Brent Venables: Inexperience on the Defense is Holding Oklahoma Back
NORMAN — Brent Venables doesn’t want to make excuses.
But …
“Just calling it how it is,” he said.
Venables gave an extended answer Tuesday for why the Oklahoma defense isn’t playing better this season.
“I see a defense,” he said, “that doesn’t have a lot of experience. So there’s going to be some ups and some downs.”
Venables went right down the Sooners’ starting 11 three days after OU suffered its fourth defeat, a 38-35 setback at home to Baylor. He stopped at senior linebacker Dashaun White.
“We've got one guy that’s been here that’s started a bunch of games,” Venables said, “and that’s DaShaun. DaShaun’s started for four years.”
Venables didn’t recruit any of OU’s defensive starters. He didn’t identify them at elite camps or 7 v 7s or anywhere else.
But, first-year coach or not, these are his players now. This is his team. Team 128, as he puts it, may have been mostly recruited by Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch, but in 2022, they’re being coached by Venables and his staff.
These Sooners might rank 119th in the nation in run defense, 73rd in passing defense, 92nd in scoring defense, 111th in total defense, 125th in first downs allowed, and 101st in third down deafness, but this is who Team 128 is.
“You go up and down the roster,” Venables said,” and you see a bunch of guys that’re still learning how to play the game. That’s part of the growth process. That is not a fun thing for anybody to be a part of.
“It’s one thing to have three or four new guys. It’s whole other thing when you’ve got a whole bunch of new guys and then they’re all learning the same stuff at the same time.”
Venables isn’t wrong, of course. Whether it’s defensive ends Reggie Grimes and Ethan Downs, or defensive tackles Jordan Kelley, Jeffery Johnson and Jalen Redmond, or cornerbacks Woodi Washington and Jaden Davis or safeties Billy Bowman and Key Lawrence or linebackers Danny Stutsman and David Ugwoegbu, or any number of other Sooner starters or frontline guys, the Oklahoma defense may have a handful of seniors, but overall it's bereft of major game experience.
“Reggie, he’s barely a one-year starter,” Venables began. “Marcus Stripling’s a senior, and he’s started two games in his career. Jordan Kelley started one game in his career. Jalen Redmond hasn’t been a two-year starter yet. Jeffery Johnson is a transfer, he’s your other most experienced player. Isaiah Coe has started five games in his career. These are guys that are playing like, freshmen snaps.
“Ethan Downs has started nine games — not a year. Jonah Laulu, again, another transfer, more experienced guy, hasn’t been a two-year starter yet. David Ugwoegbu has started less than — a year-and-a-half starter. Danny Stutsman, still on his first year, still a rookie. Again, talked about DaShaun.
“Jaden Davis, this is his second full-time year as a stater. Twenty-two games now he’s started. Billy Bowman, you know, he’s whatever it is. Eight or nine games — not a year. Key Lawrence, I think it’s eight games. He’s been an eight-game starter. These are all guys starting for us now. Justin Broiles, he’s been here six years, at the end of this year, he’ll be a two-year starter. Woodi Washington, less than two years.
“These are some of the older guys.”
Venables pointed to the OU offensive line as the team’s most seasoned unit — and that’s why they’re playing the best of any group.
“That’s been the most consistent unit all year,” he said.
“So when they see the defense, you see very inconsistent. You see four games of pretty good play, and a lot that hasn’t been good. The ups and the downs. The two games that we lost against two good football teams, Kansas State and Baylor, comes down to the last drive of the game, and we can’t make the play.”
“We can’t make it on third-and-16, we can’t make it on fourth-and-one — against two really good teams.”
Venables suggested that players have become confused when the opposing offense changes formations with pre-snap motion and shifts.
“We’re not doing things that are complicated,” Venables said. “You have to be able to count to three or sometimes four. ‘One, two, three, four, now how do I relate? Where do I get lined up?’
“(Baylor) changed the formation from a two-by-two (two receivers on each side) to a three-by-one. That’s not a complicated thing in the big picture. You have to change. You can’t just stay in one thing when they do this. There has to be some kind of adjustment.”
Players, however, have described Venables’ scheme as much more complex than what they ran under Grinch.
In the big picture, that’s probably bad news.
“We’re barely scratching the surface on the depth of the playbook right now,” Venables said. “Is it harder for some people than others? Yeah, it is. Some of it is youth and some of it is they’re not quite there from a developmental standpoint just yet. We have to be mindful and continue to do the things it takes to develop the guys. The fundamentals, attitude, mindset. This is a game of performance, game of execution. Right now, we’re not executing consistently like we need to. When we do, we’re in pretty good shape.
“When we get lined up, make the right adjustments and get our eyes where they belong, we’re pretty solid. When we don’t, we’ve been getting punished by good teams.
“I love the fight and the competitiveness. The willingness to invest. And they’ve done that. We have no foundation, and that’s what we’re trying to work on right now.”
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