Brent Venables gives update on WR Javonnie Gibson, discusses medical staff
ATLANTA, Georgia — The Sooners suffered their share of bad injury luck during spring practices. At the top of the list was transfer receiver Javonnie Gibson.
Gibson’s status for the fall is up in the air after he suffered a broken leg in April prior to the Crimson Combine. His availability remains unclear, but OU coach Brent Venables gave an update on Gibson’s recovery Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
“He’s out of the boot and he’s on schedule,” Venables told OUInsider. “When I know definitively when he’s full speed practicing or anyone else along that way, I’ll let you guys know.”
“There’s a progression to everybody when it (comes) to an injury, where, OK, he’s back but he’s not 100% yet,” Venables continued. “You’re kinda working him back to a routine and, OK, he’s doing (individual drills), he’s doing warm ups. He’s doing conditioning. He’s doing a little bit of team, non-contact (drills), things like that. We’ll give you those details when I have them. But he’s out of his boot.”
Gibson’s injury was notable as the Sooners finished up spring practices. For one, the Arkansas Pine-Bluff transfer quickly emerged as a top receiver for the Sooners since arriving on campus in January. That was significant considering the Sooners lost several wide receivers to the portal, including Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson and Andrel Anthony.
The Sooners were also simply snake-bitten by injuries a season ago, particularly at wide receiver. Each of the Sooners’ top five receivers missed most or all of last season. The program made significant changes to the medical staff during the offseason, including the hire of former New Orleans Saints’ director of rehabilitation Johnathan Gress as the new head trainer for the football program.
“I think it’ll be great. Some people don’t like change, but I think change is always good. Through the challenges and the head winds of dealing with everything that encompasses to run a football program. As you all know, the medicals — I don’t decide who people hire. I’m not their boss. They don’t report to me or anywhere in college football for the reasons that are pretty obvious. It’s a great staff that’s there of people who are in the building already and a group of people that we’ve hired.
“Johnathan Gress is fantastic and is a part of the interview process. He’ll bring a great lens, kind of an outsider perspective from all the experiences that he’s had. He works great. Effective communicator. Good, strong leadership. Knows what he wants to do. And a great collaboration and a great willingness to collaborate. There’s a sports performance team that when it’s working well, everybody’s working together. As we all know, it takes everybody. That’s nutrition. That’s conditioning. That’s sports science… So they meet a lot and it’s been a great collaboration thus far.”