Brent Venables: I'm hard on the defense, its deserved

At the Oklahoma Sooners fall camp, head coach Brent Venables is not taking it easy on his team, especially on those on the defensive side of the ball. Following Friday’s practice, the Sooners’ headman explained why he’s so critical of their defense.

“I’m kind of hard on the defense, and they deserve that. We haven’t been very good in a while, but guys are making improvement,” said Venables. “So it’s incredibly important. Not only are you gonna be in the right spot a lot if your process is correct. I challenge the guys; if you don’t like the quality of the results that you have, then look at the quality of the process that you have. Make sure that that process is where it needs to be.”

The Sooners’ struggles on defense didn’t appear with Venable last season. Under the previous coaching regime, Oklahoma struggled on defense consistently. They just so happened to have an offense that could outrace the majority of their opponents. Still, 2022 was a particularly rough year for the Sooners’ defense, as they allowed 35 or more points in seven of the 13 games.

As Venables continued, he highlighted what things he’s looking for out of his defense during fall camp. While at the same time, he was quick to stress the emphasis of his team being better defensively and not relying on just mistakes by the opposing team.

“Maybe it’s a guy got a great jump on the ball, and he’s got a great swipe technique in his pass rush game or a great counter,” said Venables. “And he beat somebody one-on-one, as opposed to relying on somebody busting on an assignment. That’s incredibly important across the board. They throw the ball in a perfect spot, and then you just make a great play through the receiver’s hands.

“We’ve seen that in the first couple of days with several players, and we need to continue to see that. It’s everything, and it’s at all three levels that we have to see that… Defensively, we got a long way to go, a long way to go, and everybody knows that. But I’ve been pleased with work these guys put in.”

Defense is Venables’ calling card. Before accepting Oklahoma’s head coaching position, he worked exclusively on the defensive side of the ball as either a position coach or defensive coordinator. During that time, he was a part of three national championship-winning teams, one at Oklahoma and two at Clemson. So the Sooners’ head coach knows a thing or two about developing a championship-caliber defense.

Venables is going to give his players all the tools they’ll need to be successful. Now, it is up to his players to continue improving during fall camp to turn around the fortunes of the Sooners football program quickly. If they can do that, then Oklahoma has a legitimate chance at winning the Big 12 title in their final year in the conference.