Why Brent Venables Says Oklahoma Expects Changes, Improvements on O-Line

Tackle Wanya Morris is back, and the OU coach says he hopes to have Robert Congel back on the interior after he was banged up last week.

NORMAN — Once again, nitpickers are circling the Oklahoma offensive line.

After two games, the need for improvement by the starting five — or perhaps even changes — has certainly presented itself.

During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, head coach Brent Venables said changes are coming — and so is improvement.

Right tackle Wanya Morris is back this week, and Venables said he’ll be back in the lineup. Also, Venables hopes that guard/center Robert Congel is healthy enough to play Saturday morning at Nebraska.

Morris, a former 5-star prospect from Grayson, GA, originally transferred to Oklahoma from Tennessee in 2021 after two years as a starter for the Vols.

His impact, however, was not immediate: six games as a backup last season, and two games not in uniform this season.

The 6-foot-6, 310-pound Morris won the starting job in training camp, but for undisclosed disciplinary reasons — call it a suspension or just a personal timeout — was relegated to the scout team.

“Just an off the field issue.”

Morris should be able to step in at right tackle, where left tackle Anton Harrison started in Week 1 and TCU transfer Tyler Guyton started in Week 2.

Venables said playing agains the No. 1 OU defense should actually help prepare Morris for the challenge of facing Nebraska’s front line.

“He’s shown good spirit about it, all things considered,” Venables said. “If he's rusty, it’s because he's maybe got the jitters. Otherwise, there should be no excuse. He's been he's been working, you know, at a high pace against good players for the last several weeks.”

Venables also said he hopes to get Congel back inside this week after Congel was banged up last week against Kent State.

Congel is another transfer — he began his career at Texas A&M before transferring to Arizona State and ending up at OU in 2021 — who made six starts and played in eight games overall last year after starting center Andrew Raym was injured.

He replaced Raym in the middle briefly again last week before he the injury.

Oklahoma’s raw offensive numbers against UTEP and Kent State weren’t bad — the Sooners are averaging 196.5 yards per game on the ground and 5.3 yards per carry — but that includes individual runs of 44 and 46 yards.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel has been effective as a passer — he’s averaging 264.5 yards per game with five TDs and no interceptions and has completed 70.6 percent of his throws — but he’s also been sacked five times by two defenses that aren’t exactly imposing.

On Monday, offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby absolved the offensive line of some of those sacks, asserting that Gabriel needs to get the football out quicker.

“Everybody's got to get better,” Venables said. “It's not just the offensive line. Everybody needs to get better: cohesion, chemistry, communication, awareness, fundamentals, toughness, finishing, you know, all of those things got to continue to get better across the board at every single position on the team.

“So how quickly you get guys that haven't been together for a little while, how quickly do they gel and have the right kind of chemistry? Who knows? We'll work through that this week. And this weekend will be a great opportunity to continue to work on that.

“But again, whatever happens on Saturday, my expectation is that a month from now, we're even better. So hopefully, we'll continue to improve. That's what it's about.”