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Oklahoma Head Coach Brent Venables Auburn Week Press Conference · Sooner or Later Sports

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Okay, good morning. Got a great matchup this weekend with Auburn.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: As you all know, first time Auburn has been to Norman. Uh.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: They got a really good football team. As I'm getting started,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I'd like to just take a quick moment to congratulate
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: coach Stoops and going into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Really cool, uh honor for him and that year going
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: against Washington State. Uh, what a what a fun game
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: that was. But uh, uh, congratulations to coach Stoops for that.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I think Saturday is gonna be a wear Crimson game
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: for all the Sooner fans. So I know they're gonna
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: show up early and and uh and stay late and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: having a great opportunity to again affect the game like
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: they did against Michigan. So look forward to having a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: great crowd on Saturday afternoon. And again Auburn has had
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: a lot of success in the lines of scrimmage here.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I talked about that a little bit last night, and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: they they've ranked in both the top twenty on rushing
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: offense and rushing defense. I have done a fantastic job,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: got great balance and what they're doing. Given up just
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: under two yards a run through their first three games,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and they're averaging almost two hundred and fifty yards a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: game rushing. They've rushed for ten touchdowns and have not
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: allowed a rushing touchdown yet this year. Last year they
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: had thirteen total rushing touchdowns, so they've already gotten ten
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: this year. They've been great in the red zone and
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: their nine out of nine and they've gone forth. They
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: haven't missed a fourth down conversion yet as well. Jackson
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Arnold is completing seventy percent of his passes, averaging one
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty seven yards a game, four touchdowns, no interceptions,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: no turnovers at all. Ran for just under one hundred
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and fifty yards against Baylor, so he's playing really, really well.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: They've got tremendous talent both sides of the ball. Got
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: a great roster, really big, physical offensive line. Cobbs an
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: excellent runner, really explosive and runs well behind his pads.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: And then defensively, man, these guys are long, and they're
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: athletic and again super aggressive. They're multiple well coached. So again,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: gonna be a great challenge for us going into this weekend.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: We'll George, Yeah, after this season, that was tough last year,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Maybe what conversations did you and Jackson have after the year,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: and was it one of those situations where maybe both
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: sides needed somewhat of.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: A fresh story. Yeah, I'll just keep that between he
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: and I. Obviously things that worked out well for him
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and and uh and us both, but those are things
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: are never easy and uh, but it's just uh, the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: environment that we're in. And I'm really happy for him
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: that he's having, you know, great success. Have you maybe
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: seen him improve from last year to this year. I
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: think he's the same guy. I think he's got a
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: healthy football team around him, and he's having great success running, throwing,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: being really efficient. He's taking care of the ball, and
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the people around him are good. Can't play quarterback by yourself, right, So, Uh,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I think the offense and their defense complement one another.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: And and uh, he's really done a great job. Yeah,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: he's he's gonna miss the first half.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And with him as in the first half, how big
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: of an opportunity is it for guys like Dan?
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we've we've been playing a bunch of
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: guys and Danny will be back here this week, So
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: guy's gotta hold it down, you know. And uh, but
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I've got no no doubt they will.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Troy Everett obviously didn't make the trip to Fairy. He's
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: not on your depth chart anymore. What's his status? Yeah,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: he had a season ending injury. We could go last Tuesday. Uh,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I hate that for him. It's just devastating, same injury
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: other knee that he had a little over a year
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: and a half ago. And uh uh it's having a
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: really good year and just a great leader and he'll
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: have to lead in a different type of way. Really
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: hurt for him, and and uh you know again all
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the the pain, the sacrifice that he's been through. Uh,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and but he's really tough and he'll move move on,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: move forward, and uh he'll be He'll he'll find another
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: way to use all the the leadership qualities that he
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: has to help us.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: How do you feel about that the depth there at
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: the center behind Jake?
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Phil feel okay? You know like everybody, Uh not
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: many team's gonna have three or four centers. So you know,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: we got a good plan. Uh you know if we
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: have to address that at some point in time, and uh,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: we'll be fine.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: Brent Michigan, we asked you how you're going to defend
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: Rice Underwood by then you knew how you were gonna
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: do it, but you didn't know much about how they
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: what they would do with him, what he could do,
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: those kinds of things. Same thing on Jackson, except you
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: do know all about him. You know his strength, his weaknesses,
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: you know everything entire history. How does that affect what
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: you can do defensively in terms of presenting a plan
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: to stop him?
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we gotta really stop the the Auburn offense. That's
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the challenge. And they've got great balance, as I said,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: both running and throwing and very efficient, So you got
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to play well in every area. You know, they're good
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: at running the football, and they're good at throwing the
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: ball down the field and the RPO world and staying
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: on schedule, being very efficient, and so we've got to
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: be a little more efficient, and we've got to protect
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the perimeter, and we've got to do a great job
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: up front, you know, plugging gaps and getting off of
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: blocks and having great leverage and playing great team defense.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Okay, second row mention of the balance operats offense as
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: what you see from Coleman and Singleton and kind of.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: The one two punch.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, again, Singleton is a new edition obviously came from
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Georgia Tech, and really explosive playmaker. You know, when he
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: touches the ball, man, he's got a chance to score
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: every time he touches the ball. So they're using utilizing
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: them in lots of different ways as both a ball carrier,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: some of the perimeter game, the screen game, and then
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: he's also a threat down the field. Coleman is he's
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the elite. He's got great length to him and had
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: a good game against us last year. He's got great
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: catch radius, super instinctive, he can really go up and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: get the football, and so gonna be again another area
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: that's a big challenge for us.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Go try You know, when you first came here, I
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: recall one of your biggest issues with your defense being tackling.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: You know, you did frustrate almost every week guys try
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: to strip the ball by gambling to make big plays
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: and sometimes getting burned by it. Now you've got one
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: of the best defenses in the country, universally considered one
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: of the best defense in the country, despite having not
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: forced to turn over generally when that happens, you've got
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: to a good tackling, good fundamentals. At what point did
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: you start to notice a change in the mentality of
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: your guys from a shift from trying to force those
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: big plays to defensive fundamentals.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't know if there was ever an exact moment,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: but we got better when our guys started to understanding defense,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: tracking angles. Certainly a lot of the fundamentals that you carry,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: you know, to the from practice to uh, you know,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: game day. But I really feel like the understanding of
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: of you know, coverage, zone man, and where your help
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: is so you know how to close space. I think
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: the hardest, most challenging part of tackling is closing space.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: But the next thing that you say after that is
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: just the tracking angles, and it's all based on where
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: your help is. So the more intelligent we got, the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: more that we developed the fundamentals within, you know, the
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: tackling techniques, I feel like we got a lot better,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a lot more aggressive, a lot more confident. Put our
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: eyes where they belong in our zone coverage so you
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: see the ball through, so you make a quick break.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's lots of layers to it. I don't
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: know an exact moment, And so we got our players
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: that were on our roster a little better, and our
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: freshmen certainly have grown up through it. Many of those
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: guys are guys like Kip Kobe, Our Mason Grayson, Gentry Robert,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: that group of guys and Owen And then you know,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: we've recruited better, you know, gotten a little better athletically,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and that always helps, you know, when you've got good players,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: you know, on top of that. But we we, like everybody,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: we put a premium on it, and I think our
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: practice environment strains our guys to improve that way. You know,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: we're not gonna compromise, you know, being really good at
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: the basics and certainly got you know, room for improvement,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: but we've made you know, tremendous improvement that way.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: Alburn's offense, it's interesting, as you pointed out, they're they're
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: very versatile that they really run the ball really well,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: and they've sold their offense on running the ball. Your
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: defense seems like it's set up to really defend the run.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: Talk about this matchup and how elaborate is the running.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're they're very elaborate. That's there are lots of
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: layers to it. It's not just one thing. Last week's
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: team that we played, they ran the mid zone and
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: then they ran the power read and so you had
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: two plays to defend. And Auburn has a lot more
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: depth to what they do. Uh. They're smart, they're well coached,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: they're super athletic, they're big, they're strong, very powerful. Again
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: left tackles six seven, three point fifty and he's he's
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: a great player. And they've they've got a lot of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: guys that are very physical, very violent. And then the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: running back and the quarterback are excellent runners. They're elite runners,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: you know, within the system. They're not just guys, they're
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: really good and uh, and so we're gonna have to
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: do a great job, you know. Uh. We see a
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: variety of styles and entry angles and different formations, and
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: they do a great job of finding ways to create
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: leveraging the run game and be physical too and run
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: downhill too, and uh make sure that you're they divide
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the defense and with some option principles in addition to
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the other styles of run they have. So it's everything
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: from you know, Q draw to power read to quarterback
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: counter uh to the jet suite to you know, down
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: around to the power uh to the downhill inside zone.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: They run run it all really well. It kind of
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: piggybacking up that, and can you talk about the offensive
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: line for Auverign They got set of transfers in guys said,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of people really want to do transfer portal
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: and how they've messed and how difficult it might be
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: for you all. As far as the matchup, yeah, no, again,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: they're really good there. That's where it all starts for them.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And there's a reason again they they rushed for ten touchdowns.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: They had thirteen all of last year. So they're better
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: up front, they're better at receiver, you know, they're better quarterback.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I just look at all the you know, the efficiencies,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: and there have been a really clean efficient unit. They're
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: kind of like their offense looks like our defense, you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: from an efficiency and a cleanliness, you know, the things
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: that you got to do to win, they've been able
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to do. I think they're just around fifty percent conversion
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: rate on third down. They're one hundred percent conversion rate
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: on fourth down. So again it's a small sample size
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: like us as well, but they're playing with a lot
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: of confidence right now and getting better. So it's gonna
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: be a great challenge. Yeah, right, one of those guys
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: that you're gonna need against that line.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: David's down looks like he's taking a nice leap so far.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: What have you liked about his progression? Yeah, just the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: improvement coming from hard work. I I just I, man,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: that is such an amazing space for me. I just
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: want to roll around in that area. And I say that, man,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: because that's that's what it's looked like. He's been in
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the middle of a grind. He comes to work every
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: single day, he is strained, he's put in a lot
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: of extra work, and he's made you know, tremendous improvement.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Been bragging on him since you know, back in the winter,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: and so there it is. There's the fruits of a
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: lot of hard labor. And and he's not a guy
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: that gets satisfied either. So you know, I can't promote
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: the how you know enough for the rest of the team.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: And you know there's other guys too, but you brought
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: him up, So I just brag on all of his
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: hard work. You know, he's got strong, calloused hands and
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: and and great self awareness. And then he's very hungry
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: and uh ambitious and driven you know to continue to
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: show up and put the extra you know time in
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: every single day, and it's it's really made a big
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: difference for us up front to have another big, strong, athletic,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: live body there in the front left start a bandlishes
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: up here.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Givante selfless with the.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Word does he use? Just what's it been like watching
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: him adjusts and accept whatever role is being asked, if
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: in while mentoring Torri along the way to Yeah, that's
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: who Gavante has been since he's been here. Uh, great teammate,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: very selfless, values his opportunity when he gets it. Never
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: been one to you know, show up outside my door
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and complain and point fingers or make excuses. He's he's
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: got a workmanlike attitude. He's blue collar inside and out.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know he's brought out the and his
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: teammates again mentored a guy like like Tory and brought
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: him along quickly. So, uh really have a great, deep,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: you know, appreciation for Javante. It's great, you know leadership traits.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: Isaiah Sawtegna back when he was at Arkansas. His best
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: performance came against Auburn. So how do you think they'll
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: translate here?
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Not anything whatsoever if he does well, It had nothing
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: to do with you know what he did against him
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: at Arkansas in my opinion, Uh, maybe Isaiah would say different,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: But whatever you did last year doesn't carry over. You know,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: you got to go this is a game of doing,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: game of execution, the game of performance, and uh, you know, MI,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: is he more confident because of that? Maybe? I don't know.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: You have to ask him, but he should be confident
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: because he's been playing well. He's got great work ethic,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: he's ultra consistent, he loves to practice. He's been a
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: really good player for us up to this point. We
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: want to ask you about PJ.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: His growth, his trajectory from a couple of years ago,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: would have set out just about that process for him,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: and then especially with with Armies and missing the first
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: time I against Auburn.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: How much is he guy that you can lean on? Yeah,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I think he's a poster child for what development looks like,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of like David Stone. You know, I
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: don't know what anybody thought of him last year or not.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: He's a much different player than he was a year ago.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: And Pj's a much different player than he was two
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: years ago. He's battled, you know, just some nagging, different
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: types of injuries. I know, that's been well documented. But
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: he's also developed a good, strong process that I think
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: he's confident in, and he's got the discipline to get
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: into that process a little more consistently, and his results
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: are reflective of a better, more consistent process. You know,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Quit seeing too much quitch fidget, get your hand in
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: the dirt, get your eyes where they belong, get your eyes,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: hands and feet in the right places. Take all of
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the habits that you've created and practice and take them
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: to game day. Not an easy thing to do, but
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: he's doing it at a more consistent level. And now
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: you seen him be trusted a little more by Coach
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Chavis and then playing at a little more consistent level.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: And again, all of his best days are still in
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: front of him. And we need him, you know, we
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: need a guy that's six' five and two hundred and seventy.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Pounds it's got the kind of length that he. Does
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: he does to be able, to you, know be a,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: disruptive you, know playmaker for us and excited to see
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: what is in front of. Him m that's ALL i.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: DID i Miss anyone who hasn't asked the, question all,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: right appreciate. It, yep you got it