Not counting CW, Cale Gundy was the last true freshman to start a game for OU in 1990.
So if Jackson makes mistakes he will be vilified? I have no idea why anyone is making pre game proclamations that if he stubs his toe he’s a failure.
Give the guy some slack. He will make mistakes. He will turn the ball over. He is our future and no matter how he does Fri (if he starts) I’ll have his back.
I’m confident in him because he got to learn from a 5th year qb all year. And pick his brain. And compete against him all season at practice. And he came in early Jan class. And has the support of the fanbase.
I hope we don’t judge any of our true freshman in their first start harshly.
And yes, fans have been overly critical of Dillon. Partly because he’s played at OU in his 4th and 5th year and they had higher expectations with so much expreience. DG won us the tx game with that last drive. He’s steadied a ship taking in water when prior staff gutted offense headed out the door in wee hours. We all owe Diillon our gratitude. He’s been a warrier. He’s a great qb. But fans always talk more in detail about starters thats normal. Next year if JA stuggles then fans will be talking and complaining about him. But this Fri? He gets a hall pass from me.
I said nothing of villifying him...your words not mine. Or "stubbing his toe he's a failure", again your words.
I can't wait for him to develop into a Heisman candidate and alluded to that.
I'm a giant fan of Jackson Arnold!
You've defended your elbow jabs on Gabriel, and that's fine, OUG. Sincerely mean that.
But, I reserve the same right to be critical of him if he deserves it.
I KNOW you've got his back! You just think I don't. You're wrong!
Venables says he feels like both Dillon Gabriel and Jalil Farooq will be available this week if they keep progressing the way they are right now.
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“I’ll evaluate things after the season. Success is never a straight line…
Experienced tremendous success at the highest level and it’s never a straight line…
Consistency is what I’m always looking for and when we don’t have it, I’m disappointed”
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Brent Venables says "success is never a straight line" when discussing how he reflects on the #Sooners now compared to 2022.
"Consistency is always what I'm looking for. ...The hardest thing to do in intercollegiate athletics is to have consistency, and that's what we all want."
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Brent Venables on one-possession W/Ls: You have to be good at what you're doing, it's not luck...it's confidence in those stressful moments. I believe coaches have tremendous responsibilities. This is a players' game but you got to put them in position to be successful.
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Venables on Jackson Arnold's practice weeks: His consistency. He's never too high or too low. He's the same guy every day. He likes to compete ... he understands as much as anybody you are going to get what you earn.
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Venables says the defensive line did not get “whooped” against BYU — “Kansas, maybe.” He says the linebackers weren’t in the right spot in the run game.
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Brent Venables pushed back against the notion that "the D-line got whooped" Saturday against BYU.
"That didn't happen. That's not true."
Said the linebackers were also culpable as the #Sooners continually lost the battle up front.
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BV when asked what it takes to win close games, maybe what the difference has been this season opposed to last year
Says d line didn’t get whipped Saturday. Far from it. Linebackers weren’t where they were supposed to be.
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Brent Venables on FG situation: We have to get better w/our confidence and fundamentals with kicking. We've been too inconsistent there ... we kick multiple guys at practice and Zach's been our most consistent.
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Venables on winning close games last year vs this year: “We were terrible last year. I was terrible. It was all terrible.”
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Brent Venables on kicking game, says backup K Gavin Marshall is injured.
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BV on field goal kicking
We need to be more consistent in confidence and technique
Says they tried different kickers in practice and Schmidt has been the most consistent
Simply says he needs to get better, for the game FRIDAY
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BV references holding cougars to 7 points the second half
Says tackling most of the day was terrible, but made some plays
2 turnovers, 1 punt, 1 touchdown the second half for BYU
Converted both turnovers into touchdowns, one run back, one Sawchuk run
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BV
“They’re ain’t no dead batteries in that locker room. They enjoy their time together… and know it’s winding down”
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Venables says he actually felt relieved watching the film of the BYU game because it was just one or two guys not filling their gap. He says guys weren’t getting beat — guys just weren’t in the right run fits.
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Also, for those that were unaware, Gavin Marshall is battling injury and has been for a while. Redi Mustafaraj is the only other kicker who has traveled for the #Sooners since midseason.
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“I felt more relieved watching game film. Cause it was just one guy here and there. No alarm bells. Can fix it in a 6 day turnaround”
On the gash runs his defense gave up last Saturday
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Venables says Gentry Williams practiced yesterday and should be back this week.
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DB’s “Gentry’s back, practiced yesterday. Been tough. Snake bit w minor injuries besides Jayden Rowe”
LB’s “Remember, Kanak played a little bit last year but was an offensive player his whole life; switched LB spots”
“Can’t brag on Danny enough”
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BV says Peyton Bowen has been nicked up and not practicing as much
Says he played some cheeta & of course safety. Sounds like his absence has hit hard
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Venables mentions Peyton Bowen hasn’t been totally healthy at times this season.
He played a combined 50 snaps the last two games. He played only a combined 41 in the four previous games (UT, UCF, KU, OSU).
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"Been real proud of him. His mental part of the game is actually really good. ... A lot of guys, they don't want to look at the man in the mirror. ... He's one of the smartest linebackers we have." - Venables on Kobie McKinzie
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"He's got a great spirit. He loves to play and compete. ... He's figuring everything out and I've been really excited about him." - Venables on #Sooners Cheetah Kendel Dolby.
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"The No. 1 thing that stands out for me as I watch him and his growth is his consistency." Venables on Jackson Arnold.
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Venables on Jackson Arnold's practice weeks: His consistency. He's never too high or too low. He's the same guy every day. He likes to compete ... he understands as much as anybody you are going to get what you earn.
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BV on Jackson Arnold
“Number one thing that stands out to me is his consistency. Never too high. Never too low. He understands you get what you earn”
Also says Guyton was back & available but Jake Sexton has earned PT
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Venables says Tyler Guyton was available Saturday, but it was more about the way Jacob Sexton is playing and giving him an opportunity to play. Interesting…
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BV
Lack of pass rush
“Narrative is off. Not stopping the run, not getting them to 3rd & long. Hard to sack them in that situation. Always a story behind it”
“3 man routes, 7 man protections, 7 on 4 is hard. All by design”
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BV
If it’s Jackson Arnold this week
“Jeff does a good job with those guys. 1st & 2nd team guys get about the same number of reps”
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Brent Venables on Jackson Arnold prep weeks: The first- and second-team guys are getting virtually the same amount of reps ... the game plan will be the game plan based on opponent and what we do every single week ... him and Dillon are very similar in several ways.
I really like the way Coach Venables handled the "Captainship" this year. It appears BV selected the Captains during the year, but at the end, the team selected who they wanted. This way the team gets a chance to select AFTER the fact who they wanted for "permanent" Captains.....kinda on merit or performance, if you will. I like it!
OU Guy wrote: Sun Nov 19, 2023 8:29 pm
And yes, fans have been overly critical of Dillon. Partly because he’s played at OU in his 4th and 5th year and they had higher expectations with so much expreience. DG won us the tx game with that last drive. He’s steadied a ship taking in water when prior staff gutted offense headed out the door in wee hours. We all owe Diillon our gratitude. He’s been a warrier. He’s a great qb. But fans always talk more in detail about starters thats normal. Next year if JA stuggles then fans will be talking and complaining about him. But this Fri? He gets a hall pass from me.
I will most certainly not vilify Arnold regardless of what happens if he starts or not. I think he is the real deal and will prove to be a way above average to great QB. I think fans issues with Dillon are a bit complicated. I was so thankful to get a QB of his ability last minute after Caleb left, but so many of the issues he has had since day 1 seem to have not been corrected and continue. I was at the KState game last year and clearly saw him over throw wide open receivers or not see them at all. That continued all of last year and into this year. Yes, the texas game he won himself a place in OU history and proved that he was tough and could win a game for us and I will forever be thankful for that memory. It just makes it all that more frustrating to continue to see overthrows/missed open receivers/bad decisions. I will say I think his height is a major disadvantage (he can't see the middle of the field over the line) and possibly Lebby may be putting him in bad situations.
I think we have been so spoiled with QBs who rarely have missed/overthrown open receivers in the past 7-8 years and it is just hard to see that now and see no improvement (especially when many of those missed throws would have won games for us that we lost).
