Gentry Williams Signs With Oklahoma: Venables 'Made Me a Priority, and I Appreciate That'

TULSA — Gentry Williams never decommitted from Oklahoma. But he really, really needed to meet the new coaching staff to be fully committed.

“Coach (Brent) Venables just stepping in, I’m signed, he’ll take me. But if he actually wanted me? Because I wanted to be somewhere I’m wanted,” Williams told SI Sooners. “And I realized that in the month I got that chance to talk ‘em over with coach (Ted) Roof, coach (Jay) Valai, that they do genuinely have a plan for me to succeed.”

On Wednesday afternoon — a week and a snow day after National Signing Day, when he formally signed the National Letter of Intent — Williams took part in a school-wide ceremony to commemorate the signatures of himself and three Booker T. Washington teammates.

Williams committed to OU back in October, just a few feet away outside on the steps of the Nate Harris Fieldhouse. But when Lincoln Riley left one day after the season finale, Williams and the rest of the class of 2022 was left twisting in the dust storm caused by Riley’s departure. While most of the ’22s remained intact and signed with OU as planned on Dec. 15, Williams wanted to wait and see.

What was he waiting for?

“I think just a genuine relationship,” Williams said. “ … I think that happened over that month I got a chance to sit back … and just talked to the staff members. Coach Venables, he kind of made me a priority and I appreciate that.”

When Riley departed, Williams said, “I was in shock for a couple days.”

Things soon settled down. Eventually, it was Williams who was settling down, thanks to the quick actions of the OU coaching staff.

First he met Bob Stoops, who immediately hit Tulsa and then flitted around for a week, seeing various recruits and keeping the class intact.

“I met Bob Stoops,” Williams said with a smile. “Great chance. That’s something I’ll probably never forget.”

Then, a week later, he met Venables, who had flown in from South Carolina the night before and inside of 24 hours was holding court with Williams and his parents in the family home in Tulsa.

“He’s a passionate person, and he cared about me beneath the pads as a person,” Williams said. “And he wants to see me grow on and off the field, and that meant something to me and my family.”

Then he met Valai, the Sooners’ new cornerbacks coach via the University of Alabama.

“He’s a geek of the game, he’ll tell you himself,” Williams said. “He wants to help me get better and help the whole room get better. Let’s go get a natty.”

There were no surprises in meeting all the new OU coaches. Just reassurances. In fact, Williams started to feel better about his future in Norman just minutes after Venables was revealed as the new head coach.

“I remember when he got hired that Sunday, I got a text from (former Sooner DB and NFL player) Aaron Colvin,” Williams said. “He was just going on and on about him.”

As the top recruit in the state of Oklahoma, Williams certainly knew about Venables and his reputation as Clemson’s defensive coordinator for the past decade. His body of work — 29 years as an assistant, 16 as the top guy, eight national championship games, three national titles — and his reputation precedes him. Now, Williams can’t wait to get to know him on a player-coach level.

“Just to know how much of a genius he is with football,” Williams said, “it’s amazing.”