NORMAN — In the midst of Tuesday's 66-minute press conference, Brent Venables dropped an important update on a pivotal defense player.

Gentry Williams is out for the season.

The hopes haven't been high for the junior cornerback, who's only appeared in two games this season and has only played 19 snaps, per Pro Football Focus. Williams has been dealing with a shoulder injury that has plagued him since last season, when he appeared in just 10 games.

With the injury, the Sooners have leaned heavily on Kani Walker and Dez Malone this season as the cornerback room has struggled with consistency. Even with the emergence of true freshman Eli Bowen, there's been some tough moments for the group. The Sooners allowed seven passing plays of 20 yards or more against Auburn, with most of that falling on the secondary.

Williams' absence has been notable all season, and unfortunately for him, his career continues to be plagued by injuries.

"We've been snakebit at that position," Venables said. "But we've got to be better, and certainly in the plays that, we've got to be better with our eyes or better with our fundamentals. And you can go back and say, 'Oh, that's coaching.' No kidding. It is.

"It's all, at the end of the day, it's inconsistent."

On the offensive line, the Sooners will likely be without Jake Taylor and Jacob Sexton for the forseeable future. Taylor was a late scratch and did not travel to last weekend's game against Ole Miss, while Sexton left the game with an apparent leg injury. Venables said the Sooners aren't sure if Taylor will play this weekend against Maine, while Sexton is expected to be out for "a little while."

It's a tough blow for an offensive line that has given up 38 sacks this season, including 25 over the last three games. The Sooners allowed a program-worst nine sacks against South Carolina, then set the record for most sacks allowed the following week against Ole Miss with 10.

With Taylor and Sexton out, the Sooners leaned on a pair of redshirt freshmen in Heath Ozaeta and Logan Howland. Howland, in particular, struggled, as he was credited with two sacks allowed, per Pro Football Focus.

"I really felt like — and this is while Jacob was healthy and whatnot — three quarters we gave ourselves a chance on the offensive line," Venables said. "We played a winning performance and had three sacks prior to the last 6-7 minutes of the game. One of them shouldn't have been a sack. It's a mesh, it's a run play. And they counted a fumble as a sack... And I think we had six sacks in the last 11 snaps of the game.

"Like I said, none of it's any good... But overall, development piece, we're in the infant stages of that. Heath Ozaeta's done some really good things. He's got a tremendous ceiling in front of him. We really believe Logan Howland can play this game a long time. He's not there yet like you would expect. Right now, he's not an overly confident guy. At times, Heath's not."

With both players likely out this weekend, the Sooners will likely lean more on Heath Ozaeta. Venables also announced that true freshman Isaiah Autry-Dent will be elevated from the scout team to prepare him for playing time moving forward.

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