2025 SEC Media Days Wrap-Up

ATLANTA — Oklahoma took its turn at 2025 SEC Media Days on Wednesday, as head coach Brent Venables, senior defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings, senior defensive lineman R Mason Thomas and redshirt junior quarterback John Mateer represented the Sooners at the Omni Hotel and College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta.

Venables, Spears-Jennings, Thomas and Mateer met with the media in various capacities for about four-and-a-half hours Wednesday. Segments of the day can be viewed on SECSports.com.

See highlights from the day below and via X and Instagram (@OU_Football) and Facebook (Oklahoma Football).

Wheels up to the ATL ??#OUDNA | #SECMD25 pic.twitter.com/Tkh3bdaCbV
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) July 16, 2025

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Gallery: (7-16-2025) 2025 SEC Football Media Days

QUOTABLE

Head Coach Brent Venables

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The improvements you have made on the defensive side of the ball have been well-documented. Outside just the obvious, which is the personnel upgrades, what have you done from a cultural standpoint and mindset change getting a dominant defense back in Norman?

"I think it goes without saying that we had a lot of guys that were scarred up, guys that were still here on the roster. A lot of guys that were scarred up. Didn't know how to play and prepare the right way. It's not like a knock on anybody. I don't think had the confidence, probably most importantly. That takes a lot.

"You nurture that. You develop that. You recruit that. Then, man, you're relentless about chasing excellence and see what it looks like every single day. You got to be a therapist, a coach, a teacher a motivator. I love that. I love building things. I like building things to last. So we literally started from the ground up.

"This, again, will be the first year we've had guys in our program that have been here for four years, six players on defense. I expect the more you play, the better you get. It's a developmental game. Culture, mindset, how we do what we do, how we practice, the passion, the intensity, should be like a game mindset every rep. Those are game reps. To get the buy-in is not an easy thing to do, as many coaches will tell you.

"I've always chosen, instead of making my guys do something, I can get them to do whatever I want. I want to inspire and to motivate and to challenge. That's how we've created the buy-in with our players. To get our guys excited to go dominate practice, dominate the minutiae, the meeting room, to play at a really, really high, elite level. That's been fun to see the change. We're not anywhere close to where we want to be and where we're going to be. But we're moving in the right direction. I'm proud of all of the work that's gone into it from both the players and the coaches."

Senior Defensive Back Robert Spears-Jennings

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What stood out to you about this defense? How has it improved since last year, and how have you taken a leadership role on it?
"I feel like we've communicated way better this year because we were taught a quiet defense is a dead defense. So this year we're emphasizing on communication on defense a lot."

Oklahoma lost a lot defensively from last year. Has your role changed? Have you had to be more of a leader to replace some of the guys who have departed?
"Coach (Venables), Coach (Brandon) Hall, Coach (Jerry) Schmidt, they've all advised me to be more vocal. This summer and spring and through the winter, I've tried my hardest, done my best at being a more vocal leader and just leading by example. Me and a couple of other guys have been doing that job very well."

Senior Defensive Lineman R Mason Thomas

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You had kind of a breakout season last year. Since then, what have been the main things on and off the field that you've been working on?
"My run game. Putting on a little extra weight. Moving well with the weight, too. And I think just overall I can work on everything, but the run game was probably a big one, just more production there — not just because other people say it but I want it for myself too. Those are two things, adding weight and run-game production."

With the storied program that is Oklahoma and the success that it's had, how much pressure do you guys have to get back to that, get back to a double-digit-win season after last year?
"I don't think we in a sense have pressure. We know what the standard is, what the teams of the past have set. So I know if we can put our head down and work, focus on the journey and not the destination, we'll be right where we want to be."

Redshirt Junior Quarterback John Mateer

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How did you take a leadership role when you came in? Everybody has said right away it's like you've been there for years. What tangibly did you do to assert yourself in the room?
"I would say I was fortunate because I didn't have to learn a whole new offense. I was able to take time to learn the players that I was going to play with and build relationships with them in the locker room, hang out and help them learn the offense, because building relationships is the most important thing to leading. You can't lead people you don't know. They're not going to trust you if they don't know you. That was super important to me. They embraced me. It wasn't all me; they embraced me, they put me in the front of the lines, the players put me in the front of the line our first day of workouts. I just wanted to do it by my work. I didn't want to say a whole lot and be, 'Oh, I'm the leader", this and that. I didn't try to do that. I just wanted to work as hard as I could and prove to them that I was capable of leading."

What do you think a quarterback in the modern era, on the field, outside of leadership, is supposed to be? And how do you align with that? Just the modern era of quarterbacking in terms of mobility and things of that nature.
"I think it's shifted to a more athletic style of play. They say there's two plays in each play. The first play, if the first play doesn't work, you gotta be able to make the second play and react. It's super important, and it adds a whole other layer to the defense and makes it a lot of fun for me and the rest of the offense. It's super frustrating for Coach Venables in practice, too. No, I'm just kidding. But it's fun. I'm blessed to have that ability."

BOOMER! SOONER! BOOMER! SOONER!#SECMD25 pic.twitter.com/xWhOvFkys2
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) July 16, 2025

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