In the quiet, dejected Clemson locker room following its 49-28 loss to Ohio State in the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal, a battered and bruised James Skalski sulked quietly to the side while he thought about his future.
A half earlier, the fifth-year Tigers linebacker was ejected after hitting then-Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields in the ribs with 5:57 remaining in the second quarter, a tackle that caused Fields to receive two shots in the injury tent.
As Skalski looked around postgame, he locked eyes with Brent Venables before receiving a surprising proposal from the then-Clemson defensive coordinator.
“I have a spot for you next year if you want it,” Venables, who’s now entering his second season as OU’s head coach, said with a smile.
Skalski, with one season remaining due to COVID-19 eligibility, replied almost immediately: “I'll take it.”
“I couldn’t turn it down, I love playing for him,” Skalski told the OU Daily, while reflecting on his memory from the 2021 CFP. “It's like a loyalty thing. I remember I hadn't really even thought about coming back to that point.”
Loyalty, grit and toughness define Skalski’s relationship with Venables. Unsurprisingly, Venables is building the same relationship with his linebacking core at Oklahoma as he did with Skalski at Clemson, which helped the Tigers win two national championships in 2016 and 2018.
Venables' deep passion and admiration for the position is rooted in his early playing days at Kansas State. He then ascended to the coaching ranks throughout the years, but his militaristic but loving approach hasn’t wavered since being hired at OU.
Since joining Venables staff as a graduate assistant on Jan. 22, Skalski has seen the same relationship blossom with the linebacking core at Oklahoma. Following a disappointing 6-7 campaign in 2022, Venables and the Sooners will need the likes of returners Danny Stutsman, Jaren Kanak and Justin Harrington to improve, as well as Indiana transfer Dasan McCullough and former Division II prospect Konnor Near to perform in order to turn the defense around.
Last season Oklahoma’s defense ranked 122nd out of 131 teams in the FBS. It was also 106th in stopping the run, which OU hopes to improve on in 2023.
“(Venables) doesn't change,” Skalski said. “I think that's what makes him who he is. There's a standard you have to be at … and if you're not there, he's gonna let you know. I think a lot of our guys didn't really know what that standard looked like, and it takes time to adjust to that standard. It takes time to build the different aspects of that standard, mentally, emotionally and physically.
“If it was on a scale from 1 to 10, he’s 12 all day every day. … That's his connection. He's an LB all day every day, so that's his love.”
Graduate assistant James Skalski during open fall camp on Aug. 14.
On the practice field, Venables can be seen taking part in the drills as if he’s about to become the first head coach to suit up on the football field. During the first week of OU’s practices, Venables, donning a slick backwards hat, howled at Near for reaching “too far right” on a tackle drill.
His verbal issuance was an example of how demanding he is of his linebackers on the field. Venables' critiques extend far off the turf, into his players’ everyday life.
Teddy Lehman, a former Oklahoma linebacker from 2000-03, experienced Venables’ mania when he worked under Bob Stoops. Initially, Venables appeared talkative and kind when Lehman attended the Sooners’ high school junior day, hosted by programs to get an early start in the recruiting process.
The former Detroit Lions’ linebacker was surprised to find Venables even knew his name, let alone offered him to play in the crimson and cream. A good first impression soured on Lehman, however, as Venables quickly dropped the hammer.
Brent Venables talks special teams and the #Sooners’ offense following the conclusion of OU’s ninth practice of fall camp: pic.twitter.com/eQTQ2TozJ0
— Jason Batacao (@J_batacao) August 14, 2023
For Lehman, it was like he was looking into the mirror, but the mirror emphasized all of his greatest flaws like a radio on max volume.
Venables questioned the entire existence of Lehman during his time at OU. If he didn’t stand right while in stretch lines, take notes a certain way, sit with the right people at lunch or sit in the right place while watching film, Oklahoma’s coach called the linebacker out on every specific detail.
“My initial thought was this guy fucking hates me,” Lehman told the OU Daily. “He thinks I'm horrible and he has singled me out to try and get me to leave. Those were some of my initial thoughts. Life was hell. It was miserable. I avoided him at every cost, I didn't want to see him whenever I was in the facility.”
Finally, during his freshman season, Lehman left no room for Venables to find criticism. He started sprinting to the bathroom and sprinting back during team meetings, so the then-defensive coordinator couldn’t question him for taking too long.
“‘Try and critique me now,’ is how I basically thought of it,” Lehman said. “It's not like I instantly was the perfect player but it made me a thousand times better. And, as soon as I adopted that mentality it paid off. I think that’s the only thing he's waiting on with guys. Some guys will get it and some guys don't.”
Through Venables’ guidance, Lehman finished his career at Oklahoma as one of the leaders in the linebacking core. Once he made it to the NFL, Lehman missed Venables’ coaching because no professional coach was as hard on him.
“I think the mentality switch was that I wanted to be able to sleep at night,” Lehman said. “I wanted to be able to make it through a day without worrying about everything that I was doing, and how it's going to be used against me. Honestly, it was survival.”
What helped him most was seeing the mentality of former OU linebacker Rocky Calmus. Calmus served as one of the main leaders on the field and Lehman followed suit.
A similar relationship has been born in Norman ahead of the 2023 season between Kanak and Stutsman. The linebacking duo are best friends off the field and a pair of leaders on it.
They show their relationship on Twitter and other social media platforms with humorous videos. What’s changed under Venables is that Stutsman and Kanak have found ways to balance being humorous while still leading the team.
Episode III : Seeking Vengeance (1/2) pic.twitter.com/sFld8X9RM6
— DannyStutsman (@FbStutsman) June 12, 2023
“Danny would be the first one to admit that 17 months ago he wasn't capable of leading, and he's in a much different place now,” Venables said at Big 12 Media Days. “The whole team follows Danny, his emotion, his work, his action. He's a doer and a giver.”
In similar ways, Venables has fostered a relationship with Stutsman — through honesty, toughness and care — and Skalski remembers the same sort of relationship built with him on the Tigers. Not only did he love Venables’ in-your-face coaching regimen, but the then-Tigers’ defensive coordinator helped him when he needed him most.
Skalski’s father, John, died unexpectedly during his freshman year and he needed emotional support from Venables. John was mowing the lawn on Oct. 14, 2016, when he had a heart attack.
The moment changed Skalski’s life forever, and Venables served as a father figure from that point forward. His relationship with Venables made Skalski want to stay with him all six years of his college career and now on staff with the Sooners.
Nowadays he'll be right by Venables' side assisting with tackle dummies and giving linebackers the same stern, verbal guidance like Venables once did with him in South Carolina.
“He (was a) shoulder to cry on,” Skalski said. “From that point forward, I think my relationship with Venables changed forever, because he wasn't just a coach to me anymore. He was a mentor and sort of a father figure.
“He's like that with everybody. But it just felt like, for me, personally, it’s what I needed so badly, and I'm so thankful that I was there in a place like that surrounded by a man like that. So from then on, … we always had a passion for the game that we bonded over.”
While Venables’ philosophy has produced many All-Americans in his time with the Sooners and Tigers, what he does on the recruiting trail is even more important. The Sooners’ head coach will look for ways to measure if a player has that look in their eye.
“He’s looking for people that are really serious about getting better,” Skalski said. “He loves people that have that look in their eye, man. They're about their business, and they're about their work, and they want to be great. When you commit to a guy like V, that is the feeling and that is the connection when he kind of looks you in the eye as a recruit. You know he's about his business.”
In 2022, Venables brought in freshman linebackers Phil Picciotti, Lewis Carter, Taylor Heim and Samuel Omosigho to add onto the culture he built with Stutsman and Kanak. When Omosigho spoke to the media at the Sooners’ local media day on Aug. 1, he lit up when talking about Venables and the linebacking core.
“BV was a big part of it because he’s obviously BV,” Omosigho said of why he chose Oklahoma over programs like Florida and Auburn. “This whole culture here and the environment here (is great). It's like it's a big school, but it has a small school environment, which I really like. … It was a no brainer.
“I want to go be the best football player I could possibly be. (I’m focused on) how much I can impact on the field, how much I can impact off the field, how much that can help this unit become a better Oklahoma team.”
With a new system in place, the importance of the linebacking group will stay consistent for Venables as OU transitions into the SEC. Their maturity, both off and on the field, reflects how the defense performs every game.
OU head coach Brent Venables during fall camp on Aug. 4.
Venables preaches the details in perfection and that’s how he finds the best of the best when it comes to his former position.
“Learning a defense is like learning a language,” Lehman said. “If you become fluent in that defense, then the communication between a linebacker that makes all of the calls on the field and the defensive coordinator is almost seamless. You basically can be an extension of that coach on the field.
“It took me a while to see the benefit in that. He is as difficult of a coach to play for as you can find. … You're expected to know everything, to be able to function at a flawless level. Like every tiny little mistake is treated as if it could be the difference between winning a national championship or not because it is the difference.”
This story was edited by Colton Sulley and Louis Raser. Mary Ann Livingood and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
