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Oklahoma football begins with defense. The Oklahoma defense begins with Brent Venables, who is set to begin his ninth season as the Sooners’ co-defensive coordinator.

Under Venables’ direction — with a little help along the way from Mike Stoops, Bobby Jack Wright and Bo Pelini — the Sooners have been consistently ranked nationally in any number of defensive categories. OU led the Big 12 Conference in total defense a season ago and ranked 16th nationally.

For his efforts, Venables was named one of five finalist for the 2006 Frank Broyles Award, given annually to the country’s top assistant coach. While Venables did not win the award, head coach Bob Stoops is quick to point out the fiery 37-year-old Kansas native’s value to his staff is inestimable.

Sooner Spectator caught up with Venables recently during preseason camp and talked to him about the 2007 OU defense, its keys to success and much more.

Sooner Spectator: What is it about the current defense as a whole that excites you and gets your blood pumping?

Brent Venables: I like our chemistry, and I like our overall speed and athleticism. I believe we’ve got a real trust amongst each other and a real selfless attitude across the board. When you look at the players we have on defense, you can’t help but get excited.

SS: Do you see a main strength with this defense going into the season?

Venables: Our biggest strength with this group is in our experience. We have a lot of guys who have played a lot of snaps, and even a lot of our younger guys have been in the system a while, which helps their readiness for when they actually do step on the field in a game situation.

SS: Maybe the one area where a ton of experience is lacking is at linebacker. How critical is it for those guys to step up this season?

Venables: It’s everything. But that’s not just this season — it’s every season. With the system we run, our linebackers are obviously crucial to our success. It’s gap integrity and we don’t ask our guys to be two-gap players. There is more complexity in what an offense might see than in what we actually do. A lot of that is in disguise and things of that nature. On every given run play, whether we are playing cover 2 or cover 3 or we’re in quarter-quarter-half, everybody has a designated run fit. It’s got to be second nature for our linebackers to know what gap they have, and to get up in that gap and make a play. We don’t rely on any gimmicks — for our defense to be successful, we have to stop the run.

SS: Do you like the guys you have at linebacker right now?

Venables: I really do. These guys — whether it’s Curtis Lofton, Lewis Baker, Mike Reed, Ryan Reynolds, Demarrio Pleasant or even our younger guys — understand what we want. They get it. From one side to the other, this is as intelligent of a group as we’ve had here. That’s a great combination when you start talking about the athleticism we have at linebacker and what those guys bring to the table as far as football IQ and instincts.

You look at a kid like Ryan Reynolds and from day one, he was never a guy you had to dot the ‘i’ for. He’s had an good understanding of what we are doing from the time he arrived. When he makes a mistake, like all good players, he can immediately identify what he did wrong and correct it before he ever comes over to the sideline. That’s shows his maturation as a player.

*Editor's Note: This is only a portion of the indepth Q&A with Coach Venables, as it appears in the August 2007 issue of Sooner Spectator. Don't miss out - subscribe today by calling toll free 1-888-335-4385!