{"id":780066,"date":"2026-07-05T06:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T06:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780066\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T06:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T06:37:08","slug":"oklahoma-loses-lead-athletic-trainer-to-tennessee-titans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/780066\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma loses lead athletic trainer to Tennessee Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Updated July 4, 2026, 8:27 p.m. CT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The <a data-autotag=\"a5355359-2a0e-4b89-bd78-9f03c554fe00\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/college-sports\/sec\/oklahoma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Oklahoma Sooners<\/a> have lost head athletic trainer Jonathan Gress to the professional ranks two months before the 2026 season gets underway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Gress, who spent one year in Norman after coming from the New Orleans Saints, is headed back to the NFL <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennesseetitans.com\/news\/titans-announce-more-recent-hires-on-football-staff\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">with the Tennessee Titans<\/a>. He&#8217;ll be the team&#8217;s director of rehabilitation and reconditioning. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GeorgeStoia\/status\/2073087887625601096\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">According to SoonerScoop&#8217;s George Stoia III<\/a>, the search for Gress&#8217; replacement is already underway, and he reports the Sooners would like to have someone in place by the beginning of fall camp.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Gress&#8217; departure is <a href=\"http:\/\/soonerswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/sooners\/football\/2026\/06\/13\/oklahoma-football-rufus-alexander-defensive-analyst-sec\/90539287007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">another twist<\/a> for an OU support staff that has seen a number of them this offseason. Gress was helpful in keeping the Sooners healthier in 2025, a necessary emphasis after an injury-plagued 2024 season, especially on offense. Whoever replaces him as lead trainer will need to be someone who can help OU avoid that bad injury streak that helped derail that season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Oklahoma will open the 2026 season in Norman against UTEP. That game is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Sept. 4.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_gl gnt_em__el\" href=\"http:\/\/soonerswire.usatoday.com\/picture-gallery\/sports\/college\/sooners\/football\/2026\/04\/18\/photos-from-oklahoma-sooners-2026-spring-game\/89680323007\/\" data-t-l=\"\u2691g:l|l|c|view gallery:inline promo\" aria-label=\"View Gallery - Photos from Oklahoma Sooners 2026 Spring Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img class=\"gnt_em_gl_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/89680243007-usatsi-28759511.jpg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Contact\/Follow us\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/SoonersWire\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@SoonersWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/SoonersWire\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions.\u00a0You can also follow Aaron on X<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaron_gelvin\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Aaron_Gelvin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:6|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 4, 2026, 8:27 p.m. CT The Oklahoma Sooners have lost head athletic trainer Jonathan Gress to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[202558,64,63,593,369345,85,369346,245725,203469,222354,218772,203146,205233,260253,266974,203147,224213,210687,203139,212599,369347,202561],"class_list":["post-780066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-accessfree","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sourcesooners-wire","tag-sports","tag-sstssportscollegesoonersfootball","tag-sstsnfootball","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagfacebook","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagoklahoma","tag-tagoklahoma-sooners","tag-tagoklahoma-sooners-football","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsec-hub","tag-tagsports-coaching-training","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtwitter","tag-taguniversity-of-texas-at-el-paso","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}