Brent Venables reveals his hopes for first Oklahoma scrimmage

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables is heading into his fourth season at the helm in Norman, where he’s led the Sooners to a 22-17 record with losses in all three bowl game appearances. To say the 2025 season is extremely important for the Kansas State alum is an understatement.

Venables discussed his hopes for his team ahead of their first scrimmage prior to Oklahoma‘s first game of the season against Illinois State on Aug. 30. The Sooners are 3-0 in season opening games under Venables.

Sooners look to improve on both sides of the ball this season

“We want a clean scrimmage,” Venables said. “Procedural things. Pre-snap. You know, penalties. Sloppiness. Take care of the football. Make good decisions. Defensively, no explosive plays. Get lined up. Do a great job communicating and I really like to see a team that communicates well. That’s both sides because there’s a lot going on before the ball is ever snapped. Get everybody on the same page and that’s when you give yourself a chance to have success. When you have your hand in the dirt and you know where to put my eyes, you can play with great fundamental techniques, effort and those types of things. You can do a great job of communicating and having everybody on the same page.”

“So you want to see all of those things, and then take a big step in the kicking game. With the confidence of the guys kicking the ball and punting the ball and then seeing who those coverage teams are. We gotta make sure we’ve got the right people on the bus when it comes to that that understand the value in a one-possession league. All those hidden yards make a big difference.”

Improvements on both sides of the ball will be expected from the Sooners in 2025, as they had a middle of the pack defense and a bottom dwelling offense in their first season of SEC play last year. While OU allowed just 318.2 yards per game (sixth best in the SEC), its offense recorded just 331.0 yards per game (14th in the SEC).

Venables laments effort in Oklahoma’s loss to LSU last season

“A year ago, we were number two special teams team going into our last regular season game and we gave up a 100-yard kickoff return that put us at number six in efficiency in the conference,” Venables continued. “One mistake. Lose leverage to the field and there’s four guys (all freshman) that had done a really good job all year and kind of took the play off. Didn’t do the things that winning requires and good teams are gonna find you and punish you. That’s a game going into the fourth quarter, whatever you wanna say, good or bad, we’re going into the fourth quarter and it’s 24-17 after giving up the 100-yard kickoff return.”

“We didn’t play great on offense and we needed to get off the field in a couple of critical times on defense and third down. You do those things and have the discipline to play that play with the season on the line. You go on the road and you have a chance to win that game. So that’s as big of a deal as any, but I feel great about that with the number of third and fourth-year players we have that are heavily involved in the kicking game.”

The game Venables was referring to was Oklahoma‘s regular season finale against LSU, in which it took a 14-10 lead in the second quarter but then immediately surrendered a 100-yard kickoff return to Aaron Anderson. After heading into the fourth quarter trailing 24-17, Oklahoma would go on to lose to the Tigers 37-17.

“They’re going to be better, and that’s what we’ve seen. The hunger, the attitude, the energy. If I’ve been impressed with anything by this football team, it’s exactly that. Very, very driven and super competitive. Great energy with humility so you can coach them hard. You don’t have to pull teeth to come to meetings. These guys are ready to go and they’ve got a lot to prove.”