Brent Venables: 'I wasn't like Deion,' in roster overhaul at Oklahoma

First-year Colorado head coach Deion Sanders took a unique approach to the transfer portal this offseason, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has some strong thoughts on it.

After telling Buffaloes players at his first team meeting that he was “bringing his own luggage” to Boulder, Sanders has drastically overhauled the roster. More than 50 scholarship players from 2022 have since left the program, giving the coach a nearly entirely new group to work with.

Venables, who is set to enter his second season as the Sooners’ head coach, handled things differently upon arriving in Norman last year. In an interview at Big 12 Media Days this past week, he said he gave his players “12 months of grace” while taking a shot at Sanders for handing out “pink slips” upon his arrival.

“We’re another year in establishing our standards and our culture and our values,” Venables said. “That matters. A year ago, I challenged the guys. I wasn’t like Deion that gave guys a bunch of pink slips. I gave the guys 12 months of grace to go to class, live right off the field and to show up with a great sense of urgency and respect for your opportunity at the University of Oklahoma.”

As much as Venables disagrees with the way Sanders handled things, it at least appears to have worked out for him on paper. Colorado brought in several highly touted transfers, including receiver Travis Hunter, the No. 1 player according to On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings who followed Sanders from Jackson State. Whether that will translate to more wins after the Buffaloes finished 1-11 this past season remains to be seen.

As for Venables, he led the Sooners to a 6-7 finish in his inaugural season, their first losing record since 1998. That resulted in a roster overhaul of his own this offseason, though it wasn’t nearly as drastic as what took place at Colorado.

Venables went to the transfer portal to add several new faces, including three of the top 50 players according to On3. That includes names like edge defenders Dasan McCullough and Rondell Bothroyd as he hopes to achieve better results in Year 2.

“If you went 12 months and you were 0-for-3 in 12 months, you needed a fresh start,” Venables said. “So we lost 21 scholarship players after the season and we’ve got 63 guys that have never taken a snap at Oklahoma. We’ve got 97 of the 123 guys on our roster that are either in their first or second year at Oklahoma.

“So I think the real key to success, outside of all those other things that I just spoke about, is how quickly can we get this group of newcomers to blend in with all of our returners? How quickly can we create the cohesion and chemistry that any great business, any great locker room, any great team (has)?”

Time will tell whether Venables’ patience pays off or if Sanders is on to something with the way he attacked the portal. The college football season is officially less than two months away, so we won’t have to wait much longer to find out.