Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables’ words don’t match actions
It used to be a big deal when a player was committed to play football at a certain program but backed out of his commitment and chose a different school. That was a long time ago though, and the game has certainly changed. These days it feels like such actions happen multiple times daily.
I will not say I like that because I certainly don’t. I understand a player can only be committed to a certain degree if he’s still choosing to go about the recruiting process and make visits elsewhere. But, for as much as I love college football, that is certainly one of those things that has never felt quite right.
New Oklahoma head coach and longtime Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables met the media on Friday and made a heckuva lot of sense in explaining what an actual commitment in college football looks like. Take a quick look for yourself below.
A relevant message for today’s biggest story in college football recruiting. pic.twitter.com/wGK1RQx4fX
— The REF (@KREFsports) July 29, 2022
Again, I really like what Venables says. As an observer, it drives me a bit crazy when a player commits to a program but still takes visits elsewhere. I can’t begin to imagine how insane it would make me if I was a coach being told one thing and then seeing my “committed” prospect visiting elsewhere.
So you’d think by saying this that Venables certainly wouldn’t ever consider pursuing a player who has commited to another program, right?
Except this very weekend Venables and Oklahoma are hosting five-star safety Peyton Bowen on campus. Bowen committed to Notre Dame on New Year’s Day and has seen his recruiting ranking improve since.
Listen, I don’t like the committed but only sort of committed thing either, Brent, but until you entirely stop any pursuit of any player that is committed somewhere other than Oklahoma, then your word means nothing.
Congrats on the viral video, though.
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