Oklahoma's Brent Venables on Michigan QB Bryce Underwood: 'Man, he's a little different ... he reminds me a lot of Trevor Lawrence'

There will be familiar faces all around when Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore returns to his alma mater for this weekend’s clash between the Wolverines and Oklahoma Sooners in Norman. Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables was the defensive coordinator, of course, when Moore was an offensive lineman for the Sooners from 2006-07.

“Obviously, he was a great player, great leader, ultra consistent,” Venables recalled during his Monday press conference. “He was a guy that loved to compete. Super physical. One of the linemen that just did the methodical very, very well — day in and day one, ultra consistent. Really smart. Guys gravitated to his leadership style.”

The two blue blood programs will go at it for just the second time in history, with the lone meeting coming in the Jan. 1, 1976, Orange Bowl, a 14-6 Sooner victory.

“We’ve got a great opportunity this week with Michigan coming into town,” Venables said. “It’s going to be a really cool matchup of two incredible programs that represent all the excellence in college football for a long, long time.

“It’s going to be really exciting from an environment standpoint. Game Day will be here. That’s cool. We’ve attracted some of the best talent in the country, who will also be on campus, from a recruiting standpoint. And for our football team, most importantly, an opportunity for us to match up with one of what’s been in the last several years one of the best teams in college football. 

“Michigan returns 51 lettermen, a very experienced football team. A team that’s two years removed from winning the national championship. A team that’s 31-5 in their last 36 conference games in the Big Ten Conference.

“Just had a tremendous amount of success for a long time, and certainly this is a roster that they have that is elite. They’re really good in the trenches on both sides of the ball. They have elite playmakers. A quarterback that looks to be mature beyond his years, with his decision making and certainly his skill set. He’s got a very live arm, very athletic. And a defense that, for the last several years, has been one of the gold standards in college football, when it comes to playing great defense.

“It’s going to be a great, physical matchup. For us, a great litmus test of where we’re at. I know our guys are looking forward to the challenge of the game.”

The quarterback, of course, is 6-foot-4, 228-pound freshman Bryce Underwood, who went 21-of-31 passing for 251 yards and a touchdown in Michigan’s 34-17 season-opening win over New Mexico, dazzling in his collegiate debut. Oklahoma will be a much bigger test, due in large part to the fact that Venables — who calls defensive plays — is one of the better minds in the sport.

“I really look at the team, the DNA of the offense,” Venables said on how to prepare for a young quarterback without much film. “We want to get after every quarterback that we play. There’s a methodology to all of it, so you’ve got to start in the run game. It starts up front; you’ve got to win the battle in the trenches. Everybody’s got to win their matchups for anything to work.”

That said, Venables has been impressed with what the Detroit native Underwood has put on display, even comparing him to former Clemson quarterback and No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Trevor Lawrence. Venables was the defensive coordinator for the Tigers when Lawrence was behind center.

“He’s a guy that, man, he’s a little different,” the Oklahoma head coach said of Underwood. “He reminds me a lot of Trevor Lawrence — just quick, decisive, accurate, poised, tough, consistent. There’s a reason he was the No. 1 player in America, and he’s got a maturity and a work ethic and leadership ability to go along with that.”

Venables, a 54-year-old former Kansas State linebacker, was asked about 2018 Clemson’s 28-26 win at a raucous environment at Texas A&M, and how freshman quarterbacks can deal with hostile atmospheres.

It takes a great performance, he responded, including by those around the quarterback.

“I remember the guys around him playing well — a defense that played really well, receivers that climbed the ladder and made competitive plays, running backs that broke tackles and an offensive line that gave him opportunities to throw the ball on time,” Venables said. “And then his talent was evident, but in that game, we also played two quarterbacks. Kelly Bryant also played, and played well in some of the short-yardage, plus-one run game, RPO, pop pass stuff, that world. 

“But that’s what I remember about Trevor. He was surrounded by a veteran football team, where he didn’t have to play quarterback alone. If we’re going to be successful where everybody plays a role … he’d be the first to tell you, and as the season went on he had some ups and some downs. But in the biggest moment in the biggest game at the end of the year, he was able to make a lot of really good plays under duress and tight windows, and so did the players around him.

“That’s what I would say. Really good quarterbacks are successful not by themselves. But that’s what he was able to do, able to lean on the defense when things aren’t going well. Nothing was easy about that game. I think it went to overtime.”

Michigan certainly has a lot around Underwood, including what’s projected to be one of the best defenses in America throughout the course of this season, with coordinator Wink Martindale calling the shots. Venables weighed in on what stands out about the front seven.

“The depth is probably the first thing,” he noted. “They lost several players, but they still have so many really good players up front. They’ve got seven players on defense who have started at least 10 career games. That’s a lot for [a unit that] was supposed to have graduated a lot of guys.

“They’re very well-coached. They’re long, they’re athletic, they’re physical. They play with great effort, a lot of confidence. They’ve got good culture. It jumps off tape.”

Junior running back Justice Haynes, meanwhile, went off in Michigan’s win over New Mexico, rushing for 151 yards and 3 touchdowns. An Alabama transfer, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Haynes rushed 3 times for 18 yards in a 24-3 loss to the Sooners in 2024.

“He’s got a great offensive line, a really physical group of guys,” Venables said. “He’s a very instinctual player, very powerful, explosive. He had great success in high school, and just a young player at Alabama. I know he played, he had a role, and probably looking for a little bit more of a role at Michigan. Certainly, he found it.

“But a really good player. I’ve heard some of his interviews — a mature, wise young guy that’s got strength as a leader, as well.

“He’s tough to tackle. He’s got great speed. Both of their backs are really, really good players. Got our hands full, when it comes to stopping the run.”