Oklahoma's Linebackers are Enjoying 'Enthusiastic' New Coaches Nate Dreiling and Wes Goodwin

Brent Venables added a pair of new faces to coach the Sooners' linebackers in 2025.

Oklahoma linebackers coach Nate Dreiling / John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s linebacker room looks much different this spring. 

Superstar Danny Stutsman moved on and is preparing for this month’s NFL Draft, but the head of the unit on the sidelines will be different as well. 

Last year’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Zac Alley departed for West Virginia, allowing Brent Venables to take over playcalling on top of his head coaching duties.

To fill Alley’s role with the linebackers, he turned to Nate Dreiling to work with the inside linebackers and former Clemson colleague Wes Goodwin to be an extra set of eyes and coach the outside linebackers. 

Venables was comfortable with the move and his knowledge of both coaches, and OU’s players have enjoyed the pair of new voices throughout spring practice. 

“It’s been great,” linebacker Kip Lewis said last month. “(Dreiling) has a different viewpoint in coaching linebackers, which I like. It’s been really good.”

Lewis said Dreiling looks for specific details in hand placement and technique to make tweaks as the group runs through individual drills. 

The former Utah State interim head coach is boisterous on the practice field. He can be heard offering both corrections and encouragement from all over the practice complex on the south side of Owen Field, but Sammy Omosigho said Dreiling also knows how to keep things light. 

“Love that dude. Goofball,” Omosigho said. “He’s just a funny guy to be around. He knows his stuff. Very intelligent coach. On his P’s and Q’s. Him and coach Goodwin are a 1-2 punch, just amazing. Amazing pickups.”

Before entering the coaching ranks, Dreiling was a star at Pittsburg State. 

He was the Division II Defensive Player of the Year in 2011, something OU’s linebackers are reminded of frequently. 

“He’ll remind you he’s from Pitt State,” Lewis said. “He will remind you he’s one of the best linebackers from Pitt State. He’s very enthusiastic.”

Goodwin takes a very different approach. 

“He’s not the yelling type, he’s more of a quiet coach I would say. But he means well,” OU defensive back Kendel Dolby said. ”When he’s coaching you up, he’s not really yelling but you take in what he’s telling you because he comes from a place of love and a place of wanting you to grow. He’s been a great coach and a great addition to the staff.”

Goodwin spends a lot of his time working with the cheetah position, a hodgepodge of outside linebackers and physical defensive backs like Dolby that allow Venables to throw tons of different personnel packages at opposing quarterbacks. 

The portion encompasses plenty, but Goodwin’s time at Clemson means he has a fantastic understanding with Venables. 

“Him and Coach V have coached together before, so he knows what Coach V wants as a coach,” Dolby said. “So knowing what Coach V wants, he's applying it to us and feeding it to us and telling us what we need to do to make sure we can be the best we can be on that field.”

Venables will always pay extra attention to his linebackers, but Dreiling and Goodwin offer two experienced hands that are more than capable of handling the group to allow Venables to bounce around to every station on the field and offer his assistance to the entire team. 

“(Dreiling is) awesome. He’s a great guy,” OU linebacker Taylor Heim said. “He’s motivated. You can see just how he coaches us in our (individual drills), he’ll get out there and do a rep. Just his intensity. It’s been really good.”

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