Venables Vibes: Oklahoma Aggressive on Special Teams, Developing Depth Early in 2022

Brent Venables offered an injury update and was happy the Sooners were able to work so many true freshman into OU's season opener on Saturday.

NORMAN — Brent Venables got off to a dream start as the head coach at Oklahoma last Saturday.

The No. 7-ranked Sooners blew out the UTEP Miners (0-2) 45-13 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium behind a first quarter onslaught.

OU (1-0) dashed out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back, allowing plenty of new faces to take their first snaps for the Sooners.

After the game, Venables said his team would tearing the performance “down to the studs” and rebuilding toward hosting the Kent State Golden Flashes (0-1) in the second contest of the season.

Injury Report

Tight end Daniel Parker had to wait an extra week to make his OU debut after missing the season opener against UTEP  :: Kevin Jairaj / USA TODAY Sports

Daniel Parker, a transfer tight end from Missouri, missed the season opener last Saturday, but he should make his season debut agains the Golden Flashes.

“I expect him back here this week,” Venables said during his press conference on Tuesday. “He had the sniffles last week.”

Parker drew rave reviews throughout spring practice and fall camp for the level of physicality he brings to the table, as the self-proclaimed best blocking tight end in college football constantly asked tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley when he’d be able to slap on the pads and start hitting the defense in practice.

It also appears the Sooners will be without right tackle Wanya Morris for the second straight week as he works through “off the field issues”.

Venables said Morris is still practicing, and he doesn’t think there will be much delay getting him back into the lineup when he’s available.

“Expect him to get right back in there based on what the issue is,” Venables said. “He’s been practicing every day. He’ll jump right back in there like riding a bike. You treat each individual case like it needs to be treated.”

True Freshmen Show Out

Linebacker Jaren Kanak was one of 10 true freshman who debuted for Oklahoma on Saturday  :: BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

Oklahoma was able to throw 10 true freshmen into Saturday’s contest against UTEP, allowing the newest members of the program to get their first taste of college football in Week 1.

Venables was happy to not only be able to reward those guys for their hard work, but he was also giddy to get the development process started which can only truly take place once young guys get live snaps in actual games.

“Tt was great to watch those guys,” he said. “Most of them — not all of them, but most of them came in mid-year, so they had a spring ball under their belt. That's a tremendous advantage, obviously. But yeah, it's hard to keep guys, you know, for five years.

“This is a developmental game that we want to be a developmental program and there are some guys that aren't quite there, but the ones that had an opportunity to get in the game, that was a lot of fun to watch them play and compete and expect them to continue to get better.”

Venables said he was also impressed with the mental makeup of this freshman class, which has allowed that group to get an early head start on their Oklahoma careers.

“Feel like there's a lot of good, mature kids in this freshman class, and that obviously gives them a leg up in regards to contributing,” he said. “They can just manage everything. Being away from home for the first time, new schemes, new languages, the demands of school, practice, social life, all of those things.

“It's not an easy thing to manage whether you're old or young, and we’ve picked up a good group of young guys that have a propensity to do exactly that.”

Oklahoma Aggressive on Special Teams

Oklahoma allowed safety Billy Bowman to return a pair of kickoffs on Saturday against UTEP  :: Kevin Jairaj / USA TODAY Sports

Venables and his coaching staff preached the importance of special teams play this offseason, and OU fans got their first look at it last Saturday.

While neither Billy Bowman or Marvin Mims popped a kickoff or punt return for a touchdown, both of those guys were give the green light to return kicks — even when the ball carried Bowman into the end zone on kickoffs.

As is consistent with his offensive and defensive mindset, Venables said he wants his team to be aggressive in the kickoff return game and on special teams as a whole.

“We would like to have that,” Venables said. “That’s part of our philosophy. Billy's a very dynamic football player. And then he had a chance to score for sure on one.

“We get one guy to do something a little bit better. And so Billy is again very dynamic and we got a lot of really good dynamic skill guys. But overall, that that aligns with who we want to be and an opportunity to score, create field position, create a big play, create momentum. And you can do that in all three phases without question.”

Bowman returned two kickoffs for a total of 51 yards against the Miners, and Mims had a pair of punt returns that totaled 17 yards in the season opener. 

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