

Amid his fourth full offseason as Oklahoma‘s head football coach, Brent Venables is taking a more holistic approach to addressing any roster needs the Sooners might have coming out of spring practice.

But after signing former Washington State transfer QB John Mateer, the No. 2 overall player in 2025 transfer class according to the On3 Industry Ranking, during the winter window, Venables is thinking more comprehensively about how Oklahoma will attack the spring portal window when it officially opens Wednesday, April 16.

“You’re looking at probably every position on your team. You say, ‘well we could use another guy there,’ and you really could,” Venables said Saturday following the conclusion of Spring practice. “So we have our priorities and really don’t want to talk through those right now and see if we find anybody that can meet the needs and make us better immediately. And make a difference on the team where we might need some help. So we’ll look at everything and see what’s available.”

In addition to landing Mateer, their expected starting quarterback in 2025, the Sooners were active but selective during the winter portal window, also locking up elite pass rusher Marvin Jones Jr. (FSU/Georgia); safety Kendal Daniels (Oklahoma State); offensive linemen Luke Baklenko (Stanford) and Derek Simmons (Western Carolina); and receivers Javonnie Gibson (Arkansas-Pine Bluff), Keontez Lewis (Southern Illinois), Josiah Martin (Cal) and Isaiah Sategna (Arkansas).

After those additions, Oklahoma could look to shore up its secondary, especially at cornerback, during the spring portal window, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Sooners target another offensive lineman or two to create more competition up front. Of course, after this weekend’s shocking news out of Tennessee, who knows what other surprises the spring portal window might include.

Brent Venables reacts to opt out decision by Nico Iamaleava at Tennessee

The Nico Iamaleava decision had everyone in college football in a blender, even Oklahoma coach Brent Venables. Okay, well, not a blender, but everyone had a reaction to the stunning opt out amid an NIL negotiation at Tennessee.

Venables, luckily, has not dealt with that type of situation to this point. He expressed pride in his staff’s ability to retain high school players and not rely on the portal and NIL in large sums.

So without having to deal with a star player opting out, Venables didn’t have much to say on Iamaleava’s situation.

“We haven’t had to address anything like that,” Venables said. “I’ve never been through anything like that … You want to be out in front of everything, you know? I think being proactive, and I think retention is the most important part of the whole puzzle. And I think it starts inside out, and you want to develop a locker room that has continuity, consistency, stability, that’s healthy to be successful and I think if you look at our roster and the numbers that you know we’ve signed, you know, each year it’s gone down, and that’s ideally what you want. You know you’re going to have some fluidity. That’s just the nature of where we’re at today.” 

— On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this report.