Completed Event: Football at Temple on September 13, 2025 , Win , 42, to, 3
Final
Football
42
at Temple
3
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Spring Football Press Conference at Noon
March 07, 2013 | Football
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Oklahoma is scheduled to open spring football practice on Saturday, March 9 in Norman. We'll have loads of behind-the-scenes content, including video and photos from practice. For complete coverage throughout the spring, stay tuned to Oklahoma Football Spring Central and SoonerSports.com.
The annual Spring Game will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 13 at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Fans can purchase tickets online for just $5 by clicking here.
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Head Coach Bob Stoops |
Opening Statement:
"We're all really excited to get back on the field Saturday. With a new football team with this time of year everything is different and new. We're always looking for the different position battles that will be taking place. Everybody in our building is really looking forward to it. We'll practice Saturday and Sunday, take advantage of the weekend. Hopefully have some good meetings and some good quality time on the field. I feel like our guys have done an excellent job through the winter. I know Coach (Jerry) Schmidt is really pleased with the attitude of the guys, the way they've lifted, they've trained, hopefully gaining more speed and power, those kinds of things heading into spring ball. I know everyone wants to talk about the quarterback battles. We've got three excellent players there - Blake Bell, Trevor Knight and Kendall Thompson are all quality athletes. Guys who we have always felt who can throw the ball well and, and on top of that all three have the ability to run as well. It will be interesting to see how that all goes. But those guys have had a great winter with their training."
On the possibility of 50-front defensive scheme:
"That's something that we've done in the past and it's something we will do some in the spring. We won't do it solely however; we will still do our four-man front and will work different guys in the rotation inside. We will also experiment because I think it's a positive to jump into a 50 and do some of that stuff like we have in the past."
On experiencing his first quarterback battle in his third season at OU:
"I think when guys are pretty equal or there isn't a definitive edge, I think it's just fair and competition that you give them their opportunities on the field who in the moment will step up and maybe make more plays in the game, when it really matters and avoid the critical bad play and be more consistent ... Sometimes you can't tell that until you're on the field a little bit. I think back then with Nate (Hybl) and Jason (White) it was a similar situation at the time, and then it works itself out. I don't think it's nearly as disruptive to the team as maybe people make it out to be. As long as you're not changing offenses, going to more a quarterback run game then to throwing the football, as long as you're practicing the same plays, I don't know that it's all that disruptive to the other players."
On backing his starting quarterback once he makes that decision:
"If you look at it, we generally haven't made the decision real early, though. There comes a certain time when somebody has to start and be ready for it. I think most of our battles have continued through the summer and through two-a-days for good reason in our minds, anyway. We want to see the continued competition. We may in our mind already know who has the edge in our eyes, but let's see if he's had a good summer. Let's see if maybe someone didn't come back and improve more than he did over the summer and overtakes him. We want to see that competition work through into the summer and I would imagine that it would be the same thing."
On if he looked at the new coaches' recruiting skills:
"I think you always are and it's always part of the equation. But these guys do have strong backgrounds on the field in coaching and recruiting. That's always a part of it."
On whether he'll be hosting Iowa Football watch parties in the fall:
"It's interesting. I talked to several people about Jerry (Montgomery). I talked to about three or four different people about him, then I pulled him up and did some more research about him, and I didn't even know he played at Iowa. That's a positive thing. We guys always root for our alma mater. Jerry has a great background."
On the depth at defensive tackles:
"We've got some of those other Well we have some of the defensive ends who have beefed up now, some are 260, 265. We've got some other bigger guys who we can rotate them in there. There are 11 or 12 guys who we can rotate up into four positions. We'll manage it. And we've got some quality guys coming in."
On Coach Bobby Jack Wright's new responsibilities:
"Coach Wright is going to work with the corners. Mike is going to work with the safeties. In our league we play a lot of five DBs, sometime six. I think more eyes there will help us there. Jay Boulware will have the tight ends and will be the special teams coordinator."
On the play of the special teams in 2012:
"Nobody talked about it. Bobby Jack was our special teams coordinator. We were about first or second in the league in about everything."
On who won't practice in the spring:
"Guys who won't be able to participate Nila (Kasitati). Tyler (Evans) is as tolerated. He's set to go. Taylor McNamara, not in the first week. He can catch balls. No risk of falling down until after spring break, but he will come in the second part of it. Rip (Aaron Ripkowski ) can't go either."
On playing Baylor on a Thursday night:
"We have an off week before it. It was something we discussed. In the end, with the new television agreement everyone will have to have their hand in playing a game on a Thursday night. With our situation with our stadium on campus, it really isn't conducive for us to host one. We're going to have to go somewhere to play one. I'd rather do it where we have an off-week before it so we don't get trapped on a short week. In analyzing it with Joe, we thought this might be the best scenario with the off-week ahead of it and a relatively short trip."
On guys waiting on the NCAA Clearing House:
"All of those other guys have still been cleared. D.J. (Ward), we're still waiting on."
On what is it like to have to make coaching changes:
"I'm not much about talking about my personal feelings about much of anything, let alone what I've got to do with my work, so. It's part of the job."
On what are big priorities you want to tackle this spring:
"I say everything. You want everything to keep improving. I think more consistency just overall in every part of what we're doing. You're never satisfied, so it just really be fundamentally sound in everything that we're doing. There's not one area that we're really going to focus on and emphasize on each side of the ball."
On if this is this a great time to coach fundamentals:
"Oh, yeah. This is a really fun time for coaches because of what you said. You can really just focus on fundamentals and discipline and what you're doing. You get to work with everybody. In the season you're working with everybody, but you're focused more on the first and second team guys that are getting the most snaps. This way you're bringing everybody along. To me it's really about building depth in every position and getting more players ready to play not only on offense and defense, but also even on special teams. You're doing a lot of drill work and a lot of fundamentals with everybody and everyone gets their chance because the freshman aren't here yet, so there's only a limited number on the field and they're getting a lot of snaps. It's kind of fun to see guys progress and come along and start to get it that have been here a year or so. It always happens. You get your, not surprises, but you see some things coming to when you're working with them so long."
On new guys in the secondary:
"I'm sure there will be a little bit of experimentation there. But, guys like Julian Wilson who has played a ton will get more. You know, I think Zach Sanchez and other guys are going to have more opportunity, Kass Everett is another guy who has played some and is ready to play, so all these guys we'll experiment with in different spots with them. Another guy is Cortez Johnson, a guy who transferred from Arizona. He's a big, long guy who can play. Aaron (Colvin) has been one of our consistent players and is a great leader for us, so it will be exciting and fun to see these guys out there competing."
On if there is a bit of pride in getting these new hires:
"I don't really look at it that way, but I do feel a couple of things. I always feel fortunate that I'm at a strong university that's going to always allow us to try to hire the best people that we can, and we've had a good history and tradition of championships and success, so all around it's usually an attractive place. There's always personal and family issues with all guys and coaches, but anyway I was fortunate to hire what I feel is three really great coaches."
On the punting competition:
"We have Jed Barnett, Jack Steed, a bunch of these guys, so we'll see, but right now Jed has the most experience. He's been doing it for a couple of years, and these other guys have gotten better, so we'll see where it goes."
On if Drew Allen will be with the team in spring:
"No. Drew is working out and is waiting to see. He's going to graduate and have an opportunity to play somewhere next year. Drew is a wonderful guy and will do well for somebody."
On the excitement with all three QBs being mobile:
"Yeah, to a degree it will be. We'll do our best to not give away exactly how we're going to do it, but in the end there will be a little bit of that for sure."
On changes with the way he is using defensive ends as outside linebackers:
"Yeah. Some of when we kick into a 50, some of it will be some of those guys standing up outside once in a while."
On what coach the defensive ends/linebackers will work with in practice:
"For the most part they will work with Jerry (Montgomery), but we've always when we've zone blitzed have defensive ends at times over in pass skel. A lot of times we will start off the first five or 10 minutes of it making sure they're getting their drops and then send them to pass rush, so we'll manage that."
On the benefit of early enrollees:
"It sure helps them, first, start to mature physically meaning they're really working at a high level here during the winter, and then they get the snaps and the experience on the field ahead of the summer, so they go into the summer already with a strong idea of what it takes to play."
On replacing Kenny Stills and Justin Brown:
"Yeah, another guy too is Durron Neal. When Durron was in games he did a great job. He's a big play time guy and strong. Derrick (Woods) was great all year. He was one of our scouts and just an excellent player. Trey (Metoyer) is ready to come on, and he really gets it now, so I think all of those guys are going to be really solid and good for us. Dannon Cavil, since he's been here, really is an impressive young man. He is all of 6'3 maybe 6'4. He's already up to 215 pounds. He's handled the workouts. That's when you can really tell if a guys is ready for it, and he's gone through all the workouts like he's a junior, and that's really exciting too."
On young guys who have stood out during winter workouts:
"All of them. Jerry (Schmidt), this has been, in his mind, one of the best winters we've had just as an overall team. I don't know who else. All those guys are doing well."
On if not being picked high in preseason changes anything:
"No. It doesn't change anything whatsoever. We've never put much stock or cared where we were or weren't picked."
On if it invigorates him on laying low:
"Invigorate me meaning the other years when we're picked high and I'm not excited to go to work or work hard? "
On if he feels like there is a chip on his shoulder:
"We'll see. We'll see if the players do or not. They're the ones that ultimately have to do it, but we'll see where it leads."
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Co-Offensive Coordinator Josh Heupel |
On the biggest concerns going into the spring:
"I don't think "concerns" is the right word. The unique thing about college football is just the turnover that you always have. Certainly we lost a lot of good football players, guys that played pivotal roles in our program for a long time here. But I'm really excited about the opportunity that some young guys are going to have, some guys that haven't had the opportunity to step up and be big contributors yet up until this point. But they have the opportunity right now for 15 days to go out and prove who they are and what they're about and how they're going to compete."
On what it's been like in the past month putting in a new offensive line coach:
"Yeah, we put them all back to work when they got here, Coach Jay (Boulware), as well. It's been a lot of fun getting some new energy, new ideas, guys that see things from a different perspective; seeing your program from a different perspective, too, looking from the outside in. We're excited about the things they bring to the table, respectively at their positions, in the meeting room; the toughness, the discipline, the accountability that I think they're going to help bring to this program, this offense."
On his quarterbacks:
"Ultimately they're going to get a chance to prove all those things. That's the exciting thing about spring ball. I'm really excited about the way they've all worked, even last fall, when they weren't the guy. But certainly, I think you saw when the regular season ended and the bowl opportunity came, you saw them compete in a different way. Their focus was certainly heightened. They've had great off-seasons, spent a ton of time in the meeting room, in the film room, looking at the schemes that we're running, where they need to throw the football, where we need to be better. Ultimately, when we're not around, going and throwing at seven-on-sevens, making mistakes but learning from them and getting better. I think they've all gotten better fundamentally, as well. I'm really excited about going out there on Saturday and seeing where they are."
On what his offense will look like:
"We'll find out as we find out what type of personnel we can really count on. You saw us change last year from what we had been in past years because our personnel changed. It always does year to year, but certainly last year there was a major overhaul. With the way things unfolded at tight end, with a couple kids leaving our program late in recruiting the previous year and us having two new guys at that position, trying to find out what they could and could not do. Taylor McNamara has a shoulder surgery and then finding out when Brannon Green could and could not do. We ended up playing in four-wide receiver sets more than we ever have here in Coach Stoops' tenure. We played a lot in 20 personnel, too, with Trey (Millard) in the backfield and he kind of became the guy that moved around a bunch for us. We'll find out. What you want to get out of spring ball, certainly you're going to look at some new schemes that you think might fit your personnel. As much as anything, I think we're going to find out who the players are who really have an opportunity to contribute, who's going to be tough, who's going to be physical, what they can and cannot do. Ultimately, where guys make mistakes day one, are they going to correct those when you come back on the field day two? It's okay to makes mistakes, just can't make the same mistake repeatedly."
On how tough it is to manage quarterback competition:
"I think initially you limit the package on a day-to-day basis. You look at your schemes every offseason and you look at what you were effective at, what you weren't, how you're going to change it, what you want to get rid of and what you want to add. When you have new quarterbacks, certainly you want to put less on their plates initially. You want to start small and grow as the spring goes on and certainly in training camp into the season. These guys are going to make a bunch of mistakes in some of our basic schemes. They're going to get better day in and day out. Ultimately, whether we find the guy this spring or it happens in training camp, you're going to put in the schemes that he feels comfortable with. Your play calling is going to be in part based on what he has an opportunity to be successful in as well."
On if he would design runs for quarterbacks if it fits the offense and utilizes their strengths best:
"Well, from Coach Stoops down, inside our program, we will never give up anything as far as our quarterbacks having the ability to pass. That's our primary focus first. We have great skill guys and we want to make sure we're able to distribute the ball to those guys. But certainly the guys we have on campus are a little bit different than Landry (Jones) with their ability to extend and make plays with their feet. How many times we'll have designed play calls for them I can't tell you right now, but certainly that's something we'll probably look at in the spring. As much as anything I think it changes how defenses play you in all downs, but certainly in third down. Defensive linemen guys stay in their rush lanes and they have to keep an eye on the quarterback, his ability to extend plays and run downfield and make a 15, 20-yard gain with his feet. But as much as anything, too, escape, keep his eyes down the field and make a play with a skill guy down the field, as well. That is certainly an added dimension and stress that will be a little bit different for defenses that we play."
On if it's different judging quarterbacks:
"Grading them through practice is one thing. Then when the lights come on and the blue jersey comes off, you get hit for real and the bullets are actually loud bullets, it is different. Sometimes you don't figure out what you have until that guy's in that situation. I think with all three of these guys, we have guys that are very competitive, very confident, athletic, can make plays, can do anything we're asking them physically as far as running the football, but then certainly can push the ball down the field, as well."
On if he would ideally like to be able to name the quarterback in the spring:
"Ideally, we're going to name a guy when he's earned it. That's what we've always done here. That position is extremely important. I think for that guy to go out and earn that position, earn the confidence of the guys around him, earn the trust of the people around him, so you can ultimately lead that group, that offense, in the way that we want to."
On Bob Stoops saying he doesn't mind carrying the competition into two-a-days:
"The last time it happened, the last time we had a, I don't want to say a true competition, but where there was a real battle in the fall camp, it went up until a few days before game week."
On the battle between keeping competition open and identifying a summer leader:
"I think it's important that all our guys lead in that way, whether they're the guy or not. I would hope that those guys compete, lead, push themselves within our group at the quarterback position, but the guys around him the same way. I think that's extremely important. As far as competition in the two-a-days, sometimes I think that drives guys throughout the summer, and in a different way, too. The sense of urgency they feel is a little bit different, as well. So there are pluses and minuses to both of them. Ultimately you can't name a guy until you have a guy."
On how much Blake Bell's experience in critical moments gives him:
"I think he has some comfort in executing parts of what we've done offensively. He understands the urgency, the demands of going out there and playing and executing. At the same time, he didn't get an opportunity to run our entire offense all the time either. But he certainly has a good command of it. I think those opportunities, those experiences, can help him. But we'll find out if ultimately that helps him be the guy."
On if it helps the quarterback that the people around him will be experienced:
"I think at the quarterback position you're only as good as the guys around you. If you want to be successful, you want to have 10 other guys playing at a high level. Certainly, those five guys up front have some experience; and we're going to find out how the guys grow and continue to come on. We need better up front. They need to play with more urgency. They need to be tougher and more physical. They need to be better fundamentally. If they do that, they have a chance to really catapult us offensively and allow us to be as efficient as we want to be."
On what they expect of Trey Metoyer:
"We certainly expect that he has an opportunity to be that type of player for us, but there's a lot of guys at the wide receiver position for us. I know we have some competition at that position with some young guys who haven't had the opportunity to play a significant role yet. They're competing in a great way and had a great offseason. They ultimately have to go out and earn it through the spring, and then in training camp, too. Some of what Trey (Metoyer) experienced early in the year has really helped him and certainly he's capable of playing in a great way for us."
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Defensive Coordinator Mike Stoops |
Opening statement:
"I'm excited to get back out on the field and see what we've got defensively. We lost some great players from a year ago; lost a lot of productive players through early graduation and certainly guys finishing up their eligibility. We certainly have our work cut out this spring and heading into next fall. We've got a lot of good players to replace. That's what the spring is for - see who we can bring along and rely on and who can be playmakers in this defense.
"Certainly the defense will be built around Aaron Colvin. He gives us one of the premier corners in all of football to build our defense around. He gives us flexibility within our defense. Obviously playing without two linebackers for over 50 percent of the year last year is concerning. The amount of four wide receiver sets we saw a year ago was like no other season I've ever seen, so being a little more adjustable to those formation groupings is going to be important to us because that's what you see in this league. It's a wide open league that goes 100 miles an hour and puts a lot of skill on the field and really tries to separate your defense. So we've got a lot of work to do to try to reestablish ourselves as one of the top defenses. At times I thought that last year we played well, but down the stretch when we got with some really good offenses we didn't play nearly good enough as we need to here at Oklahoma. We're always going to have great expectations for what we expect to do when we step on the field."
On OU's defense being able to take advantage of the Big 12's new quarterbacks:
"Our staff gained experience last year as well, I think that's as much as anything. I think we weren't aligned; myself, obviously Coach (Tim) Kish and half our staff was new to this league and I think the more you're in it the more adaptable you get to certain teams, understanding them. Certainly understood Baylor, but I didn't understand them to the extent that I understand them now in what we had to experience to get to that point. So I think you learn a lot about your opponents the more often you play them. That was a little bit of a disadvantage; the scheme we played was a little different than it had been in the past. We didn't have all the answers that we needed, but beyond all that is was the best offensive skill I've seen in a long time in one conference and certainly adding Texas A&M to the equation did us no favors. But maybe in the long run it's good. Maybe it'll expose some weaknesses in our team and we'll benefit from being not as good as we wanted to be and in the future we'll be better. I look at it as a positive. We still have a lot of room to grow, but I feel like these players we have in position, we have a very talented group. If people want to underestimate what we're capable of, then, again, that has no real bearing on what we want to do and what we know we can do as a group."
On if being more inventive up front will help improve the defense:
"Sure, we have to be able to create more big plays. We have to be able to create more negative yardage plays and that's concerning for us when you look at it a year ago, the amount of big plays that we didn't give up a ton but we didn't get a ton, either. So being able to be in a position to be more aggressive defensively I think is what you have to be and not sit back and react to everything like I think we did probably a year ago. At times I think it hurt us schematically and we didn't have the right stuff on to properly defend some of the things we had to defend."
On the Sooner pass rush:
"Do you realize that the number one team had 31 sacks and we had 25? Is that a big discrepancy? The leading team in this league only gave up nine sacks; I think that was Oklahoma State. We threw the ball close to 400 times and only gave up 14 sacks. You have to look at it relatively and objectively and that is how I look at it. When is there pressure? Is this guy going to get the ball out? Today people don't hold on to the ball like they used to. I think Kansas State led the league with 31 sacks and that's not an abundance of pressure. That's just how the league is and it gets frustrating but, like you said, I think you have to get pressure on the quarterback and at least make him feel it. You have to create pressure, get in windows and that's where we need to be better at as a defense, in getting inside the throwing the windows. In this league, the good teams aren't going to take sacks. Look at it statistically and that's what you see, it's pretty alarming that people can throw the ball that many times, be that efficient and take no sacks. It's unheard of."
On what has to be done to keep teams from scoring:
"That's a great question. You have to play better and contest things down in and down out. You have to get big plays, make interceptions and be better on third down. If you hold Oklahoma State to 550 yards it sounds bad, but what's their average? You hold someone like that to 460 yards, you've held them under 100. We thought we played bad against Baylor we held them 150 yards under what they average. It's really all relevant and that's what gets frustrating. You have to be patient and understand that these teams are well equipped and they know what they are doing. All the schemes make it very difficult; there are stress points all over the field when you play. Our players need to understand how they're going to attack us better, and that right there is coaching; we need to do a better job in that element of the game."
On hiring defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery:
"Jerry brings a different vantage point than we've had before, and he also provides different ideas. He brings certain newness to our guys and has been very well schooled in his development as a young coach. He may be young but he has a lot of experience and ideas. He understands that playing in the Big 12 is different than playing in the Big Ten. Our issues are a lot different; they see tight ends every week and here, we don't. He's a great person and a very good football coach."
On the defensive line differences between the Big 12 and Big Ten:
"The combination of speed, quickness and size is ultimately what makes great defensive linemen. Technique is important, but again the size is more of a speed gain in this league. However, we still have to be physical upfront and take on blocks the proper way. Everything starts up front on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The better you are on both sides, will better your opportunity on winning and controlling the game. Last year, we take full responsibility as a staff for not putting our players in better positions. It's certainly not an indication of any coach's ability to coach or inability to coach the proper way. We've won a lot of championships but we're still not balanced in our defense with what we want to do, so we have to make adjustments."
On replacing the players who have departed on defense:
"A year ago everyone made a big deal about moving three guys. The productivity of Tony Jefferson will be dearly missed; he was a great playmaker for us. We will move Gabe Lynn, who has great flexibility in his game to go over to free safety and I think Julian Wilson will step over at the nickel so it's not a big
deal for us. Quentin Hayes will go over to strong safety. Cortez Johnson, Zach Sanchez, Kass Everett, whoever plays at the other corner will be our biggest challenge. I think Ahmad Thomas, getting him here at the semester will definitely help us. We have a great group of young secondary players coming in and we will lean on them in the fall. If we can solidify the one cornerback position then we will have a group very comparable to what we had a year ago."
On the cornerback competition:
"We're going to look at our best five or six. Julian Wilson may go to corner. Julian is a guy who can play any position in the secondary. It all depends on who is playing well and we'll give everyone an opportunity. If someone's better at nickel than they are at corner, I think we can cover our nickel up better than we can cover our corner up. We'll mess around with it this spring to see how we can adjust our defense accordingly. If you can shut down one side of the field with one guy, he gives you a lot more flexibility and we feel like we have a guy we can lean on like that."
On how many cornerbacks a team needs:
"You need four of them. Safeties aren't safeties anymore. They're not as athletic as corners, but they're more of a corners style than safeties of old in this league. We're out in space, we're not dropping down in the box as much as you would when you play tight ends. In this league you have to be able to play a game that is very isolated and cover a lot of ground in the back end."
On Aaron Colvin coming back for his senior season:
"Having him back, that was critical. Aaron is a very complete player. He has the intensity, the focus, the drive. He's here for a purpose and he wants to be a first round draft pick. I think he sets the tone for our whole defense. He's a great leader and he's a great competitor which is the most important thing when you watch Aaron play. I think we all took for granted his ability to make plays the way he does on the football field. If he stays healthy and continues to develop and keep working he'll put himself into a very elite category of player."
On managing lack of personnel at defensive tackle:
"We'll move some ends inside to manage that for the time being. But we have to able to work both styles of our defense whether it's a 4-3 or a 3-4, we have to work with both."
On advantage of playing both 4-3 and 3-4 defense:
"It's how you play certain techniques. It's how you play, not what you play. You've got to have the players who can play at a high level and do both things. The more you do, the less the techniques change. You're robbing one to pay the other one. So that's a balance between giving more flexibility to your defense and being able to execute, too, still at the same pace. That's why I think you see a lot of the four wideouts in the game, it's because it simplifies the game a bit for the quarterbacks, it takes away certain things you can do in both defenses and that's why you see it so much in this league."
On the linebacker group:
"Corey [Nelson] is our other leader. Corey and Frank Shannon I think both played really solid football for us throughout the course of the year. Those two guys have to be really big players for us in what we're trying to do. Our scheme did a little bit of an injustice to our linebackers a year ago and in this league, again, I sound redundant, but I don't know how else to say it. When you play four wideouts 70 percent of the game, that's extraordinary and it limits some of the great things these guys can do. But we're going to try to keep two linebackers on the field as much as we can in each situation."
On working with Bobby Jack in the secondary:
"A year ago it was hard coaching six guys. One position one guy is coaching six players, that's crazy. Having a guy that sees things the same way you do is a bonus. It's a lot like me and Brent (Venables); we saw things alike because we spent so many years (together) and we understood what was going to be the strengths and weaknesses. Having the front four together we felt was important. It's to reenergize and reinvigorate our front and keep those guys together to build a bond."
On getting sacks and more pressure on the quarterback:
"Do you realize that the number one team had 31 sacks and we had 25? Is that a big discrepancy? The leading team in this league only gave up nine sacks; I think that was Oklahoma State. We threw the ball close to 400 times and only gave up 14 sacks. You have to look at it objectively and that is how I look at it. When is there pressure? Is this guy going to get the ball out? Today people don't hold on to the ball like they used to. I think Kansas State led the league with 31 sacks and that's not an abundance of pressure. That's just how the league is and it gets frustrating but, like you said, I think you have to get pressure on the quarterback and at least make him feel it. You have to create pressure, get in windows and that's where we need to be better at as a defense, in getting inside the throwing the windows. In this league, the good teams aren't going to take sacks. Look at it statistically and that's what you see, it's pretty alarming that people can throw the ball that many times, be that efficient and take no sacks. It's unheard of."
On keeping teams from scoring:
"That's a great question. You have to play better and contest things down in and down out. You have to get big plays, make interceptions and be better on third down. If you hold Oklahoma State to 550 yards it sounds bad, but what's their average? You hold someone like that to 460 yards, you've held them under 100. We thought we played bad against Baylor we held them 150 yards under what they average. It's really all relevant and that's what gets frustrating. You have to be patient and understand that these teams are well equipped and they know what they are doing. All the schemes make it very difficult; there are stress points all over the field when you play. Our players need to understand how they're going to attack us better, and that right there is coaching; we need to do a better job in that element of the game."
On hiring defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery:
"Jerry brings a different vantage point than we've had before, and he also provides different ideas. He brings certain newness to our guys and has been very well schooled in his development as a young coach. He may be young but he has a lot of experience and ideas. He understands that playing in the Big 12 is different than playing in the Big Ten. Our issues are a lot different; they see tight ends every week and here, we don't. He's a great person and a very good football coach."
On the defensive line differences between the Big 12 and Big Ten:
"The combination of speed, quickness and size is ultimately what makes great defensive linemen. Technique is important, but again the size is more of a speed gain in this league. However, we still have to be physical upfront and take on blocks the proper way. Everything starts up front on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The better you are on both sides, will better your opportunity on winning and controlling the game. Last year, we take full responsibility as a staff for not putting our players in better positions. It's certainly not an indication of any coach's ability to coach or inability to coach the proper way. We've won a lot of championships but we're still not balanced in our defense with what we want to do, so we have to make adjustments."
On replacing the voided spots on defense:
"A year ago everyone made a big deal about moving three guys. The productivity of Tony Jefferson will be dearly missed; he was a great playmaker for us. We will move Gabe Lynn, who has great flexibility, to go over to free safety. Quentin Hayes will go over to strong safety. Who plays at the other corner will be our biggest challenge. We have a great group of young secondary players coming in and we will lean on them in the fall. If we can solidify the one cornerback position then we will have a group very comparable to a year ago."
On the cornerback competition:
"We're going to look at our best five or six. Julian Wilson may go to corner, he's a guy who can play any position in the secondary. It all depends on who is playing well and we'll give everyone an opportunity."
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/ FootballBrent Venables Media Availability - 11/18/25
Tuesday, November 18
Ben Arbuckle Media Availability - 11/18/25
Tuesday, November 18
Sooner Sports Talk - 11/17/25
Monday, November 17
Sooner Football With Brent Venables - 11/16/25
Sunday, November 16
