Brent Venables pressed on whether Caleb Williams will be at Oklahoma next season

Brent Venables expects talented young quarterback Caleb Williams to return to Oklahoma next season. Williams opened this season as Spencer Rattler‘s backup, and Rattler was a preseason Heisman favorite. But Rattler struggled and Williams eventually unseated him as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback.

Rattler is now at South Carolina, while former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley is now the head coach at USC. The Sooners hired Venables, previously Clemson’s defensive coordinator, to replace Riley. Despite the changes that come with a coaching change, Venables still thinks that we’ll see Williams playing for Oklahoma moving forward. Venables sat down with News 9 Sports Director Dean Blevins in Norman, where he went in depth on his thoughts of Williams’ return.

“Well I do. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t,” Venables said on if he expects Williams to return to Oklahoma. “But you’d have to ask him. He’s a wonderful young man, he’s incredibly talented. I do believe that he and his family have tried to plant their roots right here and make this home. So hopefully that’ll continue to be a huge part of who they are from the Sooner family and the connectivity that I feel like has been established.”

Williams played sparingly over the first few weeks of the season. Against Texas on Oct. 9, Rattler was benched and Williams led Oklahoma on a huge second half comeback. The starting job then belonged to Williams, and he never gave it back. Williams was even mentioned in the Heisman conversation for his strong play.

“We need him,” Venables said on Oklahoma getting Williams back. “I think the best version of Caleb Williams combined with a supporting cast, coaching can be a wonderful message. He’s a wonderful young guy. He’s got big dreams like all young people. Hopefully him and their family believe that we can help facilitate that. His dreams are our dreams and so forth. He’s the face of our program moving forward.”

Williams, Venables have familiarity prior to Venables coming to Oklahoma

On the season, Williams threw for 1,670 yards, 18 touchdowns and four interceptions. He also rushed 72 times for 408 yards and six touchdowns. While he struggled a little bit down the stretch, Williams proved that he is one of the top athletes and one of the most promising young quarterbacks in college football.

Despite Venables just now getting the Oklahoma head coaching job, he is already familiar with Williams. After Venables was hired, Williams talked about his familiarity with his new head coach.

“I’ve known Coach BV for a while now just because of all the Clemson visits I used to go on,” said Williams. “He’s always had a lot of energy. Even to the times – I didn’t watch Oklahoma then but – even to the times that, you know, all the fans can look back to when he was here at Oklahoma. I mean, he had a whole lot of energy then. He still has a whole lot of energy .. he’s going to keep having a whole lot of energy.

“I think it was a great hire to have Coach BV here.”