Dabo Swinney beams about having Brent Venables on Clemson sideline during Oklahoma bye week
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The Clemson football program was in desperate need of a spark when it hosted similarly struggling Florida State on Saturday night.
And few are better at firing a team up than current Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, who returned to his former place of work during the Sooners’ bye week.
Venables was on the sidelines for the Tigers’ 24-10 win over the Seminoles, and head coach Dabo Swinney expressed how great it was to have his former defensive coordinator back in town.
“I went over and asked him what he thought they [Florida State] were gonna call on a 2nd-and-14. And he’s like: ‘Probably a screen or draw!” Swinney said, doing his best Venables impression in the process. “I love Brent.”
Swinney was also able to have one of his former players join him for a meeting during the week. Legendary linebacker James Skalski, who played on Clemson’s 2016 and 2018 National Championship teams before becoming a three-year starter from 2019-2021, is currently a graduate assistant on Venables’ staff at OU.
“Skalski was in my team meeting yesterday,” Swinney said. “And it was also awesome to see him [Venables] be a Dad. He could see T-Bone..and you talk about one of the best leaders we’ve had here: Tyler freakin’ Venables.”
Nicknamed T-Bone, Tyler Venables blocked a punt during the Tigers’ loss to Duke last week. The son of Brent has been with the Clemson program since 2020 and plays safety.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
