Brent Venables holds nothing back when talking about Sooners’ weakest area offensively: ‘Pathetic’
Evidently, Brent Venables is tired of talking about Oklahoma’s biggest problem offensively.
For years, the Oklahoma Sooners’ offense has had their struggles rushing the ball. They haven’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since Eric Gray in 2022, and they were one of the worst rushing offenses in college football last season.
Part of that was the lack of development of their running back room on top of three different OCs in three different years alongside plenty of turnover along the offensive line. The Sooners struggled with injuries last season at running back as well, further exacerbating the problem.
It seems like Brent Venables is tired of hearing about their offensive woes rushing the ball, and is fully committed to fixing it in the offseason.
Brent Venables calls Oklahoma rushing offense “Pathetic”
In an interview on The Oklahoma Breakdown podcast, Venables’ frustration on the Sooners’ woes was evident, as he called their rushing totals in recent seasons “pathetic”.
“We’ve declined in our rushing yard average these last four years. And last year we were just under three and a half yards per carry, just pathetic, and we’ve got to get better. A lot goes into that. You’ve got to have a commitment to it. You’ve got to scheme to it, there’s fundamentals to it, there’s a mindset. You’ve got to have a kick-ass mindset if you want to kick ass.”
Oklahoma has taken several steps into doing just that this offseason. Not only do they have all five starters returning on the offensive line for the first time in several years, but they also added arguably the best running backs coach in college football over the last decade or so in Deland McCullough.
17 different players have crossed over a thousand scrimmage yards under McCollough since just 2013, a testament to his coaching and developmental ability.
However, the most intriguing difference from last year to this upcoming season might be their overhauled tight end room. Last season, the Sooners’ tight end room frequently blew up their run game and shut down their ability to even threaten the outside, severely handicapping their run scheme.
Now with Hayden Hansen, Rocky Beers, and Jack Van Dorselaer transferring in on top of Tyler Ruxer and Ryder Mix joining as highly touted freshmen, the Sooners feel confident in their tight end room. That confidence is only boosted by the arrival of new tight ends coach Jason Witten.
We are seeing a nationwide issue in terms of rushing prowess, with it becoming far more individual oriented than team-driven, but Venables is tired of the excuses. We’ll see if this approach bears fruit next year, but an improved run game would do wonder for their ability offensively and would take a lot of stress off of John Mateer’s shoulders to be the entire offense again.
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