Sooner Caravan: Brent Venables Says Oklahoma 'Added Value' With Recent Portal Additions
OKLAHOMA CITY — Coming out of spring practice, Brent Venables knew Oklahoma still needed some depth. Venables reaffirmed that on Thursday during the Sooner Caravan stop at the Omni Hotel.
As has become the norm in college football, the Sooners sifted through the transfer portal as another wave of student-athletes opted to look for new situations at the start of May.
After Oklahoma’s spring game finale, Venables said the Sooners would be in the market for a backup quarterback.
Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby landed not one but two quarterbacks in Davis Beville and General Booty.
Last year, Beville appeared in three games at Pittsburgh, including taking a majority of the snaps in the Peach Bowl against Michigan State, where he completed 14-of-18 passes, throwing for 149 yards and one score.
In 2020, Beville also took snaps in six different contests and is adding much-needed experience behind Dillon Gabriel.
Lebby didn’t stop there, however. He joined forces with Cale Gundy to restock OU’s wide receiver room.
Mike Woods departed to the NFL Draft, and Jadon Haselwood, Mario Williams and Cody Jackson all left Oklahoma via the transfer portal.
OU responded by nabbing commitments from Missouri transfer Javian Hester and Arizona State transfer LV Bunkley-Shelton.
Though Venables cannot comment on each individual addition out of the transfer portal until those players officially sign with the Sooners, he did express his excitement overall with the impending additions to the Oklahoma roster.
“We needed depth,” Venables said Thursday during a media interview ahead of the seventh and final stop on this year's Sooner Caravan. “ … We need some guys to come in and compete and make everyone better.
“I think we added value in doing so. Experience was critical to help to give some time to other guys to grow and mature as well.”
Venables said he was especially happy about the pass catchers, as Hester and Bunkley-Shelton combined to haul in 55 catches for 643 yards and four touchdowns.
“Experience, size and speed and maturity, physical and mental, all those things,” Venables said. “I’m really excited about the guys we were able to add late.”
The new Sooner head coach has stressed that he doesn’t want to run a program that’s overly reliant on the portal. But ahead of his first season in Norman, Venables has shown the ability to act quickly and shore up areas on OU’s roster that need to be addressed.
The Sooners will now roll into the 2022 season with depth behind Gabriel in the quarterback room, as well as plenty of wide receiver competition behind established guys in Marvin Mims, Theo Wease and Drake Stoops.
Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!
Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!
Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news.
