Brent Venables lights up when talking about Gavin Freeman, season-opening performance

Oklahoma‘s season-opening 45-13 victory over UTEP was full of explosive offensive plays, but none may be more special than true freshman walk-on wide receiver Gavin Freeman‘s touchdown in the first quarter of the game. Head coach Brent Venables spoke after the game about Freeman’s heroics.

“How about Gavin Freeman, we’ve been talking him up, first touch of his collegiate career touchdown. Isn’t that great? Like isn’t that a great story? That’s like a great story,” Venables said.

A reporter asked Venables about Freeman’s story, as he chose to bet on himself and walk on to Oklahoma and play for the Sooners just like his father Jason Freeman did.

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“What a great was to say it, he chose to bet on himself. He had opportunities to go to a lot of spots and I loved he’s been super low maintenance, really humble,” Venables said. “But he’s wide open every day and he’s fearless. You saw that play somebody about put him together like an accordion out there they hit him so hard and he just bounced right off, stiff-armed another dude and then a couple series later he’s down running down on the kickoff team.”

Freeman received offers from Air Force, Tulsa, and Texas Tech, and was actually committed to the Red Raiders before flipping to Oklahoma to walk on. Freeman stands at 5-foot-8, 173 pounds according to Oklahoma’s roster, and it seems like whatever he lacks in size he makes up for in heart and effort. Freeman broke a multitude of tackles on his way to the end zone on his 46 yard reverse play scamper, and hopefully for him and the Sooners, he can continue to make big plays this season.

“He’s a special dude, I’m really excited to see where he goes, but thankful for him believing and betting on himself for sure,” Venables said.

Brent Venables reveals conversation Dabo Swinney before kickoff in debut as Oklahoma head coach

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables made his head coaching debut this weekend for the Sooners as they took on UTEP. Venables was asked after his 45-13 victory over the Miners if there were any surprises in his coaching debut and spoke on how conversations with Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and others prepared him for the moment.

“I wouldn’t say necessarily by surprise, again I’ve got a good staff around me that’s non-stop trying to educate me. I ask a lot of questions, I’m not afraid to ask I’ve just always been that way, been this guy and then you know the guy next to you is like ‘Come on we’re trying to get over this’ and I’m always asking the questions. I want to know why or what and I spoke to coach Swinney this morning so we were joking around like ‘Hey you know what? Anything I need to know as a head coach game day,’ calling him two hours before kickoff or whatever,” Venables said.

Venables also referred to how conversations with former collegiate head coaches Bob Stoops and Matt Wells helped in his preparation for his new head coaching role.

“Then coach [Bob] Stoops stopped in during the week and he’s just coming by to fist bump, so I’m always tying to find out from people that have done it at the highest level. Certainly Matt Wells I have on staff, but I utilized all three of those guys this week and I have for several months. Just mentors and people that are doing what I wanna do and have had the kind of success I want to have, and so I’d be negligent in my opinion if I didn’t ask,” Venables said.