CLEMSON — During his availability with the media earlier this week, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables was asked about the way he practiced, as he has received criticism from fans and the media for having practices that are considered too physical.

The scrutiny comes after several players got hurt during in-season practices, including offensive guard Eddy Pierre-Louis and, more recently, cornerback Eli Brown. In a report by Sooner Scoop.com earlier this week, Oklahoma actually has more players reportedly injured in the SEC’s availability report than any other league team.

What does this have to do with Clemson?

In his answer, and obviously not a direct shot at Clemson or the way head coach Dabo Swinney does things, Venables indirectly took a shot at his former program.

Of course, in his answer, he was playing off what former Clemson safety Khalil Barnes, who is now at Georgia, recently said about the Tigers. Barnes left Clemson following last season’s 7-5 regular season.

“It does take what it takes,” Venables said. “And we’re sitting here talking about that, and somebody sent me maybe the ‘star’ position from Georgia, Khalil Barnes, how hard they practice — Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday was his exact words. And he talked about while he was at Clemson, had not, didn’t practice that hard and wasn’t that tough and the physicality of the practice and things.”

Venables, of course, coached at Clemson for 10 seasons, and was the defensive coordinator during the program’s great run from 2015-2020, when the Tigers went to six straight College Football Playoff (four-team tournament), won two national championships and played in the national championship game four times in five years.

Clemson also won six straight ACC Championships under his tenure there. Venables’ Clemson defenses were always known as tough-physical defenses that defended every blade of grass.

The Tigers were usually ranked in the top 5 or top 10 nationally in most defensive categories during Venables’ time at Clemson. The Sooners, of course, are coming off a huge win over top-ranked Texas in last week’s Red River Rivalry.