Oklahoma is now home to former defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey. He was only around for two seasons, but it’s easy to see he’s always going to be repping the school and the colors moving forward.

He, along with a lot of other former players, returned to Norman this week for Pro Day, and Winfrey was at OU workouts Tuesday.

He saw first-year head coach Brent Venables and thought they were about to embrace. Nope. Venables was in full coaching mode and was getting on a player as the player was leaving the field.

Sprinting, emphasizing what Venables has been saying constantly during the last few months. Everything matters.

Watching that, well, Winfrey knows there is zero to worry about for the direction of the OU program under Venables.

“It's in great hands, to be honest with you,” said defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey on Wednesday afternoon. “I made a joke earlier telling Caleb Kelly to go build a new indoor when Venables is done here just for all the banners and stuff that I know he's going to end up.

“He's one of those coaches that came in right away and just changed the mindset of everybody around, not just all the young guys like my friends that are still here like he's just a dawg and I just love everything about him. I'd only been here for a day. I'd only came to one workout and I knew that he was the real deal.”

For a lot of the 12 former players who returned to OU for pro day, this week marked the first time they had met Venables.

It’s obvious from social media interactions that even just that first impression was a massive one and had them all ready to run through a wall.

And changing expectations.

“At first I was kind of saying to myself when people would ask me, ‘How’s Oklahoma gonna be?’ When I first got asked that, I was saying, ‘Y’know, I’d give Brent a year or two. Get his recruits in and get these guys in order and what not.’ Now it’s ‘Give him a month or two.’” defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas said. “It’s crazy to see how far advanced these guys are in two or three months off of coaching drills.”

It wasn’t the ideal situation, of course, for Venables to take over for Lincoln Riley. A lot of confused looks and people wondering about the future, but a whole lot can change in three months.

A whole lot for the better. That even though these guys are never going to get the opportunity to play for Venables, they’re going to be thrilled to watch what he’s able to do with their school.

“I have all the faith in the world in Venables and what he’s bringing into the program,” H-Back Jeremiah Hall said. “I love the advocacy for the players. I love the dinners. I love that the staff is going out of their way to provide for the players and the experience they didn't have in the past.”

None of these guys could have played for Venables, but what became clear in talking to them more was that factor didn’t matter.

Playing offense or defense – didn’t matter.

Venables’ passion is infectious, and he’s welcoming one and all back to the program.

“I love coach Venables. I got to see him for the first time yesterday. He’s fiery,” wide receiver Mike Woods said. “He’s got some passion to him. He’s a dawg. He’s just a dawg. That’s the only way I can really explain it.

“You have to see him in person. I love how he’s running the team. I love the principles he’s implementing and I just love what he stands for. I think he’s bringing a great culture and a great mindset to the program. Not just the players but everybody. Everybody is being held accountable, everybody is being pulled in the same direction.”