Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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NORMAN — Courtland Guillory doesn’t profess to be much of a trash talker.
However, the week before OU’s Sept. 20 win over Auburn, Guillory commented on an Instagram post from a Tigers fan that projected 350 total yards for former Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold against his old team.
“Ayeee I love waking (people) up to reality,” Guillory wrote under the post.
Instead, it was Guillory who had his welcome to reality moment. Auburn’s star receiver Cam Coleman had his way with OU’s stud freshman cornerback, catching a 40-yard bomb over him and drawing a pair of pass interference calls on Guillory — the latter setting up a fourth quarter touchdown.
It marked the first time Guillory hadn’t backed up his bark all season. He’d previously allowed a combined two catches for 12 yards on 10 targets through Oklahoma’s first three games, while averaging almost 40 snaps. But Head coach Brent Venables wasn’t down on his young defender after a rough Southeastern Conference debut.
“All the great ones will have a day that, man, you’d like to have back, you just want to go somewhere and hide,” Venables said. “‘Hey Coach, can you give me a safety?’ I can help him, too. It’s not all on him, but this’ll help him. He’s a really tough kid. He’s really prideful, and he made some plays there late when he was in great position, doing the things we needed to do too that don’t show up on the stat sheet as well. He’ll be alright.”
Guillory has the opportunity to rebound when OU faces Kent State at 3 p.m. Saturday. The tune up game with the Golden Flashes gives Guillory the chance to build momentum toward the rest of the Southeastern Conference schedule. His track record suggests he’ll bounce back.
Guillory said earlier this season that when he was much younger, his mother told him not to let anyone mess with him out on the field. He has carried that competitive spirit all the way to OU, through his time at Klein Oak High School in the Houston suburb of Spring.
“Every single practice, he treated every single rep like it was the last play of the state championship or the Super Bowl,” former Klein Oak corners coach Brandon Chavis told the Tulsa World. “It’d be to the point where you would have to tell him when we’re going through a walkthrough, like ‘Courtland, you have to slow down. It’s not intended to go 100% this round.’
“So it’s not surprising that he’s on the field so quickly, because I know the coaches there in Norman, they probably see that, and they’re in love with it. He wants to compete every single rep, and he doesn’t care who’s in front of him.”
Guillory wasn’t an instant star at Klein Oak. He was on the junior varsity team his freshman season. Panthers head coach Brandon Carpenter even thought, going into Guillory’s sophomore season, that with the returning talent in Klein Oak’s varsity secondary, it’d still be a stretch for Guillory to claim a starting spot. But no matter to Guillory.
“He kind of threw self awareness out the window,” Carpenter told the Tulsa World. “He said, ‘I don’t care who’s starting at corner for our varsity or what kind of accolades they have. My intent, my goal, is to go take their job from them,’ and it just defined how he worked.”
In the spring of Guillory’s freshman year, Carpenter saw a player to whom every rep at practice mattered, who was “staring through your soul” when listening to his coaches speak. Where some players would’ve wanted 1-on-1 reps against teammates they knew they could beat, Guillory always wanted to face the best, win or lose.
Guillory had God-given ability, but not the most on his Klein Oak teams. His effort made up the difference. It’s the same at OU. Guillory wasn’t the most ballyhooed recruit in OU’s 2025 recruiting class, but he has pushed his way to the top.
“I don’t care what room you put him in at whatever university, he is going to outwork everyone, and he is going to find whatever advantage he can to make himself one of the elite people,” Carpenter said.
Guillory indeed became a varsity starter at Klein Oak midway through his sophomore season and continued to earn more trust.
Chavis still remembers when Guillory “completely erased” a receiver who ended up as the state’s yards leader that year. Guillory held his assignment to two catches and under 30 yards.
“When he lines up in front of somebody, he doesn’t really talk a lot, but he kind of just lets his game play,” said Chavis, now the cornerbacks coach at College Park High School in The Woodlands. “And (Guillory) takes it very seriously whenever he gets that type of matchup.
“He’s almost demanding it, like, ‘Hey, I know this guy is the guy for this team. I want that challenge, and I’m gonna make sure he’s erased from the game plan.’”
As a senior, Guillory was Klein Oak’s best tackler, and the coaches sometimes moved him to safety to shore up the middle of the field.
Chavis compares Guillory to a prime Jalen Ramsey. At Florida State, Ramsey sometimes played safety and brought the boom to run defense. In the NFL, the likely hall of famer has consistently stifled some of the league’s best wideouts.
Patrick Peterson’s another player Chavis sees in Guillory. The ex-Arizona Cardinals star was a tough corner and, as a dynamic kick returner, made plays with the ball in his hands, too.
As a senior, Guillory became a package quarterback for Klein Oak. On his first snap under center, the coaches called a counter play. Guillory initially ran the wrong way, realized it and cut back for a long touchdown run.
Guillory was named district MVP for his two-way prowess. He also featured on special teams and led the district in blocked kicks.
“Courtland wants to play every play, and that too, I find, is pretty unique for a guy with what he’s accomplished,” Carpenter said.
Guillory nearly played every play on defense through his first two games at OU. After the win over Michigan, he was the team leader in defensive snaps. The 6-foot DB dominated Michigan’s receivers, especially frustrating 6-foot-5 Donaven McCulley, who came in with a serious height advantage. To Guillory, though, that had nothing on facing OU’s receivers in practice.
“I go against Keontez Lewis and Deion Burks every day,” Guillory said. “I think Deion Burks is the most electrifying player that I’m gonna ever go against, so I stand on that. … So that’s why I love practice. I love competing with them guys and I look forward to it every day.”
It was practice that drummed up the initial buzz about Guillory back in the spring. Venables has since referred to Guillory more than once as a “dog.” Corners coach Jay Valai praised Guillory in fall camp for learning zone coverage quickly, after mostly playing man-to-man at Klein Oak.
Guillory isn’t the least bit surprised he has found his footing fast. He wants to be a freshman All-American like fellow corner Eli Bowen was for OU last year.
“This is what I expected out of myself,” Guillory said. “I came to Oklahoma for a reason. I wanted a chance, I earned my chance and now I’m here to show what I can do. … I’ve been hearing opposing players say, ‘Oh man, you a young.’ Yeah I know, but that don’t mean nothin. I’m here to play. I don’t look at myself as a freshman, I look at myself as a football player.
“As a corner, you love being out there on that island and showing what you can really do. Ain’t nothing like just you and the opposing receiver out there on the island, and he knows what time it is.”
The struggles against Coleman and Auburn were a minor setback, but it was sort of a badge of honor that Venables left Guillory on an island with no safety help.
Linebacker Kip Lewis told Guillory to keep his head up after the game and cornerback Gentry Williams has also encouraged his co-starter.
“He took that to the chin better than most freshmen would,” Williams said. “He did an excellent job in that game, coming back at the end to make some key plays for us. He did well. You’re going to have some blows as a young guy, as a freshman.
“Courtland is going to be just fine.”
mason.young@tulsaworld.com
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Mason Young
Tulsa World OU Sports Reporter
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