Gentry Williams injury update: Brent Venables confirms timeline for Oklahoma CB

After suffering a shoulder injury in fall camp, Oklahoma cornerback Gentry Williams returned to play against Temple and Houston. However, after further aggravating the injury, Williams hasn’t played again. On Tuesday, Sooners head coach Brent Venables confirmed Williams will be out the rest of the season.

Williams didn’t record any tackles in his limited time on the field this season. In the 2023 campaign, he tallied 30 tackles, four tackles for loss, four passes defended and three interceptions. Gentry Williams was a leader on the Sooners’ defense, serving as a team captain in two games.

Oklahoma could’ve used Williams’ talents on Saturday in its 26-14 loss to Ole Miss. In the defeat, the Sooners’ defense allowed 311 passing yards and a touchdown.

It’s nothing new for the Sooners, who are allowing 226.8 passing yards per game this season, ranking No. 83 in the country. In no coincidence, Oklahoma has lost three straight games and is now sitting at 4-4.

The .500 record is far from what Venables had envisioned for the Sooners’ 2024 campaign.

“My message isn’t going to change,” he said according to George Stoia of Sooner Scoop. “Being 4-4 at Oklahoma is unacceptable. It’s embarrassing. We can’t go back and change what happened, but we can control how we finish this thing.”

Examining the future of Oklahoma

In Venables’ first season at the helm of the Sooners, he led the program to a 6-7 record. With three of its final four opponents in the regular season ranked, Oklahoma is in danger of falling short of this mark.

If Oklahoma is unable to turn its season around, Sooners fans shouldn’t necessarily expect a change at the top of the totem pole. If the program fired Venables at the end of the season, it would owe him $44.8 million.

Oklahoma would pay Venables in monthly installments for the remaining five years of his contract, which was signed last June. The contract does not require Oklahoma to pay Venables a lump sum by a certain date or include a reduced percentage buyout, both of which are popular in most contracts.

For now, Oklahoma can only continue to forge its way forward. On Saturday, the Sooners will square off against Maine at 2:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live on the SEC Network+.