Brent Venables, OU football took 'a punch' last season, but feels they made strides needed during spring camp

Brent Venables was front and center as Kyler Murray, one of OU’s all-time greatest, was commemorated forever.

The second-year head coach, despite never coaching Murray, was on hand for a picture with a small group of new and old Oklahoma leaders as Murray’s statue in Heisman Park was unveiled prior to Saturday’s spring game.

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐳𝐞@K1 📍 Heisman Park#OUDNA pic.twitter.com/EIVypPdTpU

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) April 22, 2023

Murray admits it was difficult watching his alma mater last season, in which the Sooners struggled to a 6-7 record, their worst since 1998.

But getting to know Venables in between the weekend's festivities has the former No. 1 overall pick confident in where the program that helped him become one of the sport’s brightest is headed.

“His vibe is electric,” said Murray, who’s set to make $39 million with the Arizona Cardinals this year. “Obviously, he said it out there pregame, the standard as far as last season wasn’t what we’re used to. It was tough watching last year, but there’s gonna be hiccups along the road.

“He’s trying to build a culture, build a team and get this thing going the right way. Going into the SEC, I think he’s got the energy for it. He’s got the coaching energy to be able to recruit and relate to everybody. I’m good. I’m faithful.”

Murray, largely due to his excellence on the field, was a part of OU’s most dominant stretch in recent memory. And Venables, since he replaced Lincoln Riley, is tasked with getting the Sooners back to that level.

Before the game, Venables took the microphone and delivered a speech to Sooner Nation, which was 54,409 strong on Saturday, a step down from their program-record mark of 75,360 a season ago.

He explained the program’s current demeanor with three simple sentences.

“This coach, this team, this program, can take a punch,” Venables said just before inviting what he estimated as 400 former players to the field. “Don’t grow weary, grow stronger. Don’t get bitter, we got to get better.”

Since the end of the 2022 season, the Sooners have added 10 — and counting — players via the transfer portal, and signed a top-five recruiting class, one of OU’s best in years.

The newcomers shined on Saturday, whether it was five-star freshman Peyton Bowen’s first-half interception, five-star Jackson Arnold’s late touchdown throw or the defensive line additions that were disruptive for most of the contest.

That, paired with some of the returning experience fostered throughout last season, is a start of what’s to come, according to Venables.

“We fell incredibly short of our standards and expectations (last season),” Venables said. “...But they kept swinging. They took a punch, if that’s the right term to use to describe all of it. (They) took a punch and continued to fight, believe and play for one another. Played with great pride, and you’ve got to have that. You don’t have that then you got a lot of problems.

“So, for me, that gave me what I needed to see. It says, ‘you know what, a lot of other people don’t see it but I do.’ And having been in a lot of locker rooms for a long time as a player and coach, that’s what it looks like.”

On Saturday, in a game that featured a unique scoring system Wake Forest transfer Rondell Bothroyd said no one was really paying attention to, Venables added he saw what he needed to feel comfortable in the program's development.

“Through this, you feel, ‘alright, mission accomplished,’” Venables said postgame. “We improved, we got better, and now you go back, and certainly we were evaluating it every step of the way, but now it’s, ‘alright, here’s where we’re at. Here’s what we got to add to it. Here’s what we got to improve.’

“Some of it’s going to be roster, some of it’s going to be scheme and some of it’s just the plans for the summer. … The improvement process isn’t over, it’s in many ways just beginning.”

At the start of spring practices, Venables said he expected the defense to “be on another planet defensively” next season.

The unit he specializes in finished a mere 122nd of 131 teams in total defense (461 yards a game) last season and was 99th in scoring defense (30 points per game), the worst of Venables’ career.

But Saturday’s finish put a bow on Venables’ second spring in Norman, one he feels puts his program in a better situation than it was this time a season ago.

“We have a long way to go,” Venables said. “The course of a season will really tell the story. But we’re making the improvements we need to make. And there’s still a lot that we have to continue to develop and improve at for sure.

“This was the step that was necessary to do so though.”