It was a busy Tuesday at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Every single Oklahoma coach, along with 19 players, spoke during Big 12 Media Days to preview the start of fall camp on Thursday. But the main event, obviously, was head coach Brent Venables’ press conference. Venables spoke for around 50 minutes and touched on a variety of topics.

Here’s a look at the most interesting quotes from Venables’ press conference:

The Sooners have known for over two years that they would be changing conferences. However, the move began to feel real when the 2024 SEC schedule was released in June.

The Sooners now know they’ll have home contests against Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee, while playing at LSU, Auburn, Missouri and Ole Miss. Of course, they’ll also play Texas at the Cotton Bowl.

Venables had no issues discussing the positive impact of the SEC move, and the schedule release, on the Sooners’ recent recruiting efforts.

“It’s exciting to say it,” Venables said. “That gets you charged up. I’ve always had this great respect for what it takes to be successful, and like I told the team yesterday, it’ll be the best game Arkansas State plays all year when they show up here to Norman, Oklahoma (this year). When you can promote Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee, or promote going on the road to Baton Rouge or to Auburn, Alabama, or to Oxford, Mississippi, it gets the people charged up. (You can say), ‘Your freshman year, your first game here, you’re going to play…’ whatever that is.

“I love creating vision. I love talking about the future, and they like it when you can create vision for them, and they can see it. It’s exciting. Great, great challenge. As we know, that’s a year from now, but I think that’s been another ‘and’ reason for young men and their families to be interested in the University of Oklahoma. It’s not been the ‘the,’ but it’s been another ‘and’ from a reasoning standpoint.”

During Big 12 Media Days last month in Arlington, Venables said Freeman had the best spring of any wide receiver on the team.

On Tuesday, he doubled down. And he did it unprompted.

When asked about which position battles he’s most excited to see, Venables began talking about Freeman.

“I said this before but the best receiver coming out of spring was Gavin Freeman by a long way,” Venables said. “And people go, ‘Oh man, we just suck at receiver.’ I don’t think that’s reflective of that whatsoever. I think it’s more about what Gavin Freeman brings to the table and how hard he works and how much he cares and his talent and ability. You look at his measurables, he’s one of the fastest guys on the team both here to there and change of direction.

“Some guys always make the play. Some guys get open. Some guys make the tough plays, the competitive plays. Some guys don’t. They come in all shapes and sizes. My man is wide open. He wins everything.”

Entering his second season as a head coach, Venables isn’t focusing on improving in one area. He wants to be better at everything.

That’s particularly true given the Sooners finished last season with a 6-7 record. And Venables knows he has to be better in 2023.

“​​My expectations are that I’ll be better in every single area,” Venables said. “Even through success, you should continue to be improving and getting better. I’ve said that lots of times, so there’s no area that I can’t get better at. So, I’m working on all of them. My expectation is the (to find the) best version of me (in) year two.

“I've been pretty good at motivating people and inspiring people to be more like me, if you will. I just have that kind of mindset, but it doesn't always work. I always knew that at home. You've got to change your tune when you go into your house. But when you have a whole staff, there's just a lot going on. Life is going on. For me to be the best leader and head coach that I can be, I need to be mindful of all of that.”