Whenever the opportunity presents itself, Oklahoma first-year head coach Brent Venables makes sure to mention how important the spring game is for the Sooners in two weeks.
For the entire program. For the coaches and players. For the fans. For the recruits who will be flocking to Norman. As he has said repeatedly during the last four months, everything matters.
Spring game included.
“We talk about this program being one of the most tradition-rich and best programs in the history of college football, then show up with some pride on the 23rd,” said Venables on Friday afternoon. “The expectation for us is we show up and we play passionate. We play tough. We play disciplined. We play with uncommon effort. The expectation for everybody, just like every sport on this campus, if I’m a Sooner, I’m a Sooner.”
Nine practices are in the books for the Sooners. And as much as the spring game is a rallying cry to be fired up about the program, there’s going to be some football to go with it, too.
“The thing I love about my job is it's very result-driven,” Venables said. “Although this is, quote-unquote, just a spring game, it's an opportunity for us to, as coaches, be able to quantify and measure improvement from the beginning to the end so that we can survey where our team is, what was good, what wasn't so good.
“An opportunity to create some momentum going into our out-of-season program this summer. So for me, that's exciting — all of it, the good days, the bad days, the good moments, the tough moments, the great plays, the bad plays, all of it's really — it really helps develops you both good and bad.”
It remains to be seen how the physical nature of the practices will affect who will and won’t play in the game, but Venables did give an idea of the format to close out his press conference.
“We’re gonna split the teams up, too. We’re gonna split ‘em up and have a draft and go true Red/White. Kind of dummy down the game somewhat, because we’ll take our two best guards and we’ll put them on opposite teams, and we’ll take our two best tight ends and split ‘em up. We’ll be doing that kind of a format, just so you’ll know.
“We’ll take the top two – we’ll all do it. Top running backs and split ‘em up. Then the coaches will draft their offense, one will draft the defense, then one will draft the other offense, gonna do it like that so we’ll split everybody up.”
Spring game is 3 p.m. April 23, and the unveiling of Baker Mayfield’s Heisman statue will be at halftime.
Offensive line making strides
Minor injuries have been a story for the offensive line, but Venables said he has been very happy with the progress and development.
A lot of the credit goes to what offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh has been trying to do.
“Coach Bedenbaugh does a fantastic job. And whether it's systematically or there's more certainty or these guys are just hungry not really having studied what we did a year ago, these guys are playing with really good cohesion, really good chemistry. Playing with a tough mindedness. They know what they're doing.”
A lot of that comes from the winter strength and conditioning program, and the results are being reflected right about now.
“That group has probably had as much improvement as anybody from the time we started in January to where we're at right now.”
Early standouts defensively
Venables almost went player-by-player down the defensive roster and mentioned how they’re doing, but there were a few guys who are clearly standing out just a little more than the rest so far.
Jordan Kelley at defensive line, Danny Stutsman at linebacker and Woodi Washington in the secondary. Venables said although the defensive tackle group has been pretty even, what has stood out about Kelley is he’s probably the highest-graded of any tackle right now.
DaShaun White was banged up a bit, so it appears as though Stutsman has made the most of all his opportunities.
“Stutsman – so far, he might be the guy that is a little ahead of everybody else and can play from sideline to sideline,” Venables said.
For Washington, the word consistency was used. Washington was the very first name mentioned by Venables when talking about defensive guys making an impression.
Harrington back in the fold
Defensive back Justin Harrington returned to the team last week, and Venables confirmed Harrington is going to be a walk-on safety from this point.
It wasn’t just an easy decision with not a lot of thinking behind it. Venables explained all that went into granting Harrington a second chance.
“He’s come to me a few times since I got the job,” Venables said. “Through a lot of conversation, not only with him but other teammates prior to making a decision to let him walk on, I got confirmation who he was as a young man openly. Just was honest, felt like maybe he made some mistakes with how he’d responded to some adversity and maybe some decisions he’d made.”
Harrington was working at cornerback for OU during the 2021 season before entering the transfer portal in early October.
He’d been shown tremendous support by his teammates on social media in the last six months, and Venables was ready to give him another opportunity.
“Through conversation with him and again with teammates, felt like he deserved some grace,” Venables said. “We all deserve some grace. He’s walked on and he’s been good as far as high effort and tough, allows you to coach and things of that nature.”
