Brent Venables: Oklahoma defense has 'opportunity to be great' during first year in SEC

Brent Venables thinks his Oklahoma defense has a big opportunity to be great during the Sooners’ first year in the SEC.

How, you ask? Well, the key is the middle of the defense with the linebacker group, led by Danny Stutsman and others.

Sure, Venables loves the depth at linebacker, but the middle of the defense could consist of DBs coming down or defensive lineman dropping back.

“I think we have great depth up front and you’re right I think any mark of any great defensive unit and again, we’re not great yet you know, that remains to be seen,” Venables said on SEC Network. “But we do have, to me, an opportunity to be great. And I believe in the guys at the middle of our defense and there are several guys but you know, (Da’Jon) Terry, you know, had a great first year with us. (Damonic) Williams, you know, a former freshman All-American that was a transfer portal edition. You know, Jayden Jackson …

“We’ve got a really, really strong group of inside players that allow you to be good and then right behind them up the middle of your defense is Danny Stutsman. And you know, his 6-foot-5, 240-plus pound frame that, you know, he’s wide open, and you know, he’s got instincts, he’s got speed, he’s got toughness, he’s got an amazing desire. And he’s got a tremendous ability to sustain and a lot of guys you know, they can’t do that.”

Brent Venables eager for Oklahoma defense in SEC

Venables didn’t just single out Stutsman when it came to the middle of his defense. That’s where he included other linebackers as well as key defensive backs.

“And we’ve got other excellent linebackers,” Venables said. “I always look at the middle of the defense and then you just talked about, so you’re looking at All-American linebacker in Danny Stutsman and All-American safety in Billy Bowman and then you know, on the other side of Billy is Payton Bowen or (Robert Spears-Jennings), you know, RJ is six-foot-two, 210 pounds and, and we have some great young freshmen there as well and the linebacking unit is as deep of a linebacker unit as I’ve ever been around. 

“And that’s, you know, that’s playmaking, that’s leadership, that’s speed, that’s explosiveness, that’s tackling. You know, I couldn’t be more excited about our linebacking crew as a whole.”

If Venables is to have a successful defense, it’ll be up to Stutsman and the other leaders to set the tone early this fall.