Brent Venables describes the difference in development for transfers compared to freshmen

Spring ball is underway in Norman, as Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables enters his second season at the helm for the Sooners. Between incoming freshmen and transfer portal pick-ups, there are plenty of fresh faces gracing the fields at spring practice. And recently, Venables spoke about the difference in developing those freshmen compared to transfer student-athletes.

“There’s a maturity usually, it’s a little bit different just because they’re older and whether they’ve been scarred up, or they’ve played a lot, they’ve grown, they’ve matured,” Venables explained. “So their mindset a lot of times is different than maybe a freshman, so that can be an advantage.”

Oklahoma brought in 13 players from the transfer portal this offseason, all with varying levels of playing experience, but Venables wanted them all to have some static qualities that would be key in them integrating with the team.

“But gotta still at the same time find guys that are team guys, so we really feel good about the group of guys that we brought in from team-centered, leaders where they’re coming from, and then having the maturity to know how to go and compete every day, and that they believe inherently that you’re going to get what you earned,” Venables said.

Venables sounds high on his new transfer portal players, but still hasn’t lost sight of the importance of recruiting, developing, and eventually playing high school talent.

“Those are the biggest things, but again, what you love about a young player is that you have all this opportunity to develop them,” Venables said. “And guys are going to be there for three, four, five years, by that fourth and that fifth year, by the time that comes around there are guys that play at a really really high level consistently for you.”

Oklahoma’s 2023 signing class was ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 7 in the nation, according to On3’s 2023 Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings, consisting of 26 talented high school prospects. There’s no question that the transfer portal has changed the college landscape, as Venables hopes to retain and develop as many of his 26 as possible as he continues to build at Oklahoma.

“So the negative of the portal is guys are in and out, and so there can be constant turnover. And at the end of the day that’s not what you ideally want, you want continuity and stability on your roster, that’s a good thing,” Venables said. “Even if it’s a little lesser talent, you get a guy three, four, five years, those fifth year guys they can play at a really high level and they understand what winning football looks like and they certainly understand inherently and deeply how you do what you do.”