Brent Venables recalls ‘scary’ situation involving Jacob Lacey’s health, football return

For a brief period ahead of the 2023 season, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables wasn’t certain that transfer defensive lineman Jacob Lacey would even be able to suit up. After Lacey had been diagnosed with blood clots over the summer, Venables and his staff had to proceed like he might not be playing in 2023.

That was not the hope, certainly, and Venables has been thoroughly excited to see that things have played out about as well as possible. Lacey is back, in the lineup, and there seem to be no real issues going forward.

“Yeah, it was scary, really scary. And just thankful that, under the circumstances, that it was diagnosed and he went through the right protocols to get him healthy and fortunately for him and for us from a football standpoint, it was the best-case scenario when it comes to blood clots and I think the minimum amount of time. He was one of those percentages that fit into that category,” Venables said.

While that’s the case now, Venables wasn’t certain at the time that it could all play out so cleanly.

“Because I’ll be honest, when he got the first, initial diagnosis, you hear the doctors and you hear, ‘OK, here’s kind of the plan.’ But you’re really, for our staff, our mindset was, ‘Alright, we gotta move on without him. And plan on him now being able to make it back. Plan on him dealing with a potential setback. We certainly didn’t relay that to him, but that’s just part of our responsibility,” he said.

And Lacey didn’t even miss a game.

By Week 6, he recorded a late sack against Texas in the Red River Showdown. Venables discussed how that moment hit him, knowing all that Lacey had gone through.

“I’ll be honest, it hit different because it was in the Cotton Bowl in a two-minute situation. They end up kicking a field goal on that drive. So that was a big play within there. But Jacob, one of the things that makes him a really good player is he plays with great fundamentals and that’s — it’s not the scheme that helps these guys make plays, it’s that ability to execute at a high level with precision and timeliness and the fundamentals that you ideally want. The plan or scheme is only as good as the players that are executing it. But good for him, a really big moment for him,” Venables said.