NORMAN – Another Sunday has arrived for Oklahoma’s 2024 training camp, but this one is special.
This week the Sooners begin preparing for their game against Temple.
The Owls return to Owen Field next week for a special Friday night season opener – the first Friday night home game in OU history. That means the Sooners will break up training camp and begin real game planning for their first opponent later this week.
“The last few days were really good, hard, challenging and demanding when we started,” Head coach Brent Venables said last week“All of this serves to prepare us mentally and physically for the rigors and challenges of the season.”
The players reported on July 30, practice began on July 31, they met fans on August 3, and a lot has happened since then, including a season-ending injury to wide receiver Jayden Gibson, the unveiling of some new throwback jerseys, eight players making the preseason watch lists, three big scrimmage games, and, frankly, not a lot of breaking news from practice itself—and that’s a good thing.
“There’s been good and bad,” Venables said. “We had our first preseason game, if you will, at the end of last week. It was everything you’d expect. Great plays on both sides of the ball. Good and bad. When it’s good on one side, it’s usually not good on the other. This is the next step in our process as we prepare for the season.”
The gameday installation of the schedule for Temple begins in the middle of this week, with a preview of Week 2 opponent, Big 12 newcomer Houston. Classes start on Monday, and then it’s literally game week.
“We’re working on the scout team until Wednesday,” said Venables. “So it’s going to be quick.”
“You really start to break the team down and look at the opponents and things like that. That will pass and be just a breath. So once you solidify that, you get a really good feel for what group of guys it’s going to be. Then you narrow it down to who’s going to be first, and that’s going to be a big deal.”
But first a few days of preseason training.
“We have great footage from all our training sessions and our job as a team and as players is to look at the footage and see how we can improve,” said Venables. “We have worked on a lot of things that challenge us physically and, more importantly, mentally.
“As we’ve said before, the beauty and magic of fall camp is pushing players to their limits, pushing them to their limits. And their job is to put themselves there voluntarily. If you have a mature, determined team, they will do that. You know that’s all necessary as you build your identity as a football team and figure out if you can build confidence — that’s a player’s responsibility — and figure out what we’re really good at. That’s all part of the process right now.”
During the first few days of this week, the coaching staff will continue to emphasize the fundamentals and details, the tiny, steady improvements that can help a player lay the foundation, earn a starting spot or find a place on the special teams.
“A lot of situational work too,” Venables said. “All the things that every football team in America has to get better at and be good at to win at the highest level. I like a lot of what I see and a lot of where we are right now.”
