2024 Fall Camp Underway

NORMAN — Oklahoma football opened fall camp this week, in preparation for the 2024 season, which begins Aug. 30 against Temple at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

The Sooners wrapped their third day of workouts on Friday and donned shells on the practice field for the first time. OU players and coaches took team photos Saturday morning, then signed autographs for members of 1Oklahoma and the Sooner Kids Club at Meet the Sooners Day.

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables met with the media Saturday morning to discuss the first few days of fall camp, which began on Wednesday. Four players spoke to media following Thursday's practice.

A limited number of ticket mini plans and single-game tickets are still available for OU's four non-conference home games, including the Aug. 30 season opener against Temple (6 p.m. start).

Single-game tickets are on sale for OU home games against Temple, Houston, Tulane and Maine. Tickets for the Temple and Maine games are priced at $65 while the Houston and Tulane contests are priced at $85. Fans interested in purchasing tickets for an SEC home game are encouraged to secure a seat through a mini plan option.

Quotes

Head Coach Brent Venables

On the start of fall camp:

"The first three days have been really good. I know probably every coach in that building and every coach in the country would be the first one to tell you that you're going to get a lot of energy and enthusiasm the first several days of camp. I really want to find out who we're going to be in the middle of camp. The things that I wanted to see at the beginning – because I expected to see the energy and enthusiasm – I wanted to see execution as much as anything. That was really good on both sides of the ball. It was a really good first three days. Yesterday, we put on shoulder pads – uppers, or shells, as we call it. It was another good day of flying around and getting adjusted to fall camp and the tempo."

On the offensive line – whether all five spots are up for grabs:

"I think it's appropriate to say that. We don't have 50 guys to choose from. I love the group of guys. The hard work has shown. It's been going on since the spring with a couple of additions in fall camp since the last time we laced them up. I really like how that group has come along. We have good depth there, in regards to guys we feel like can play winning football. Jacob Sexton, Jake Taylor, Michael Tarquin, Febechi Nwaiwu, Branson Hickman, Joshua Bates, several other guys along with those guys, and Logan Howland has really done some great things as a young player. BJ (Eugene) Brooks, Josh Aisosa, that's a group of guys that we are really excited about. Eddy Pierre-Louis has jumped in there. The young guys and the new guys have really impressed with their ability to execute, and the older guys are better than they've ever been.

"The leadership we're getting from Sexton and Taylor both, and the improvement that they've brought to the table; and then, again, my feeling is that it's the best that Febechi's been playing. Again, this is coming from these guys – they're playing their best football. Mike Tarquin, Spencer Brown. Bill (Bedenbaugh) has done a great job, along with the rest of our guys on the offensive line coaching them up and getting them ready."

On Jackson Arnold's progress so far:

"I think we're executing at a really high level right now. His decision making is even better than it was. The guys around him are playing better. I think the offensive line is in a much better position than where we were in the spring. We had some guys injured or weren't here yet. I haven't mentioned Geirean Hatchett, he's done fantastic as well as an inside guy. But the overall leadership is a comfortable position. He's led these guys all summer and spring and so it's a little more natural now."

On whether the team has more competitive depth this year:

"I think a year ago we bragged about competitive depth. I do think there was a slight drop off between that first and second group a year ago, and (there's) not near the drop off, if any at all, with that first and second group. Sometimes that second group, that means there's three (players) for two (spots). There's a handful of guys in that mix. I think about linebacker, and again, the transformation that's taken place there in the last year and a half. From our first year where we felt like we really only had three guys that could go play in a game to where we're at now – night and day. And I think, really, for the most part, every position on our team looks like that."

WR Nic Anderson

On the offseason:

"The summer went really well, for everybody. I mean, Schmidty (Jerry Schmidt) got after us. I feel like this was the toughest summer that we've had since I've been here, and I feel like we all handled it really well. He broke us down and built us right back up. I feel like it is the best shape this team has been in in a while."

On the offense under new coordinator Seth Littrell:

"We have some of the same ideologies. But as a whole? Fast, fearless and physical, every play. When he wants to push it deep, push it deep. When he wants to run the ball, run it efficiently. Whatever you can expect from a dominant offense is what he wants to put forward."

On the growth of wide receiver Jayden Gibson :

"He's really stepped up vocally and physically. He's gotten a lot bigger, gotten a lot faster, stronger. Vocally, he's been more of a leader to the young guys, and really bringing up everybody around him as well."

DB Peyton Bowen

On whether this fall camp feels different for him than last year, and what he is working on:

"I'd say to a point. But honestly, last year was a blur, fall camp-wise. It's just exhausting stuff. It went by pretty fast for me. I'm just taking it day by day, just trying to get better.

"I'd say my angles to approach and tackling, and my footwork with breaking in my man technique to receivers, and my eye discipline looking at the wrong things. Now I'm looking at the right things I'm supposed to be looking at, play by play."

On the safety group:

"I feel really confident in that group. We have a lot of young guys, but they know what they're doing. They're learning fast. They're not showing signs of (regressing). They're improving every day. They're very coachable. I'm very confident in that group that if anything were to happen during the season, that any one of those guys could step up and play their role."

On how Billy Bowman's return for his senior season helps Peyton:

"It's really great. He can teach me his ways, be a leader. Just what he sees on the field as well. Because we don't have NFL guys in our locker room besides coaches that can tell me what they see. I have a future draft pick right there by my side telling me what he says, what I need to do better. Even what he needs to work on I can learn from him as well."

OL Branson Hickman

On playing for offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh:

"Coach B is one of the main reasons why I came here. Obviously, he has a proven track record. He puts guys in the NFL, and he also has guys succeed in college. It's like, why would you not want to play for Coach B?"

On the rebuilt offensive line:

"I feel great. We have a lot of guys that are working really hard. We built a good relationship, a good bond in the summer. A lot of guys were hanging out together. Being a transfer, I'm thankful for the guys, since I came in a little later than everyone else – they brought me in like I was one of their own. It's been a good experience so far, and it's been a good first two days."

On whether he has adopted a leadership role as a veteran, or has to grow into that as a newcomer:

"I think it's a little bit of both. You have to grow into it. You've got to earn people's respect, but we got a lot of guys who have played a lot of football. We have a lot of leaders, so it's never good to have one guy leading the whole group. It's a lot of guys collectively talking, getting the group going. I feel like that's what we have here, and it's what you want in an O-line room"

DL Damonic Williams

On learning from head coach Brent Venables and co-defensive coordinator Zac Alley:

"It's been great. It's been amazing. I feel like out of all the head coaches I met, BV, he's most definitely the best one because he's just such a hands-on coach and not like a CEO-minded head coach where they're just watching practice. Like no, he's getting in practice. He's chewing people out if they're doing the wrong thing. It's something that I love about this place."

On freshmen defensive linemen David Stone and Jayden Jackson:

"They're going be great. I promise you that. I am so excited to see them play, too. It gives me chills right now talking about it because knowing that OU is in their hands in the next couple years is going to be something amazing. They're just doing a lot of things that veterans can do. And it's just like, me and them, we still have to learn the playbook and things like that. But it's just seeing the skill level and the talent that they have at such an early age is amazing."

On whether the transition to OU has gone the way he expected:

"It's been maybe a little bit tougher than I expected, only because I thought I could come in here and get the defense right away, but it's not that way. There's a lot that goes into the defense. Once I got here, the guys — (Jacob) Lacey, DT (Da'Jon Terry), (Davon) Sears — sat me down and said, 'OK, you've got to get this.' Sat me down and told me everything I needed to know and I thought, OK, it's a little simpler in my head now than it once was."