Brent Venables details where Oklahoma stands in roster building
Oklahoma and Texas are set to make the jump from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC in a matter of months, and many have wondered how well the two Big 12 stalwarts will immediately adapt to their new environment.
One bit of preparation Venables wants to square away for the Sooners sooner rather than later is managing his roster. Oklahoma and Texas need SEC-level talent to succeed in their new environment. That means recruiting the biggest, strongest and fastest players out of the upcoming high school and transfer portal cycles.
“You always want more,” Venables told On3’s Andy Staples on Monday. It’s just how coaches are and I think if you chase winning and chase success, I think that is a mindset but you always want more bigger, longer guys, you want more depth. That’s, that’s just the way it is. I don’t know if we can ever satisfy ourselves, no doubt about it. We can compete at a really high level. We’re working hard for just daily improvement, to get better so that we can compete with competitive depth in that conference (SEC), week in and week out.
“I think that’ll be the biggest test of the program. Where we’re at is playing Texas-type teams every year. We are used to Texas — or again, there’s a lot of very successful programs right here in this conference (Big 12) as well. You look at two former Big 12 teams in Missouri and certainly Texas A&M.”
Before Venables was named Oklahoma head coach ahead of the 2022 season, he was Clemson‘s defensive coordinator from 2012 through 2021 and even won the Broyles Award in 2016 for the nation’s top assistant coach.
There, he helped coach the Tigers to two College Football Playoff National Championships in 2016 and 2018, respectively. He was a part of Clemson’s coaching staff for all six CFP appearances between 2015 and 2020 and faced an SEC team — all against Alabama, except one ill-fated run-in with Joe Burrow and LSU in 2019 — in all but one of their CFP runs.
“We played SEC teams every single year, but certainly we didn’t play him every week, though,” Venables said of his time at Clemson. “And and I get that. That’s a very real thing, too. But the competitive depth of the conference, top to bottom, and the environments that you’re going to play in every single week — the Oklahoma fans aren’t going to outnumber the home team like some places in the Big 12 by any stretch, but that’s exciting. That challenge is some of the allure and some of the draw of going to that conference (SEC), too.”
Venables’ experience coaching — and winning — against SEC teams at the highest level is invaluable to Oklahoma’s preparation to join the SEC later this offseason.
They’ll get their SEC schedule started with a Sept. 21 matchup against Tennessee in Norman, but will also see matchups at Auburn, at Ole Miss, at LSU and against Alabama during the 2024 college football season.