Open Post | Tuesday, December 7th
Posted on: December 7, 2021
Venables Met with the Staff and Team
– Super K – Posted on: December 6, 2021
Last night coach V did an initial Zoom call with the remaining staff and the team.
Source takeaways…
***Completely different energy than Lincoln. Lincoln had a laid back vibe. BV had a long day and despite that I’m told he was fired up on the Zoom call and had the players and staff fired up. Classic BV.
***Source noted something that stood out was BV emphasizing that the Sooners mission is, in part, to relentless defend the Oklahoma standard. This was refreshing for me because to be honest, I’ve sat back the past few years and watch even the fans justify being 2nd or 3rd or 4th or worse. In my estimation, there was a little too much “its not as bad TFB makes it out to be” and not enough “it’s not as good as it could or should be”.
***Coach Stoops was on the call and apparently he talked to the players about the turnaround that he and BV and the rest of the 99 staff made when they came in. Sounds like he and coach V were trying to inspire the kids to believe they can make a run at the championship next year and that there doesn’t need to be a rebuild.
***To that point, sounds like they wanted to inspire the players to come together and stay at OU.
***Face to face meetings should begin today.
What I’m Hearing | Coaching Staff
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 6, 2021
Really quick couple of notes…
***In regard to Coach Bedenbaugh…James and I both spoke to different sources who indicated that things are looking much better for the possibility of him staying in Norman. Word is that should an OU offer come through, he will stay.
On Friday we reported “It is looking less likely that Coach Bedenbaugh will be retained’. I note that for transparency as the thread got nuked in the migration.
So things are definitely looking a lot different than they did on Friday morning according to sources with respect to coach B.
***Had a source tell me that he expects Sooners TE coach Joe Jon Finley to be part of the staff. Nothing is confirmed at this time obviously, but source indicated things were trending that way.
***More on Bedenbaugh…Super K received further indication he may stay from yet another source. Could be as simple as paperwork now.
Quick Hitter | Venables Target on the Trail
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 6, 2021
Source tells James to expect one of Brent Venables first targets on the recruiting trail to be ’22 ATH Jaren Kanak (6’2 210) out of Hays, Kansas.
Kanak is committed to Clemson, and Venables was out seeing him with Dabo last week. I know some of you mentioned him getting a prediction from a Kansas beat writer on another platform, so looks like they expected Venables to pursue as well.
Kid is insanely fast.
Kanak visited Norman this past summer unofficially.
BV’s First Recruiting Stops
– Super K – Posted on: December 6, 2021
I am told coach V will be headed to Tulsa tonight to see the trio of committed DBs.
Venables In-Home | Jacob Sexton | Update: Llewellyn Locked In & Expecting a Visit
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 6, 2021
Caught up briefly with ’22 OL commit Jacob Sexton via text shortly after his in-home visit with Sooners head coach Brent Venables.
When asked about the overall vibe of the visit, Sexton told me ‘Man it was awesome! He’s a very down to earth guy.”
Jacob added ‘He had a lot of energy for a guy who has gotten no rest here recently. Really, just a great conversation about who he is and what he believes in.”
Sexton is firm in his pledge to the Sooners and has taken on a sort of leadership role with this class.
Good place for Venables to hit on his first day.
Update: 6:10 pm
Sooners ’22 TE commit Jason Llewelyn tweeted out he is locked in.
Briefly caught up with Jason and he let me know Sooners head coach Brent Venables will be heading down to Aledo to do an in-home with him on Wednesday.
Venables is going to be racking up the frequent flier miles this week.
A Different Perspective
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 6, 2021
Do yourself a favor…particularly following the Dindy flip…
***Do not feed into the social media despair.
***Do not buy the ‘panic in the spaces’ on Twitter.
***Joe C did not drag out the process of hiring Venables. He was put in a nearly impossible situation and had to go through his process.
***Brent Venables is not dragging his feet on naming his staff, he was just announced less than 12 hours ago.
***Getting the head coach and his staff right is way more important than one recruit, one class, or one player.
***This is about fixing structural flaws and that is not easy to do overnight a week before signing day.
***Don’t let the social media panic push you into a place where you lose sight of the objective that OU is reaching for.
