Brent Venables re-affirms that Oklahoma won't add any NFL players

The Oklahoma Sooners have decided to take advantage of the NCAA's "five-for-five" rule when it comes to the class of 2022 players who are looking to get a fifth year of college football, but head coach Brent Venables firmly stated that OU isn't adding any players who have signed a pro contract to the team.

After OU's Week 1 win over the UTEP Miners, where the Sooners cruised to a 51-0 victory, Venables was asked about fifth-year defensive lineman Danny Saili, who was just ruled eligible on Thursday and played on Friday night. Saili logged a tackle in the game, and he looks to be a part of what OU wants to do at defensive tackle moving forward, provided he stays eligible. His case is pending a preliminary injunction hearing, but he has a temporary restraining order that is allowing him to compete.

"Yeah, that was great," Venables said. "He's been with us for a couple of weeks, saw the field tonight, and he's remarkably picked up things really fast. His experience really showed, and that's one of the positions that we're really concerned with just the overall depth, and so he's going to be able to help us."

While Saili is listed on the official roster and saw the field on Friday night, the Sooners are also expected to add former Boise State defensive lineman Braxton Fely to the roster at some point. He also has a TRO that allows him the ability to play, and his case is also pending a preliminary injunction hearing. However, Fely is not currently listed on OU's roster, though it sounds like it's only a matter of time until that changes. He's reportedly enrolled at OU .

The important distinction is that neither player ever signed a pro contract. Saili has been in the transfer portal since January, and never attempted to join an NFL team. Fely never signed an NFL contract, but he was invited to an NFL minicamp. With the college football world up in arms about Lane Kiffin attempting to add players who had signed NFL contracts to his LSU roster, Venables, predictably, was firm that his program wouldn't consider doing that.

"We're not adding any players that signed a pro contract," Venables said. "Our university and athletics department have been in touch with the SEC frequently, and just kind of on this matter and what the conference rules are and things of that nature, so we feel really good. We vetted these players in great detail and this is something that we've been planning on for quite some time, and culturally these guys are great fits and they're going to be able to help us at positions where we don't have the same competitive depth that we did a year ago and that's where our motives are."

Of course, college football fans know that these eligibility cases can change at the drop of a hat. However, it sounds like the Sooners are excited about what they have in Saili and about eventually getting Fely added to the team as well. Competitive depth is something Venables is constantly preaching, and it's clear he believes his team needs more of it at defensive tackle. In pure Venables fashion, the Sooners are going to be persistent in their pursuit to improve the roster, while also not blatantly ignoring the rules at the same time.

Photos from the Oklahoma Sooners win over UTEP

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin .