Oklahoma's glaring injury problem won't go away until Brent Venables makes a change

Bye weeks were created to rest up and get healthy for whatever is left ahead in a long season. Except, apparently, for the Oklahoma Sooners with Brent Venables in charge. 

The initial SEC availability report was released on Wednesday ahead of the Red River Rivalry on Saturday, and although the expectation was for at least a few names to be erased, the Sooners’ list of injured players actually somehow grew instead of shrinking despite not playing for a week. 

OU constantly having a lengthy injured list is no longer just bad luck. There’s a clear cause, whatever that might be. It has happened too consistently for too long to just be coincidence or, say, “Well, it’s football. This happens.” Venables has to change something, because although we don’t know what happens within those walls, the results we see from his violent practices seem to hurt the team (literally) more than help. 

Fans feel as if the Sooners always have a longer injured list than their opponents, and it’s not just a delusion to cope with two disappointing seasons in the past three years. The Main Line Podcast noted that only one time has OU had fewer unavailable players than its opponent in 15 SEC games, and that would go back to 2024. 

That’s an immediate disadvantage in almost every single game for the Sooners. 

This week is no different based on Wednesday’s availability report. OU had 13 players on the report, with four already considered out, three listed as doubtful, five questionable, and one probable. 

Of the 13, almost half were not on the game-day report right before OU’s last game against Georgia. It was already known that cornerback Jacobe Johnson was hurt during the game, but running back Xavier Robinson, tight end Trynae Washington, offensive lineman Fred Hinton, starting left guard Eddy Pierre-Louis, and tight end Jack Van Dorselaer were all surprise additions after the bye week. 

The Longhorns' report, though, looked like it should after a bye week, with only four players and one listed as out. Advantage: Texas, before the rivals even step on the field. 

The Sooners’ greatest hope at improving enough overnight to take down No. 1 Texas on Saturday in Dallas was to be as close to full strength as possible. The injured list will likely dwindle by kickoff, but it’s clear that it still will not be the case. Starting left tackle Michael Fasusi, listed as doubtful, will be the most consequential absence because it leaves OU shorthanded while trying to stop Texas’ top-5 pass rush. 

New practice philosophy could fix Sooners' injury concerns

All this has OU fans questioning why this keeps happening. Venables will never intentionally give an answer as to why and just references football being a violent sport, but he has given enough information for the rest of us to start wondering if there’s a problem with the way he runs practices. 

Most of OU’s injuries tend to happen during practices, including defensive tackle David Stone before the last game, and the Sooners had a list of injured players before the season even began after what was apparently a brutal fall camp. 

"We're always pushing to practice better," Venables said two weeks ago ahead of Georgia. "We do live with the 'It ain't ever good enough,' but it's tough; it's physical. That's football. You want to play tough and physical, then you got to practice that. Where's that balance at? You gotta find that."

Venables then listed players who were also injured during games before continuing.

"That's part of it too. Football's a violent, physical game. That's gonna be part of it. But we gotta continue to push our guys to be great practice players. Good football teams practice really good. There's, 'OK, take care of each other,' but, man, you gotta strike blocks and get off. How are you gonna practice striking blocks and getting off in a violent way and just rely on game day to do that? You have to practice that."

Venables went on to mention how "good on good," as he often references, is only a part of the Sooners' practices, with most of the time being spent in drills and on sleds for the offensive linemen. But even when the scout team is involved, he still says every rep must be like a game.

"You become a creature of habit, good or bad, by what you do at practice every single day," he continued. "That's when you develop your habits. You don't develop those habits on game day. You develop them throughout the course of the year. You get a foundation of playing and practicing a certain way."

The concept of Venables' practices sounds simple: practice hard, then play hard. But that's just no longer the reality of college football or any sport at most levels. That doesn't mean lazy practices, but it does mean being smart, especially during a season, to get the most out of every player. If a team is coming out of the bye week in worse shape, then there clearly needs to be a change.

It doesn’t matter how much better Pierre-Louis and Stone might make each other when facing off in practice; both are still better for the team when healthy, especially if they’re not out there at all. Stone dislocated his left kneecap and barely avoided a season-ending injury when a scout player crashed into him two weeks ago.

Curt Cignetti has proven at Indiana that not every practice has to be like an old-school high school practice in the 90s for a team to be successful. He famously has easier practices to keep his players healthy while still improving with mental reps. There are athletes playing at one of the highest levels, and they're better off healthy than not.

There has to be at least a middle ground somewhere, but it doesn't seem like Venables will ever budge from what is a foundation of his coaching, even if it's obvious that injuries are a problem keeping his team from winning games.

This might be his way, but that doesn't mean it's the way. It's time for Venables to evolve, or else the injury bug will just keep biting the Sooners.

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