'The easiest part of the decision': How Brent Venables, Ted Roof kept DaShaun White in the fold with Sooners
Ryan AberNORMAN — One of Ted Roof’s first calls when he decided to come to OU as defensive coordinator was to linebacker DaShaun White.
Roof had to sell White on staying for another year instead of making the leap to the NFL.
“To walk in the door, day one and make a phone call to a kid and sell a kid you’ve never met and try to advise him on what he needs to do on the rest of his life as a complete stranger, that’s different,” Roof said Tuesday after the Sooners wrapped up their first spring practice.
“But certainly, based on the information I had heard and based on what I had seen when I watched tape, just giving him my opinion at the start of this. Because it takes time to develop trust.”
White didn’t have to be sold too hard, especially not with head coach Brent Venables and Roof on board.
“Honestly, I’ve seen a lot of things that they had and I felt like I might’ve lacked in a little bit,” White said. “I think they are disciplined to a T, no excuses sort of deal. I think that’s something that I really needed to be able to sit down and give myself a plan, write it all out, plan it on out and be able to do it no matter what comes my way and whatever speed bumps.”
Venables’ reputation, especially, resonated with White.
“That was probably the easiest part of the decision just knowing that I would play for the absolute best defensive coordinator in college football. I would say the absolute best head coach now,” White said.
“That was probably the easiest part of the decision just knowing that someone as prestigious as him — the things that he’s done, it’s video-game like — so the opportunity to play for someone like him at the position that he specializes in and teaches in, it doesn’t get better for me individually.”
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Tulane transfer Jeffrey Johnson in awe
While White stayed around for the differences in the program, Jeffery Johnson came to Norman for the similarities.
Johnson has been a four-year starter on the defensive line at Tulane, including playing in the Green Wave’s 40-35 loss to the Sooners to begin last season.
“I’m coming from the same system, it’s just at a new place,” Johnson said. “That was big for me just coming here. Instead of my old coaches telling me, ‘You’re coming to a new school, you’ve got to learn new scheme, new plays, new technique,’ but it was all the same, pretty much the same, coming in here.”
When he entered the transfer portal, Johnson wasn’t sure how much attention he would draw.
“I’m kind of still trying to wrap my head around it, the fact that I’m at Oklahoma,” Johnson said.
Johnson is one of a large group of players — both transfers with experience and freshmen — who went through their first practice with the Sooners on Tuesday.
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OU practice gets 'kickstart'
At the start of the practice, Venables was on the turf in the middle of the Everest Training Center, doing stretching like his players.
As stretches ended, Motley Crue’s “Kickstart my Heart” blared from the speakers as the offense and defense split up to begin their work.
“It was great to finally get out on the practice field and coach football and the details of it,” Roof said. “It seems like it’s been yesterday since we first got here, but at the same time it feels like it’s been a while. It feels good after going through a great offseason to watch them execute some of that.”