Brent Venables explains Oklahoma's focus on strengthening defensive line
The moment Oklahoma was announced to the SEC, the hunt to get better on the line of scrimmage began for Brent Venables. He went specifically hard after elite defensive linemen during the 2024 recruiting cycle, landing five players at the position.
“I think we’ve signed five defensive linemen out of high school in David (Stone) and Jayden Jackson, Danny Okoye, Nigel Smith, Wyatt Gilmore,” Venables said via SEC Network on National Signing Day. “That’s the group of high school players we’ve got coming in. They’re all physical, they’ve got great length, speed, physical toughness, some guys that have some special abilities.”
Stone is the crown jewel of them all, being a Five-Star Plus+ prospect. Jackson, who was Stone’s high school teammate at IMG Academy, is already practicing with Oklahoma ahead of the Alamo Bowl against Arizona and is impressing early on.
If you are looking for the best defensive line class in the country, Norman is likely their future home. This is nothing new for Venables, producing elite players upfront for years now. Whether it was at Oklahoma as the defensive coordinator or after his move to Clemson.
Venables has a history and has shown improvement during his current stint with the Sooners. He was pleased with the defensive line’s play during the 2023 season, likely being a huge selling point when putting this class together.
“It’s incredibly important. The lines of scrimmage, that goes without saying,” Venables said. “The defensive line, we made great improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 and it’s going to take the same. We have several guys returning this year with the influx.”
Oklahoma gave up an average of 148.1 rushing yards per game this season, significantly better than the 187.5 from 2022. That’s not an end-all-be-all metric when looking at defensive line play but improving by 40 yards per game shows the Sooners were able to perform better up front.
Add in the freshman Oklahoma has joining the program and excitement is at an all-time high. Their talent mixed with a few returning players will only build expectations for the unit moving forward. Venables may not be completely done adding either, still wanting to dip his toe in the NCAA transfer portal.
“We do have some guys coming back that are going to help those guys transition and then we’ll look to probably still add one or two more guys up front in the transfer portal as well,” Venables said.
Sept. 21 is when we will get a real look at Oklahoma’s defensive line up against a quality SEC offensive line. Tennessee will be rolling into town, expected to have a great unit blocking for Nico Iamaleava. A great first test for Venables to figure out if his hard work on the recruiting trail will pay out early dividends.