Brent Venables reveals childhood memories of Nebraska football

Brent Venables gets a kick out of talking about it now, but he means it when he says he wasn’t good enough to play at Nebraska when he came of age in the 1980s and 90s. Speaking about the Nebraska program ahead of Oklahoma’s game in Lincoln, the first-year Sooners head coach recalled what he admired so much about the Cornhuskers.

Aside from the way those Nebraska the teams played — which he of course worshipped — Venables was impressed by the buy-in and passion from fans. Heck, he was even impressed by the cleanliness of the campus.

“But, just always have had an admiration and respect,” Venables said. “Coach [Tom] Osborne is as classy as — one of the classiest coaches to ever coach in the game. And the program. Everything that it represented. Strength, toughness, power, speed, just excellence. And consistency for such a long period of time. Really, and when you go there, Lincoln is a really — again, a lot of pride in the community, certainly on that campus, and very clean. Everything is just spotless. Which is a cool thing.”

Venables, who played for two seasons at Garden City Community College before finishing his college career as a linebacker for Bill Snyder at Kansas State.

He had no illusions about where he’d be playing college football back then, even if he revered what the Huskers were. He joked that he was barely good enough to be with the Wildcats.

“Obviously I wasn’t good enough,” Venables said.

“I grew up in the 90s, now. Late 80s, 90s, I just never thought of myself like I was good enough like that. And I was right. I found my spot. I wasn’t good enough at K-State, either, but somehow I found a hole in the fence. No, I’ve just always looked at Nebraska like I’m David,” Venables said, reaching his left arm out above his head, “and that’s Goliath. Had that type of mindset. It’s a whole ‘nother planet where these guys are from. And they were. And so, that’s how I just looked up to them like that. But everybody has their spot. Had a good perspective of where I was as a player.”

Going to Nebraska, in and of itself, is a bit of nostalgia trip for Venables, who would road trip there to visit grandparents growing up. He recalled how the Venables family would stock up on produce along the way — especially now that we’re beyond the statute of limitations.

“So, yeah, I grew up — pit spot going to grandma and grandpa’s, we’d pull over and we’d jump in a cornfield and we’d load up on some corn,” Venables said, pausing. “I guess that’s stealing, but I thought it was free because there was no store, no signs. That’s what we did. We got us some sweet corn.”