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TAMPA BAY — Even with a great deal of returning talent, the Oklahoma Sooners still have some players slotted for playing time who will have to prove themselves.
At some point, Baker Mayfield was a newcomer. So was Danny Stutsman. You don't know what you don't know in sports.
It's never easy to break in fresh talent, but Brent Venables has never shied away from it. On the contrary, he spent the better part of Oklahoma's SEC Media Days 2026 lofting praise and plenty of hype to the new faces and names Sooner fans will become accustomed to this fall.
"We talk about Team 132," Venables said during a press availability with local reporters. "And every year it's kind of a life of it's own."
He's right. Last season, not many people were talking about Taylor Wein. Anyone outside Oklahoma — and maybe even some inside it — who had an opinion on David Stone this time last year probably regrets those takes now. But, as Venables would say, "That's the cool thing about every year."
Speaking of Stone, Venables pointed to his powerful interior defensive lineman as the embodiment of ignoring outside noise and staying ready for the next opportunity after chances have been few and far between.
"A year ago, (Stone) was a bust, right?" he said. "So they said. Mr. Five-star guy, his roommate (Jayden Jackson), who wasn’t the five-star, became a freshman All-American.
"But David didn’t listen to the noise. He just put in the work. He had great self-awareness, put the work in. I started bragging on him a year ago in January. I said, 'This guy, all he’s done is work.' And then he has a really good sophomore year, Venables added.
Venables credits Stone's, as well as the team's, development with the collective mindset he's instilled. In addition to Stone, Venables threw Wein and Eddy Pierre-Louis in the same category of players who did not play much early in their careers, only to burst forth in their first real opportunity for playing time.
"Having a blue-collar tough-mindedness to them. And they know that they’re ultimately in control of things they can control and are ready for their opportunity.
"That’s what matters most and making the most of it when it presents itself because it’s going to happen. If you just hang in there and have some sticking to it, it’s going to happen," he added.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/oklahoma as Oklahoma's Brent Venables Credits 'Blue-Collar, Tough' Mindset in Building Depth.
