Brent Venables names 'pound-for-pound' best athlete at Oklahoma

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The Oklahoma Sooners have some of the best athletes in college football. The Sooners are coming off a College Football Playoff berth and return several key contributors this upcoming season.

However, it's a player who hasn't played a ton up to this point in his career that head coach Brent Venables identified as the best athlete on the team. That player is EDGE rusher Danny Okoye. The former four-star prospect has totaled just six tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks in his two seasons in Norman. He's competing with Adepoju Adebawore for a starting spot this year.

Venables was speaking to News 9's Toby Rowland, in which he called Okoye the best athlete on the team and said that he might have the potential to play football the longest at the professional level.

"Pound-for-pound, the best athlete on our team," Venables said via 'Oklahoma's Own.' "Incredibly explosive. Very hungry, driven. He's matured a lot. Just his lens and perspective. You're talking about a homeschooled guy that… has just been a piece of clay, and Danny probably has as much potential, maybe more than anybody, to play this game the longest."

The timing could be ideal for Okoye to emerge. Oklahoma enters 2026 with legitimate national championship aspirations and one of the deepest defenses in college football. If Okoye can win the starting job and translate his explosiveness into production, he could become another major weapon for Venables' defense.

More importantly, his development could give Oklahoma another high-level pass rusher as the Sooners prepare for another difficult SEC schedule. For a player Venables describes as the best athlete on the roster, 2026 could be the season Okoye finally shows why the coaching staff has been so high on him.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Brent Venables names 'pound-for-pound' best athlete at Oklahoma

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