Drake Stoops and Brent Venables are no strangers to each other.
The redshirt senior wide receiver has known Oklahoma’s new head coach and family nearly his entire life. His father, hall of famer Bob Stoops, coached with Venables for 13 years at OU, and Drake was sandwiched in age between his two sons Tyler and Jake.
“I was best friends with his sons for a long time,” Stoops said. “(We) grew up together around here, so it was definitely cool to see him back here, and I hadn't seen him in such a long time. He saw me when I was a little kid and now I'm a grown man, so it was definitely cool. And I'm excited to play for him.”
When OU hired Venables on Dec. 5, it was clear Stoops wasn’t going to struggle with relating to a new coaching staff. Perhaps the biggest alteration to the program is having a defensive-minded coach at the helm for the first time since Bob retired in the summer of 2017. The change is actually something Drake is looking forward to.
“It doesn’t really feel that different to me,” Drake said. “You just take the offensive calls and you run whatever (offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby) calls, and then the defense runs their calls. But it doesn't really seem that different to me, but I just love (Venables’) fire, his passion, his intensity. It's definitely a good thing to have.”
Stoops recorded 16 receptions for 191 yards and caught two touchdowns last season, but missed three games due to undisclosed reasons. Now he’s looking to reaffirm his role under Lebby amid the remaining familiarity of Venables.
“He's very similar (to what he was when he was first at OU),” Stoops said of Venables. “He's got that fire in him, that passion. He loves the game. And he loves his team, whichever team he's on, and so it's really cool getting to play for him now. It's definitely a blessing and I'm really excited to see what he's gonna do.”
Raym looking ahead
Andrew Raym is looking forward to a fresh start during spring practice ahead of the 2022 season.
The junior offensive lineman dealt with a handful of minor ailments while competing with redshirt senior Robert Congel for the starting center spot last season.
Despite the trials of 2021, Raym was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention by the conference’s head coaches, suggesting the potential he boasts going forward, especially with the continuity under returning offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh.
“It was pretty tough, it was a weird injury,” said Raym of the leg injury he suffered near the end of last season. “(It was) my knee and my ankle. It ended up being my ankle more than anything. (Athletic trainer Chris Watson) is a great strength guy and then we’ve got (Assistant Director of Sports Performance Scott Kolok) working on ankle stability, and that helped me a lot right there.”
Raym said his ankle wasn’t 100 percent until the middle of January after a week or two of winter team workouts. The Broken Arrow native is ready to put the past behind him, work with a new coaching staff and a new quarterback in Central Florida transfer Dillon Gabriel and compete to solidify the starting center job.
“Last year was rocky, COVID-19, injuries, but it's a new year,” Raym said. “So we’ve got a new offensive line, new players, new coaching staff, great atmosphere, great positivity in our locker room, and we're looking forward to it.”
More tempo on offense
The Sooners’ offense is looking to play faster under Lebby.
The former Mississippi offensive coordinator is in the process of implementing his high-tempo system during the first week of spring practices, which has some players adjusting to the amount of conditioning required.
“I like playing in a tempo offense just because you can catch the defense slipping,” said senior wide receiver Theo Wease. “Maybe they're not set and we're just playing fast. So that was a big part (of my decision to return), just talking to Coach Lebby and everything about his offense. It's definitely fast and we're definitely going to be well in shape.”
Lebby spoke Thursday about the importance of the pace on the offensive line in his playbook, especially the key role centers like Raym and Congel play.
“Those are the guys that set the tempo for how we play,” Lebby said. “The fastest units we've been on, the centers have been a huge part of getting to the football, setting our feet and allowing us to play fast, and pushing the tempo. (Raym and Congel) understand that, they've had great buy into it and I expect those guys to play at a high level.”
The speedy offense Lebby ran last season in Oxford produced promising results as Ole Miss finished No. 6 nationally by averaging 492.5 yards per game in 2021.
“I think the thing that is the constant is the tempo,” Lebby said. “We're going to play incredibly fast. We're going to push the tempo, we're going to dictate how the game is played. That's where it starts for us.”
