Brent Venables says Bryce Underwood reminds him of a former college football great

Since taking over as the head coach of Oklahoma in 2022, Brent Venables has won six games in two of his first three seasons as the coach of the Sooners. It hasn't been the start Oklahoma fans had envisioned for him since coming back to the Sooners, but Oklahoma is looking for a major 2025 season.

This Saturday will be a big game for both Oklahoma and Michigan, the first true test for two programs that want to get back into the College Football Playoff conversation. Ahead of Saturday's contest, Venabales talked about defending Michigan's DNA: the run game.

"Yeah, I really look at the team," Venables said of Michigan. "The DNA of the offense. And so we want to get after every quarterback that we play. But everything, there’s a mythology to all of it. And so you’ve got to start in the run game. Starts up front. You’ve got to win the battle in the trenches. Everybody’s got to win. There are match-ups for anything to work."

But it wouldn't be fitting for any coach to talk about Michigan without mentioning its new prized QB, Bryce Underwood. The freshman phenom had a terrific debut for the Wolverines last weekend in a win over New Mexico, in which he threw for 251 yards and a score. Underwood didn't utilize his legs, but that's something he can do if needed.

Talking about Underwood, Venables went back to his Clemson days, where he was the defensive coordinator, and said Underwood reminded him of former Clemson great Trevor Lawrence.

"He’s a guy that, and he’s, as I said to open up, man, he’s a little different," the Oklahoma coach said of Underwood. "And again, he reminds me a lot of a Trevor Lawrence. Just quick, decisive, accurate, poised, tough, consistent. And there’s a reason he was the number one player in America. And he’s got a maturity and a work ethic and leadership ability to go along with that.

"So just really, we look at what’s it going to take to win? How do you win? What’s the formula to win? And there might be byproducts of that. This guy doesn’t perform well, and so forth. But it’s really about us. It’s about the fundamentals. It’s about the efforts. It’s about the physicality. It’s about putting ourselves in position to be successful based on what is on tape. And don’t get into a lot of the conjecture."

Michigan fans will be waiting to see how Underwood handles the bright lights of Norman in what will be his first road start of his collegiate career. The game will take place on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

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