After being asked a question during the SEC weekly coach’s teleconference, Brent Venables paused, before offering a quick chuckle.
Venables' response was provoked by a statement made by Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel during his press conference on Monday.
“It should be a great crowd,” Heupel said. “It’s a passionate fan base, but I’m expecting them to be extremely quiet for us, out of respect to me and our program, too.”
Josh Heupel said he’s expecting Oklahoma fans to be quiet when Tennessee is on offense out of respect 😂 pic.twitter.com/PSGeIfBEOP
— zach ragan (@zachTNT) September 16, 2024
While asked about it during the call, Venables responded quickly.
“I think that is wishful thinking,” Venables said while laughing.
The longtime relationship between Venables and Heupel, started in 1999 when Venables arrived in Norman with former OU head coach Bob Stoops. Heupel was the Sooners' starting quarterback at the time.
After winning OU’s seventh, and most recent national championship in 2000, Heupel rejoined the staff as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma in 2004. He would eventually become the offensive coordinator in 2011, before being fired by Stoops in January of 2015.
Stoops has declined all interview requests this week regarding Heupel’s return. However, Venables has been vocal leading up to No. 15 Oklahoma's (3-0) game against No. 6 Tennessee (3-0) on Saturday, about his admiration for the former quarterback and coach.
#OUDNA #Boomer pic.twitter.com/4sQDsBGmiR
— Bob Stoops (@CoachBobStoops) September 16, 2024
“He just always had great humility,” Venables said. “He loved the locker room, he loved the staff room. Just always wanted to learn, and he was just a sponge.”
Oklahoma’s running back rotation
Venables has rotated junior Jovante Barnes, redshirt sophomore Gavin Sawchuk and freshman Taylor Tatum at running back this season.
However, heading into SEC play and the fourth week of the season, questions about who will emerge as the standout are waiting to be answered.
“I think you are going to need all three during the season,” Venables said. “It is a very physical conference and a conference where you have to establish a run game. In a perfect world, somebody emerges and becomes the guy.”
Through the first three games, the run game — at least one utilized by the running backs and not by sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold — has struggled to find its footing.
OU’s rushing offense is ranked 67th in the country and is averaging 159 yards per game, which is less than half of Tennessee’s third-ranked 336.3 rushing yards per game. During Oklahoma’s matchup against Tulane, Arnold accounted for 97 of its 182 yards on the ground, followed by Barnes’ 53 yards.
The sophomore quarterback, who leads Oklahoma in rushing this season, with 159 total rushing yards on 36 attempts, averaging 4.42 yards per carry, has been OU’s main source of on-the-ground offense. However, in the SEC the running back room will need to be utilized to protect Arnold.
Tatum has already shown signs of potential, after seeing occasional spurts of minutes in late-game situations. In OU’s season opener, the freshman led the team in rushing with 66 yards and a touchdown on just five carries. Despite getting only one touch against Houston, he made the most of his extended opportunity against Tulane. In 27 snaps, he had 27 yards rushing and two touchdowns on nine carries against the Green Wave.
But his lack of in-game experience at the college level and his late start with the team could pose potential learning curves throughout the season.
“Taylor has shown great signs of growth and maturity,” Venables said. “He’s incredibly talented, but again he is playing catch-up from an experience standpoint and just getting here at the beginning of the summer.
“There’s been a lot to learn, but he’s made great growth and improvement. I would expect his opportunities to increase.”
Sawchuk, who was initially picked to be the leader in the running back room after finishing last season with 744 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 120 carries, has struggled. Against Tulane, Sawchuk had touches on four of the first five plays but finished with just six carries for 16 yards and two catches for 10 yards. The running back has just 16 carries for 35 yards this season, averaging 2.19 yards per carry.
Tatum’s inexperience and Sawchuk’s slow start have provided Barnes with an opportunity to solidify himself as OU’s No. 1 running back option.
After experiencing an injury-riddled 2023, Barnes has had a solid start this year. The running back has incrementally increased his rushing numbers since the first game and notched a season-high 53 yards on 14 carries against Tulane.
“Jovante has done a fantastic job,” Venables said. “We’ve talked about him a lot. His health is good, and he is just playing with a little different purpose this season as well.”
OU’s running backs will have a golden opportunity to prove themselves during OU’s game against Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday in Norman.
This story was edited by Daniel Homrok.
