SEC Media Days: Oklahoma's Brent Venables Updates Injuries, Offseason Disciplines

The Sooners' head coach is optimistic about OU's players who were injured or missed the offseason and spring prac

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables / John E. Hoover / Sooners on SI

DALLAS — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables offered a hopeful picture on Tuesday about the Sooners’ injury problems.

Injuries to two starting wide receivers, a backup quarterback, a starting cornerback and a couple of potential starting offensive linemen are all going well — as of mid-July, Venables said.

Before diving into formal interviews at SEC Media Days at the Omni Hotel, Venables took 20 minutes with a small group of Oklahoma reporters to discuss a number topics.

For Sooner Nation, there’s been a lot of focus on the health of wideout Andrel Anthony, who was leading the team in receiving yards last season when he went down with a knee injury in the sixth game. 

“He's had a really good summer,” Venables said. “He’s still not fully cleared. We're one — we don't play for, you know, probably about six weeks from now. So we're hopeful that we'll get him to a position where he can practice ahead of that first game, and believe he will. But he's been making really good progress.” 

Venables said corner Gentry Williams “has been fully released for several weeks” after shoulder surgery in the winter. “Really, probably over a month. And he's looked fantastic.”

Transfer offensive lineman Geirean Hatchett, who arrived from Washington but had to miss time last spring, “has been great,” Venables said. “Has been working hard for a little over a month with the guys and fully released as well. I mean, He's big. He's powerful. He’s agile. Just a worker. Great mindset. Shows up every day ready to work and be a great teammate.”

Backup quarterback Casey Thompson, a veteran at Texas, Nebraska and Florida Atlantic, suffered a knee injury last year at FAU and was limited all of spring practice. 

“Casey Thompson is throwing,” Venables said. “He has no limitations now as well, and has done really well.”

And wide receiver Jalil Farooq, who has 89 career catches, 1,229 yards and seven touchdowns, missed the spring game with a broken foot. He’s still on the mend, the coach expressed.

“Those feet are very funky when it comes to injuries and the healing process,” Venables said. “Because those bones a lot of times, don't get the blood flow that helps the healing process. So we'll take things easy, if you will, with Jalil. 

“(Farooq) did not have any surgery, but wanted the fracture to heal on its own. It's a path that he chose to to take. And a very successful track for a lot of people. … But it's looked fantastic. We've done a most recent bone scan it was remarkably really good. But we've got a really good plan in place that's going to get him to where the week prior to the first game, he’s wide open.”

Center/guard Troy Everett missed most of spring with a knee injury that Venables said would cause him to miss the summer as well and might even cost him training camp.

“He's way ahead of schedule,” Venables said Tuesday. “It's no surprise. Troy's incredibly tough and very driven. He's incredibly passionate. And that matters a lot of times in rehab. It doesn't always mean you've got better results. But he's attacked it from the moment he got out of the hospital. And so he'll be back — my expectation, I'm just the linebacker coach — but sooner rather than later on. Earlier than maybe even initially expected.”

Of offseason disciplinary issues with defensive back Makari Vickers and wide receiver Deion Burks, Venables said the team is “handling it internally. You're certainly always incredibly disappointed and not surprised. But when you're dealing with 130 guys that are 17 to 23-24 years old, you're gonna have some guys do some knucklehead things. And we got to help them through it and hold guys accountable, and we'll certainly do so.”