With Preseason Camp Like a 'Vapor,' Oklahoma Begins Game Planning This Week

Sooners head coach Brent Venables is glad for a mostly uneventful camp, but now the coaching staff will start to "split the squad up" as the Aug. 30 opener with Temple draws near.

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

NORMAN — Another Sunday has dawned on Oklahoma’s 2024 training camp, but this one is special.

This week, the Sooners begin game preparation for Temple.

The Owls come to Owen Field next week for a special Friday night season opener — the first Friday night home game in OU history. That means the Sooners break camp and begin actual game planning for their first opponent later this week.

“Been a really good, tough, challenging, demanding last several days as we’ve gotten started,” head coach Brent Venables said last week. “All part of preparing us both mentally and physically for the grind and challenge of the season.”

Players reported on July 30, practice started July 31, they met the fans on Aug. 3, and a lot has happened since then, including a season-ending injury to wideout Jayden Gibson, the revelation of some new throwback jerseys, eight players landing on preseason watch lists, three major scrimmages and frankly, not much breaking news from practice itself — and that’s a good thing. 

“There’s been good. There’s been bad,” Venables said. “We had our first preseason game, if you will, late last week. It was everything you thought it would be. Big plays on both sides of the ball. Good and bad. If it’s good on one side, it’s usually not good on the other. That’s the next step in our process as we get ready for the season.”

By the middle of this week, the gameday install of the game plan for Temple will begin, with an advance look at the Week 2 opponent, Big 12 newcomer Houston. Class begins Monday, and then it’s literally game week.

“By Wednesday, we’re working scout team,” Venables said. “So it’s gonna happen fast.

“You’re really … starting to split the squad up and really starting look at opponents and things of that nature. It’s gonna go by, and it’s gonna be just a vapor. So solidifying that, you’ve got a really good feel of what group of guys it’s gonna be. Then you pare it down to who runs out there first and that’ll be a big thing.”

But first, a few more days of preseason camp.

“Got great film from all of our practices, and our job as a staff and our job as players is to watch the film and see how we can get better,” Venables said. “Been working a lot of things that challenge you physically, certainly things that challenge you mentally. 

“As we’ve said, the beauty and the magic of fall camp is about taking your players to their breaking point, taking your players to the edge. And their job is to take themselves there willingly. If you have a mature, tough-minded team, they’ll do so. They know that’s all necessary as you build your identity as a football team and find out whether you can build trust — that’s a player’s responsibility — and find out what we’re really good at. That’s all part of the process right now.”

The first few days of this week, the coaching staff will continue emphasizing fundamentals and details, the minute, steady improvements where a player can lay a foundation or win a starting job or find a spot on special teams. 

“A lot of situational work, as well,” Venables said. “All the things that every football team in America’s gotta get better at and be good at in order to win at the highest level. I like a lot of what I’m seeing and like a lot about where we’re at right now.”