Brayden Willis always knew Brent Venables would get OU back on track

A lot of doubters for OU head coach Brent Venables entering the 2025 season. Former tight end Brayden Willis? Nope, definitely not one of them.

Willis, who played his final season for OU in 2022, which was the first for Venables running the show, knew the good times were about to come.

Willis, now a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers, recently talked with SoonerScoop about the OU days, Venables and what it’s like seeing the Sooners in the College Football Playoff.

Watching vs. LSU? That moment?

Man, I was in Cleveland, and we had just got done with our walkthrough, and we’re about to go into our evening meetings, and I’m sitting there in the training room watching the game, causing a ruckus and just hoping the boys finish it out.

We got group chats with RJ (Robert Spears-Jennings) in there, and we’re just really so proud of the boys. And they played the right way, and they played violent and physical, and they swarm. They play really clean. It’s just really nice to see. It’s a type of ball that you can be proud of.

When you say setting the foundation, that’s exactly what we envisioned for a BV tenure. We just didn’t have everything squared away just yet. That time period was, it was a lot. But we knew it was going to happen because of how who BV is as a man and who he is as a coach, and the type of resolve that he has. But man, like watching that game, knowing the implications that it has when the guys were going to pull that off and when they really did, man, this is the first time we went to the playoffs since 19, right? Yes, I’m so excited for them boys.

First interactions with BV? The chaos following Lincoln Riley’s exit from OU?

You said week of chaos, and it truly was. At the time, I was in a weird position where I didn’t know if I wanted to declare. I didn’t feel like I had enough to declare, but I had good enough run tape, and I was getting grades off that. Then Linc left.

And that made me consider it even more because, you know, I never felt like I wanted to be anywhere else but Oklahoma. So transferring for me was really out the picture. The only other thought process for me was, OK, am I going to come back, or am I going to take the leap of faith and go to the league?

I wanted to see who they were going to name, what type of offense we’re going to be running, who’s going to be the offensive coordinator. They named BV as the coach. And obviously, we’re still in the middle of the season. We’re preparing for the Alamo Bowl against Oregon, and he jumps on the FaceTime with us while we’re in the team room. And as soon as he gets hired, we call it emergency meeting, I guess, emergency team meeting.

We just all got in there quickly, got to talk to him and in the conviction in his voice. I immediately knew then that I was gonna give him at least a shot to see what he was talking about. Then I got to have multiple conversations with him. You know how coach is, man. He’s a leader of men. He’s a man of faith. And I love that, because as a man of faith myself, it’s just a conviction that he speaks with. And he told me, he was like, from the time that I was able to go and see y’all practice, and he came and watched us play against Oregon, he was like, you’re a guy that I want to come back. You’re a guy that I wanted to start this thing off with. He said that.

We named Leb the offensive coordinator, got to interview with him and see also how great of a man he was and how the scheme was going to be able to fit me. It was a no-brainer for me. And I do really love the University of Oklahoma. And I do, I did try to give everything that I had in my existence to that program. So I did want to send it off on the right note.

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