Oklahoma transfer already sees eerie Brent Venables clone in Dabo Swinney at Clemson

Former Oklahoma defensive tackle Markus Strong sat back during a meeting at his new school and started to question if he ever even left Norman.

After three years at OU, Strong transferred to Clemson this offseason to play for Dabo Swinney, who was his former coach's boss for nine years before Brent Venables left to be the Sooners' head coach in 2021.

Markus Strong has unbelievable realization between his head coaches

"I listen to them, and they're literally like wired the same in my mind," Strong said when talking with local media this week.

Venables was Clemson's defensive coordinator between stops as the Sooners' defensive coordinator and head coach. While there, he was part of two national championships as Swinney's right-hand man. Even after Venables left, though, the two remained close as Venables' son, Tyler, played for the Tigers. Venables even repped Clemson gear during a game last season while supporting his son, which had Tiger fans missing the good ole' days of Venables and Swinney sharing a sideline.

Afterward, Swinney even delivered a spot-on impression of Venables since they're already apparently so much alike anyway.

Because of that bond, there had been an understood agreement between the two that their programs wouldn't swap players, but that's evidently no longer the case with Strong's move. Strong got minimal playing time at OU, but was set for a much larger role in 2026 as a redshirt junior. Instead, he headed to Clemson and left the Sooners in need of more depth along the defensive line.

Now, it seems like Oklahoma to Clemson, or vice-versa, would be the easiest transition for a transferring player to make as Strong gets the rare experience of playing for two head coaches cut from the same cloth.

There's a famous saying that Swinney likes to often use that goes, “Do what I can, while I can, so that when I cannot, I will not wish that I would have when I could have." Although a newcomer to the program, Strong immediately recognized the motto, and even though spring practices are just now starting up, he's already feeling at home.

"I've heard it so many times, I was just like, 'Dang,'" Strong said. "First time I heard it here, I just sat back there and I was like, 'There is just no way.'

"They go by the same principle. They learned together and they kind of talk together, so the way they went about it was just, I feel like they're almost connected in a way."