Brent Venables opens up on Danny Stutsman growth, drive

As far as sea changes go in the college football landscape, it’s hard to get a more stark 180-degree turnaround than the transition Oklahoma made from offensive guru Lincoln Riley to defensive mastermind Brent Venables. In making his move to the Sooners, Venables has gotten a big boost from the drive of players like linebacker Danny Stutsman.

Growth simply comes naturally to the budding sophomore, who is hailed as one of the team’s real jokesters.

Why is that, exactly?

Venables pointed to an offseason conversation he had with the 6-foot-4, 240-pound linebacker from Windermere, Fla. Despite a productive freshman campaign in which Stutsman recorded 38 tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, a sack and two forced fumbles while playing in 10 games, Venables felt like his emerging defensive leader was leaving a lot on the table.

So as the two were walking down a hallway together this offseason, Venables struck up a quick conversation.

“I asked him, ‘Are you ever going to watch tape? Are you ever going to come ask for a playbook? You want to be a good player?'” Venables recalled.

Stutsman was momentarily left at a loss.

“He was like, ‘Woah, where is this guy coming from?'” Venables said. “We had one of those talks.”

Wake up, Danny Stutsman … Growth awaits.

Fast forward to Oklahoma’s Week 1 45-13 win over UTEP and Stutsman was one of the most productive players on the team. He tied for the team lead in the game with nine tackles, while also recording a pair of pass breakups and a quarterback hurry.

The player fans saw on Saturday, though, is only in the beginning stages of a maturation Venables has seen happening for months.

“Danny has had tremendous growth. I think he’s matured as much as I’ve seen anything,” Venables said. “I know Danny’s a guy that has got tremendous instincts. He’s a really good football player. But in order to tap into your potential and really realize your potential, man, there’s a lot of work that goes on beyond what’s required.

“To me he was a guy that had relied on instinct, toughness, the love to play to play pretty good. So the challenge to becoming a leader and taking control of your career; you’ve got a small window. The hourglass is flipped all the way over and you’re on the clock. You can’t get back these days. New staff, new system, new language and are you going to try to learn it? Are you going to be a person of excellence or just try to get by on talent? So to me he’s that very open and honest, raw conversation where we challenged him, I think really helped him from that time on.”

The importance of note-taking in the process of growth

Danny Stutsman made a big impact as a freshman. He’s got the kind of personality teammates gravitate toward that can make him a natural leader going forward, coaches relay.

Of course, there’s a process to turning into a quality leader.

While it comes naturally to some, there are definitely some tried-and-true methods to unlocking even more potential. If you’re willing to listen. And record.

“He showed up to one of our first meetings and he don’t have anything to write with, you know?” Venables said. “So you’re like that? You’re that good? You can just remember everything?”

Venables recounts the story not to dog Stutsman, but rather to use him as a poignant example of what’s possible with real buy-in.

“He’s in a long line of guys that didn’t show up with something to write, so it’s not just him,” the first-year OU coach said. “So we got that fixed, and then again I’ve just seen this more than incremental improvement and the more success he’s had.”

Danny Stutsman, drive go hand in hand

If there’s one thing Venables will tell you about his sophomore linebacker it’s that he doesn’t like coming up short.

“He’s just scratching the surface on what he can be,” Venables said.

One quality that makes Stutsman wired a little differently is that he doesn’t excuse his mistakes. In fact, he’s often the first one to point them out.

Get some praise in the film room? Nope, not lingering on that.

“What I like he’s at is he remembers the bad plays and you want to praise him and he immediately brings up the plays that he needed to do better on,” Venables said. “The good ones are never satisfied. He graded out in the mid-80s and nine tackles, two PBUs and a hurry first start ever? That’s pretty solid. But he was still hungry and edgy about the things he didn’t do well, and I like that because that’s where I am too. But I don’t want to not recognize the work that he’s put in.”

So with a public pat on the back from his head coach, Stutsman gets ready to head back to work. Next up for Oklahoma is another game to iron out the kinks against Kent State before a key road trip to Nebraska in Week 3.

The Sooners can’t wait to see how quickly Stutsman can keep unlocking that potential.

“We’ve played him at multiple positions, because he is a guy that locates the ball well,” Venables said. “Just has a knack for finding the football, but he’s really taken off. Really super proud of him. He’s strong, he’s confident and he’s got good health.”