Oklahoma Move a 'Dream Come True' for 'Humbled' Linebackers Coach Nate Dreiling

NORMAN — Nate Dreiling’s energy is infectious.

Oklahoma’s new inside linebackers coach spoke to local media for the first time following the Sooners’ Crimson Combine on Saturday, but before taking his first question, he cut in to ask if he could make an opening statement.

“Very humbled to be here,” he said. “This is one the premier programs in all of college football and I get to coach linebackers at it in probably one of the most linebacker-friendly schemes with Coach (Brent) Venables. And adding the fact that I’m three hours from home, it’s a dream come true.”

Dreiling’s booming voice can be heard from all corners of the practice field as he barks corrections and encouragement, though his yells always seem to come from a place of motivation as he asks for more speed and more violence.

The linebacker coach himself was once a star — Dreiling was a four-time Division II All-American linebacker at Pittsburg State in Kansas, and Dreiling earned National Player of the Year honors in 2011.

And while he claims his foot speed was never good enough to play at the highest level, he hopes to prepare his linebackers to play the way he had to back in college.

“You always try to think ahead at linebacker,” Dreiling said. “Linebacker is not about how fast you run. It’s awesome if you could run fast, but it’s how fast you process, right? And how do you process fast? By having fast eyes, by knowing what’s coming ahead, by film study.

“It’s all those little things and that’s what I try to instill in our players. We have a very talented group, so now how can I get them to play faster, right? And for me, it’s all eyes. It’s all mental up top.”

Before landing in Norman, Dreiling spend last season as Utah State’s interim head coach after arriving last offseason as the new defensive coordinator.

Prior to his stop with the Aggies, where they finished 4-8 last year, he spent two seasons as Jerry Kill’s defensive coordinator at New Mexico State. He spent 2021 as the run game coordinator and middle linebacker coach at Southeast Missouri State in 2021, one year as an analyst at Oregon in 2020 and worked for two seasons last the defensive coordinator at Pittsburg State after spending three years on staff as both a graduate assistant and then safeties coach.

After departing from Utah State, Dreiling was set to serve as Arkansas State’s defensive coordinator until he got a call out of the blue.

“I was at Arkansas State long enough to buy a house,” Dreiling joked. “… Just took the DC job at A-State and Coach V called probably three or four days before it became official asking if I was interested and all that stuff, and I told him I didn’t really care what the pay was or what the title was. Let me know and I’ll get the shortest route to Norman that I can. Like I said, I don’t know if I deserve to be here but I am very, very humbled and very grateful that I am here. It’s a privilege and I don’t take it lightly.”

Taking the job at Arkansas State was a move that brought Dreiling closer to home in Kansas.

Immediately relocating to Norman presented an opportunity to grow he couldn’t pass up.

“The last three jobs I’ve had I was a coordinator so you kind of know your own stuff,” Dreiling said. “… So now you get to learn a new scheme, not to mention arguably one of the best schemes from one of the best coordinators over the last two decades. And then not only that, but he’s also the head coach, the defensive coordinator and he’s pretty much the linebackers coach too, right?

“So I get Coach V in all three phases in watching him and learning from him on what he wants the linebackers to look like. All of that summed up is why I wanted this job. I wanted to grow and I want to learn from the best, and it’s hard to beat Coach Venables.”

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Dreiling said he’s in awe of watching Venables serve as the head coach and the defensive coordinator. He learned first hand at Utah State just how difficult wearing multiple hats can be when he was named interim head coach.

“I was at New Mexico State with Coach Kill and he always asked me, ‘Do you ever want to be a head coach?’ And I said, ‘No, only the last day of the month.’ But learning from him was awesome,” Dreiling said. “… In the head coaching scene… it’s just so many problems you have to do, right? You go from a position coach you’re in charge of six people, a coordinator you’re in charge of 50 people and then a head coach you’re in charge of 300. So it’s just so much more time needed. I was a little bit too thin on how I addressed everything, but I learned a lot from it and I’ll hopefully get another chance down the road.”

For now, Dreiling is employing a simple philosophy to help OU’s linebackers improve in 2025.

“We spend a lot of time in the classroom on the little things, the little fundamental and technique that eventually add up to the big things everyone wants,” he said. “… I tell them, there’s two types of tackles. There’s hard tackles and there’s easy tackles and you get easy tackles with great alignment, fundamentals and technique. And that’s what I focus on.”

Taking that approach every day has Dreiling excited for his new role and what the 2025 season will bring.

“It’s been very special and my time here has been awesome so far. I’ve learned a lot and the best part about this place is the players that Coach V has brought in,” Dreiling said. “We don’t have any 'issue' kids on the team. It’s a bunch of people that are hungry and humble and wanting to get this thing going where it needs to be. I think we’re all excited for that next chapter.”