Brent Venables recalls recruitment of Gentry Williams, predicts great things

The 73 points Oklahoma scored in their 73-0 win over Arkansas State stole the headlines in Week 1, but their shutout performance on defense was impressive as well.

Sophomore cornerback Gentry Williams played a key role in that shutout performance in his first career start for the Sooners and looks like he has the potential to be a star player in Oklahoma’s defense. And ahead of their Week 2 matchup with SMU, head coach Brent Venables spoke about his young corner starting with his recruiting.

“Gentry, they were really pretty easy to recruit,” Venables said. “He didn’t make his decision right away, he did take quite a bit of time to figure everything out. But an awesome family, great people, and I don’t think he was playing any kind of games he’s very focused, and driven, and committed guy.”

Williams was a four-star recruit out of Tulsa, Oklahoma where he was ranked the No. 1 player in the state and the No. 78 player in the nation for his 2022 recruiting class according to On3’s Industry Ranking. He was a track and football standout, running the nation’s third-fastest freshman 400-meter time and leading his team to the playoffs as a sophomore playing quarterback and cornerback.

“In regards to a year ago, it’s like a lot of freshmen, he didn’t come in at semester so he ran track. So learning the new verbiage and things of that nature, there’s always a transition period but he worked really hard,” Venables explained. “He’s everything I’ve been bragging about him. He’s fearless, and he’s committed, really hard working, he had some bumps and bruises through a good portion of camp and hopefully he can maintain good health for the season.”

He appeared in every game for the Sooners last season, except for the Cheez-It Bowl against Florida State which he missed due to an injury, and made his presence felt as a true freshman. Williams recorded seven tackles in his freshman season as a reserve player and in his first-ever collegiate game recorded an interception versus UTEP.

“He’s got a tremendous future, nowhere close to where we feel like he’s gonna be, he has tremendous ceiling. Played everywhere in high school so it wasn’t like he came out of his mama’s womb as a corner, he’s a great athlete that again, used him everywhere at Booker T. which is a credit to him and his instincts,” Venables said.

Williams showed off some of his instincts last Saturday with a lockdown performance in coverage and recording three tackles, one of which was for loss after diagnosing a running back screen just before halftime against the Red Wolves.

“But what I loved about him out of high school as a skinnier athlete, he really tackled aggressively. They played him at some linebacker in some games and he played with a go-for-broke attitude there,” Venables said. “So he’s had the same mindset when he’s been healthy here and he is a sponge, really smart, takes great pride in his work.”

It’s clear that what the Sooners’ saw in Williams as a high school prospect is beginning to come to light at the college level, and it will be intriguing to continue watching his growth as the Sooners push to improve in year two under Venables.