Brent Venables has plenty of familiarity with the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, Josh Heupel, who he will face off against at home on Saturday.

From 1999-2011 Venables was an assistant for the Oklahoma Sooners before ultimately taking the Clemson defensive coordinator position in 2012.

Anyone with a pulse on college football knows Heupel is one of the best QBs in Oklahoma history, leading the Sooners to an undefeated season and national championship victory in 2000, where he finished as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

Ahead of Saturday’s SEC clash between Tennessee and Oklahoma, Venables revealed a surprising fact that could have changed the course of Oklahoma football. During his weekly press conference, Venables admitted he and Mike Stoops were pushing Bob Stoops to recruit Akili Smith, instead of Heupel, when the former Sooners’ staffers were looking for a quarterback.

Smith came out of high school as a high-profile All-American but was forced to spend two years in junior college after signing a letter of intent to play at San Diego State due to low test scores. He ultimately transferred to Oregon and put together an impressive season in 1998, throwing for 3,763 yards, 32 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.

Ultimately Smith was drafted in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, but never found success at the professional level and is remembered as one of the biggest quarterback busts in the history of the league.

There’s no telling what would have happened if Smith came to Norman instead of Heupel, but it sounds like Oklahoma made the right choice by rolling with the current Tennessee head coach.