Analysis: History Reveals What Oklahoma's Brent Venables Might Do on Kick Returns

Dabo Swinney and Bob Stoops had their tendencies on both punt and kickoff returns, and Stoops especially liked what a dynamic return game could do for his teams.

A lot of Brent Venables’ coaching tendencies will come out once he gets to actually coach a game.

Until then — two weeks from today, actually — all that’s left to do is speculate on the first-time head coach’s words and what might (or might not) be revealed in the brief periods of open practice.

For instance, what is Venables’ philosophy on kickoff and punt returns?

The real question is whether Venables will try to be risk averse and play field position and adhere to analytics and tell his return men to fair catch punts and kickoffs, or if he’ll roll the dice a bit and try to exploit his players’ frequent athletic advantage and look for big runbacks and create game-changing momentum plays?

To his credit, Venables hasn’t given many clues in August. But it will come out in the wash come September.

Early candidates for punt return have been revealed during the early stages of open practices.

Wideout Marvin Mims — who finally got to perform in the Alamo Bowl and popped a season-long punt return against Oregon — has been going out first. Running back Eric Gray and wide receiver LV Bunkley-Shelton have also gotten early reps. And it would seem a solid choice to still count on Drake Stoops, who might have the best (safest) hands on the team.

Kick returns have been less apparent. Live practice reps are extremely limited, and they’ve not been open to the media. But some of the candidates can be easily guessed at.

Running back Gavin Sawchuk is reputed to be one of the team’s fastest players, although cornerback Gentry Williams was reported as having recorded the top speed during last week’s practices. Breakaway speed is one of the key tenets of kickoff returns, and both stood out in high school, so look Sawchuk and Williams — and several other speedsters — to get a shot.

Now, how many chances will they get?

Last year, Mario Williams (now at USC) led the team with a grand total of five kickoff returns. Gray was second with four. Mims had two.

When Venables was an assistant under Bob Stoops, Stoops’ preference was for bigger, stronger, “thicker” players — running backs and defensive backs, most often — to run back kickoffs. Stoops preferred a little more mass at that position because of the velocity at which players move and the violence of the collisions.

Over the last decade at Clemson — especially in the last 4-5 years — Dabo Swinney preferred the same methodology, as smaller guys like Amari Rodgers, Will Brown and Ray-Ray McCloud fielded punts and bigger guys like Joseph Ngata, Will Shipley and Travis Etienne took back kickoffs.

So that addresses personnel. But what about Venables’ tendencies?

Stoops always had a primary kick and punt returner. Giving dynamic players like J.T. Thatcher, Antonio Perkins, Mark Bradley, DeMarco Murray, Roy Finch, Juaquin Iglesias, Ryan Broyles, Reggie Smith, Jalen Saunders, Joe Mixon and others a chance to create big plays in the open field is how Stoops’ Sooners often separated themselves.

Six of OU’s top nine single-season punt return yardage totals were set during Stoops’ regime, and nine of the top 10 single-season kickoff return yardage totals came under Stoops.

Swinney showed similar tendencies at Clemson.

Numbers-wise, Shipley (14), Brown (12) and Will Taylor (6) last season, Ngata (14) and Rodgers (18) in 2019 and Etienne (19) and McCloud (25) in 2017 delivered returns at a good volume.

That portends a change in how Oklahoma’s return game will look under Venables compared to Lincoln Riley: more runbacks, which means more big plays.

To be fair, rules changes on kickoffs have neutered a lot strong return games across college football. But returns haven’t gone away from the sport yet.

Another factor for OU: Venables was renowned for his blitz tendencies as a defensive coordinator. He didn’t mind taking a chance if it could create a big play.

The guess here is that he won’t be afraid to take a chance on kick returns, either.