Jason Witten's Impact at Oklahoma Stretching Beyond the Tight Ends Room

The future Pro Football Hall of Famer has made a difference on the field and in the meeting rooms.

Oklahoma tight ends coach Jason Witten will make his collegiate coaching debut Friday vs. UTEP. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

NORMAN — There’ll be plenty of big debuts for Oklahoma on Friday when the 10th-ranked Sooners take on UTEP at Gaylord Family — Memorial Stadium.

One of the biggest won’t come on the field, though.

It will be tight ends coach Jason Witten’s first game as a collegiate coach after he replaced Joe Jon Finley in the offseason.

Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said Witten jumped right in from the beginning, helping shape what the offense would look like.

“He’s the ultimate teammate,” Arbuckle said Monday. “I made it really, really clear to him on multiple occasions like, ‘Hey, if you see something or maybe you disagree with someone, I’m not one to just let it sit back. Tell me about it. Let’s talk about it.’ And he’s an unbelievable teammate in that facet because he’s seen so much football. He’s seen so many different ways to do things. He’s had so many different, whether it’s head coaches, offensive coordinators, position coaches in his time playing.

“He’s seen so many different ways of doing something that it would be naive of me not to try the best way to do something.”

At the University of Tennessee and during his 17 seasons in the NFL, Witten played for five head coaches, seven offensive coordinators, and 12 different tight ends coaches.

Among the coaches he played for were Phillip Fulmer, Bill Parcells, Jon Gruden, Jason Garrett, Greg Olson, Doug Marrone, Freddie Kitchens, Paul Pasqualoni, Tony Sparano and Doug Nussmeier.

“No one’s played, or barely anyone’s played in the NFL for 17 years, and you walk in that door, and the standard’s up here,” tight end Hayden Hansen said. “And every day, we try to bring each other up to that standard. And also letting each other know when we’re not upholding that standard.”

Production from the tight ends spot had slowed down dramatically in recent years under Finley. 

Last season, Jaren Kanak put up strong numbers — 44 catches for 533 yards — but Kanak was a converted linebacker.

Oklahoma’s other three tight ends, who were recruited to play the position, had just 11 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown combined.

With Hansen, Rocky Beers and Jack Van Dorselaer all joining the Sooners from the transfer portal in the offseason, Witten quickly transformed the culture of a room that’s critical in both the running and passing game for Oklahoma.

“From Day 1, we checked our egos at the door,” Hansen said of his favorite thing about Witten and the tight ends group. “We’re proud of each other’s success. We’re not on the sideline (saying), ‘Dang, I hope he messes up so I can get in there.’ It’s pure joy. We really want to see each other do what we came here to do. At the end of the day, you walk in that room every day staring greatness in the face.”

It’s not just the tight ends who are affected by Witten’s presence.

“I think our guys have done a really good job of seeking knowledge from him. Not just the tight ends in specific, I think everybody has,” Arbuckle said. “And the other thing about Jason — what unbelievable humility he has. I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan and in a lot of respects, in my eyes, he’s the greatest tight end that’s ever played the dang game, right? But you don’t get that feeling from him. He’s Coach Witten. He’s bought into the culture that Coach Venables has set. He’s bought into the standard of Oklahoma. He knows what we want to do on offense, how we want to play, the mentality that we want to play with and he is bought into that 100%.”

---