Former Oklahoma linebacker praises coach Brent Venables at combine
· Yahoo Sports
Former Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke, fresh off the NCAA's declining another year of eligibility, has spent a good part of the week at the NFL combine.
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Heinecke finished the 2025 season, his redshirt junior season, as OU's second leading tackler. His 74 stops were just behind leader Kip Lewis. But despite being a junior, the NCAA determined that the 15 minutes he played college lacrosse at Ohio State qualified as a season's worth of college sports eligibility.
The blow was not unexpected, but still a drag for coach Brent Venables and Co. The Sooners are coming off their first appearance in the College Football Playoff since the 2019-20 season.
Heinecke looked back on his time at Oklahoma at the combine and was asked what it was like to play for Venables.
"He was a huge part of my development," Heinecke said. "As a walk-on, I had to be on my toes every day. If I made one mistake, I was out for the rest of practice. But some guys had more grace. It made me build the right practice habits, the right mentality."
Heinecke didn't hold any Division I scholarship offers for football coming out of Bishop Kelley in Tulsa. So he went to Ohio State for lacrosse, but transferred back to his home state, where his uncle was a starting defensive end who won the national championship with the Sooners in 2000.
Venables gave Heinecke a shot and it worked well for both sides.
"I think the tenacious personality is what makes him great," Heinecke said. "He knows how to get the best out of you. It's not always in ways that you are super happy about, but he knows how to have you on your toes, always."
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Ex-Oklahoma linebacker praises coach Brent Venables