Big 12 Media Days: Oklahoma's Brent Venables is 'Ready for This Moment' Thanks to His QB

ARLINGTON, TX — The early stages of Brent Venables’ debut Thursday at Big 12 Media Days was a whirlwind. National radio, ESPN and then the big room, the podium in the end zone at AT&T Stadium.

The first-time head coach, of course, did find time to praise his transfer quarterback.

“Dillon Gabriel’s a winner,” Venables said. “You can’t say it any better than that.”

The former Central Florida QB, who has three years of eligibility, is the perfect fit between the Spencer Rattler/Caleb Williams era and the future, whether that’s Nick Evers or Jackson Arnold or someone else.

Culturally, Venables said, Gabriel is the right quarterback at the right time.

“I feel great I can lay my head down at night knowing not just what a great football player he is, but a quality person,” Venables said.

Gabriel — who’s also at AT&T Stadium as one of five Sooners representing the team — immediately seized a leadership role in Venables’ first season.

“He’s the first one to workouts, he’s the last one to leave,” Venables said. “ … He’s a galvanizer of people.”

So is Venables, who spent 29 years as a college football assistant before taking his first head coaching job.

“I feel more than ready for this moment,” Venables said.

Venables said Oklahoma is “a special place” and has been “very near and dear to my heart” since he arrived in 1999 as a Kansas State assistant under Bob Stoops.

“This place,” Venables said, “takes a back seat to nobody.”

While the left-handed Gabriel represents a top-shelf fix for the Sooners’ quarterback picture,, Venables knows the Oklahoma program needs to reestablish its national identity as a defensive powerhouse. That’s his plans after a long career as one of the game’s top defensive assistants.

“Do we have to establish some standards at Oklahoma? … Absolutely,” Venables said. “That process took place from the moment I took the job.”

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