Former NFL coach Jon Gruden raves about Brent Venables' Oklahoma Sooners

The Oklahoma Sooners are going into 2025 as an SEC program for the second time. Their debut season did not go to plan, and Brent Venables' team finished with a 6-7 (2-6 SEC) record.

Ahead of next season, the Sooners sent former NFL coach Jon Gruden a box of free merchandise, which included a helmet. He unboxed it and posted the video of him doing so on X.

Expand Tweet

During the video, Gruden talked about many memories he has of the Sooners program. In one part, he talked about their current coach, Brent Venables, saying:

"I met Coach Venables when I was at Clemson. He was the D (defensive) coordinator. He's been a great defensive coach. High energy. Positive guy."

Jon Gruden has no official connections to the Sooners. During his long coaching career, Gruden was never on the coaching staff of the Sooners, spending most of his time in the NFL with the Raiders franchise.

However, Gruden was able to work with many former Sooners in the NFL, and can appreciate the work that the program has done and is currently doing. This appreciation has grown and become more visible since Gruden got involved with Barstool Sports, hosting college football-themed shows.

But this is not the only time that Gruden has received a box of gifts from a college football program. Just in the last week, he received more from the Clemson Tigers and Michigan State Spartans.

Expand Tweet

Josh Pate on the changes that Oklahoma have made in 2025

Jon Gruden is not the only person to talk positively about the Oklahoma Sooners. On the Wednesday edition of his college football show, analyst Josh Pate said the following:

"Oklahoma's made some really, really good moves here. Quarterback was a major concern for them, and they went and got (John) Mateer out of Washington State, with his offensive coordinator (Ben Arbuckle) for good measure. Check."

In 2024, the Sooners' offense struggled, and this was mostly down to the lack of direction at the quarterback position, with both Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr. struggling.

Now, the Sooners have brought in the very experienced John Mateer from the Washington State Cougars. Oklahoma will hope that he can improve its losing SEC record in 2025 and show that it can keep up with the bigger programs in the conference.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

Know More

Oklahoma Sooners Fan? Check out the latest Sooners depth chart, schedule, and roster updates all in one place.

Edited by Nicolaas Ackermann