JD PicKell: Why Oklahoma fans are feeling fine after turnover-laden offseason

No teams in the country went through more transition than Oklahoma and USC. The Trojans had the benefit of adding the Sooner’s former head coach in Lincoln Riley as well as OU transfers in QB Caleb Williams and WR Mario Williams. Oklahoma had the job of rebuilding the program after all of their departures. With all things considered, On3’s JD PicKell believes that Sooner fans think they’re a-okay.

PicKell talked about the changes at Oklahoma and their upcoming season in his latest episode of ‘The Hard Count‘. He says new head coach Brent Venables is the key to their calm manner because of how closely he aligns with the identity of Sooner football.

“There’s a lot of things that are going on in Norman. The first thing I think we have to address is that the people in Oklahoma, amidst all the chaos, they feel pretty good. Even more so, they feel like they got their guy in Brent Venables,” said PicKell. “Think about what you know about Sooner football. It’s not glitz and glamour, not red carpet, not movie premiere, not the Hollywood Hills, not really shiny. It’s blue collar, hard edge, smash mouth, pick up the lunch pail and go to work every day. That’s what they feel like they’re getting with Brent Venables. They feel like they got a guy that aligns with the culture of Oklahoma.”

Venables coached as an assistant at OU for 13 seasons. Venables is a defensive minded leader who’s defined by all the hard-nosed traits PicKell highlighted. He’s tasked with filling in the shoes of Riley’s 55-10 record over his five seasons at Oklahoma.

With that said, Sooner fans think that might not be as hard as some would think. Riley is an exceptional coach, specifically on the offensive side of the football. However, PicKell says that they believe a portion of Riley’s success traces back to building on the foundation former head coach Bob Stoops built.

“They didn’t hate Lincoln Riley. Lincoln Riley did a lot of great things for that program. A lot of people would also tell you they feel like Lincoln Riley benefitted from what Coach Stoops brought to that program,” PicKell said. “Don’t shoot the messenger whether you agree with that or not. That’s how they feel. Lincoln Riley was, in a lot of ways, good but not the Oklahoma brand if that makes sense.”

Venables still has a lot of work to do to to build his program early. Success will be expected with seven straight Top 10 finishes in the final AP Poll of the season. Still, Venables won’t have to do as much to make his imprint early. Experience in Norman and features the fanbase can get behind will have him and his team ready to go on September 3rd versus UTEP.