How Oklahoma's Depth, Mindset Will Propel the Secondary in 2023

OU coach Brent Venables circled the secondary as an area where the Sooners got a lot more talented this offseason as spring practice got underway this week.

NORMAN — OU coach Brent Venables expects big defensive improvements in Year Two, and the secondary gives him optimism that there will be improved play in Norman.

“I really feel like through recruiting we've strengthened our roster positionally, particularly in the secondary,” Venables said on Monday. “That's probably where I feel like we made the most improvement where you have a very, based on what you've seen up to this point in time -- and you still got to go prove it every position across the board.”

Key contributors in Woodi Washington, Billy Bowman, Key Lawrence and Jaden Davis are all back from last year’s team, with young players like Gentry Williams and Robert Spears-Jennings primed to take a step in 2023 after dipping their toes in the water last year.

The Sooner coaching staff then turned to the transfer portal, adding experienced Texas Tech safety Reggie Pearson to the fold after losing the experience of Justin Broiles, Trey Morrison and C.J. Coldon on the back end.

But OU’s 2023 recruiting class is where a ton of the work was done.

Venables and Co. signed seven defensive backs, headlined by 5-star safety Peyton Bowen, to help jumpstart the secondary.

With the new infusion of talent, cornerbacks coach Jay Valai has already seen a better mindset off the field to help propel the group on the field in practice.

“It’s a growing room,” he said on Thursday. “A hungry room. A malnourished room. These guys are working on their own, see them working in the back on their own. It’s great to have that type of mindset and culture in the room. The whole group.

“We have a really good group of guys that are hungry. It’s a good group, hungry group. They want to be elite.”

Part of the issue the OU secondary worked through early last year was overthinking in games early on.

Not only did the secondary have to learn a whole new defensive, but they were asked to do things from Venables that were never put on their plate under the previous regime.

Valai said he saw guys turn a corner late in the year, but it was a growing process to get to the point where Oklahoma’s corners and safeties could simply read and react to what they were seeing in front of them.

“I think once it becomes instinctual,” said Valai, “and these guys can understand what my job is — I already know my responsibility is to go play fast, I think that was the biggest game changer for them. F.B.I., football intelligence, I think as well too. When I first came here I said, 'you guys all play 7-on-7, what's Cover 2? How many deep, how many under?' And there was about 8,000 answers.

“… Once it started clicking in their mind you see how fast these guys played.”

Already through just one week of practice, the players even notice a difference in the speed at which they’re processing things in Year Two of the defense.

“It’s always great to be in a system multiple years in a row,” Bowman said on Tuesday. “When I first got here, I was in a new system. Then as a sophomore, another different system. Now going into the same system for the second year in a row. It brings experience. We know what we’re working on as a group so we can get those things fixed.”

Making mental leaps won’t be enough for Venables and his defensive staff.

The OU head coach also challenged the entire team to be more physical this season, something the corners and safeties aren’t exempt from.

“We definitely do,” Washington said. “We just have to be more physical.”

Waiting until the fall to up the physicality is a non-starter for Washington, as he believes the work to make improvements in that aspect of the game started from the very first practice this spring.

“To come in when we’re doing our drills, and we just gotta focus in and being physical,” Washington said. “It’s all about intent. You’ve got to be violent at the point of attack and make plays.”

Bowman agreed with Washington, stating that upping the physicality will be down to each individual player on the team.

“It’s all a mentality,” he said. “You come to work every day. It’s something you have to want to do. If you don’t want to do it, then it won’t get done. But if you want to do it, you can put your mind to it.”

It’s still a long road ahead from now until the Sooners open the season against Arkansas State, but in the first week of spring Valai has been pleased with how the entire secondary has approached the offseason up to this point.

“We’ve been through it,” he said. Been through those struggles before. I remember my first year at Georgia, we lost five or six games. Then in year two, we went to the natty. I’ve been through that, too… These guys have a different mindset. They’re hungry.

“… Guys are going on their own to watch film, not being asked to do anything. Intrinsic motivation is a big separator.”

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