One more press conference in the books means it’s one step closer to the beginning of the Oklahoma football season.

First-year head coach Brent Venables addressed the media for the final time before the Sooners open the year against UTEP on Tuesday afternoon.

There will be a lot of things Venables will be on watch for, but he’s aiming for hitting the Oklahoma standard in all three phases of the game.

“The excitement, the anticipation is real,” Venables said. “Our guys have worked incredibly hard for the last eight months – coaches and players – preparing for this. This is what you work for. It’s an exciting time, the 2022 team, team 128. I couldn’t be more excited to just watch them play.

“I just really want to see our guys compete to the standards of Oklahoma football – uncommon effort, toughness, discipline, physicality, play the game the right way in all three phases.”

UTEP began its season with a 31-13 loss to North Texas last weekend.

Defensive end a strong group

It might have raised some eyebrows that the starting defensive ends are the younger guys in Ethan Downs and Reggie Grimes, but that’s a pretty stout group across the board.

When you have guys with the type of experience as Marcus Stripling and Jonah Laulu playing behind them and add in someone like true freshman R Mason Thomas, there is a lot to like for first-year assistant Miguel Chavis.

“I like their mindset. I like that we’ve got some good length to us there, learning how to play physical,” Venables said. “Ethan’s probably the most physical in that room. It’s a group that’s hungry, it’s got great awareness of where they’re at, what their weaknesses are. They have an awareness and then the action that you need to make improvement. Humble, let you coach them.

“It’s a hungry group that has a good edge to them. They’re in a confident space right now and they’ve got tremendous upside as a group, as well.”

Davis earns the nod

Sticking with the depth chart, Tuesday marked the second opportunity to get a real feel of just how cornerback Jaden Davis was able to earn the starting cornerback position.

Pre-camp assumptions definitely had Woodi Washington and D.J. Graham as earning the two starting spots, and Venables gave some insight as to how it worked out the way it did with Davis and Washington.

“Jaden is really consistent,” Venables said. “He’s playing confidently, tackles well. Has been one of our most consistent players through fall camp.”

Venables said it’s not about looking for a particular body type. It’s simply about finding football players and the right ones to be apart of the starting 11.

Some of it could be about who has been available for camp, but the depth chart, again, is about what has been earned as of this starting point.

“That’s our job as coaches to try to identify within our scheme, find what players can do, what they can’t do, put them in position to be successful,” Venables said. “I’ve never been afraid of projecting a guy at a new spot. You’ve got to try to utilize your best football players and see if it’s a natural fit. So that’s part of it.”

Positives in the trenches

If recent years have taught OU fans anything, it’s that having all the skilled guys in the world isn’t going to mean much if you don’t have the strength and physicality with the offensive and defensive line.

It’s obviously been a point of emphasis for the Sooners all camp, and Venables said he is confident about the groups and their upward trajectory.

“I feel really good about both of those groups. My expectation is that we're going to continue to get better as the season goes along,” Venables said. “But I've seen trust and chemistry and guys like each other. I think that's important. Cohesion and confidence. Aggressiveness. Physicality. All those things. We've had a gazillion inside periods against each other, to see fundamentally and physicality.”

‘Too early’ on redshirts

Venables has brought up numerous examples of players waiting their turn and then making the most of their moment.

But he’s not there just yet to say who is going to redshirt, for sure, and how things might evolve.

Of course, it’s a lot different now than the last time Venables was in Norman now with the four-game limit rule in play where guys can play four games in a season and still be considered a redshirt.

The goal remains for everybody to earn the right to play, but it’s about accountability and the response someone has if they’re not pleased where they stand right now.

“But we're just too early right now,” Venables said. “We've got to have a scout squad right now. There's veterans on those scout squads today and there's some freshmen on there as well. And but like I've challenged all of them, you have an opportunity to change where you're at and what your opportunities are in regards to the team by how you practice every day. And you're certainly not gonna get out of there, come off the scout team if you're moping around, you know, and wasting your opportunity to get better every day.”

The depth chart is full of true freshmen and true sophomores, so it will be something to monitor to see how the four-game rule is used and who ends up being, like former running back Quentin Griffin in 1999, just too good to redshirt.