How Deion Burks' Elite Speed Changes the Dynamic for Oklahoma's Receivers

The Sooners' speedy transfer from Purdue plays the same position that Drake Stoops thrived in last year, but can he be that productive on a weekly basis?

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s wide receiver corps was already a formidable group heading into the 2024 college football season.

But the transfer portal addition of Deion Burks from Purdue changes that dynamic — and drastically.

Burks’ showing in the Sooners’ annual Red/White Game last Saturday at Owen Field was nothing short of remarkable as a spring debut: five catches, 174 yards and two cross-country touchdown catches.

The 5-foot-9, 189-pound Burks is a burner, a speed merchant who pulled effortlessly away from his pursuers on both a 64-yard TD catch and a 50-yard scoring grab. 

WATCH: Deion Burks postgame interview

Nobody will ever knock Drake Stoops, who led the Big 12 Conference in receptions and TD catches last year. But Burks’ speed at the slot position changes the conversation for the Oklahoma offense, and is the perfect tool for Seth Littrell as the Sooners head into the Southeastern Conference.

“People will start bracketing that inner guy,” OU quarterback Jackson Arnold said, “and that’s when defenses start changing and opening up different things for the offense to run. Having a guy like that is super important because it changes what we can do, but it changes what the defense can do.” 

The Sooners’ QB missed on one deep ball to Burks, but hit the two touchdowns with ease. Of course, it all happened against an OU secondary that was missing starters Woodi Washington, Billy Bowman and Gentry Williams, but Arnold acknowledges that Burks has the speed to run by just about anyone.

“Deion is a special player,” Arnold said. “He’s one of the fastest kids I’ve thrown to.” 

Pair that speed with the kind of big-play ability that guys like Nic Anderson, Jayden Gibson, Andrel Anthony and Brenen Thompson showed last year, and Oklahoma might have the SEC’s best 4 x 100 relay team.

Anderson averaged 21 yards per catch in 2023 and scored 10 touchdowns. Gibson averaged 27 yards per catch and scored five. Anthony was averaging 16 yards per reception and had one TD when he went down at midseason with a knee injury. And Thompson averaged 34 yards per grab and scored two touchdowns in limited action.

“It’s gonna be a great thing to see come the fall,” Burks said. “You’ve got all different types of skillsets. People who are 6-6, you’ve got JG to go up and get it and stretch the field. You’ve got Nic Anderson, he’s good with his hips, he can go make a play. You’ve got so much talent in the room, it’s a great thing to see. We’re just trying to build and get better.”

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Head coach Brent Venables likes the added speed  because it affects how defenses apply coverage short, intermediate and over the top. As a defensive coordinator by trade, he knows how that can create pressure points all throughout a defense.

“It makes the matchups a little more difficult when you’ve got somebody that can challenge you vertically as well as underneath,” he said.

Burks said he’s been on a fast-track to build chemistry with Arnold and the rest of the receiver room while also trying to pick up the nuances of Littrell’s offense.

“I honestly love the scheme here,” Burks said. “Coach Seth Littrell, he does a great thing with this team. Just with all the receivers and trying to improve our running game. Just everything like that, I love the scheme more than when I was at Purdue.”

And Burks isn’t just a straight-line runner. He’s a crafty football player.

“He knows how to get open,” Arnold said. “Great route runner.”

“Probably the best thing he does is his work ethic,” Venables said. “He’s wide open when it comes to practice and his passion for the game, he’s incredibly competitive. He helps the guys he’s lined up against and the guys next to him as well. So, he’s been fantastic. Great playmaker. He’s got tremendous speed and quickness. He’s got great hands. …. He’s really done a great job of learning what to do and transitioning that within our system.”

Burks said that’s exactly why the scrimmage was so much fun.

“You see the work pays off and everything like that,” he said. “Just around great people, great team, great offense, great scheme, great calls. It’s just a great thing to see.”

Elite speed is an asset, no doubt. But it’s that last part, the work ethic, that set apart a former walk-on like Stoops and allowed him to have a career year in 2023. Burks — and the rest of the Sooners’ receiver corps — would be wise to emulate that.

“Again, Drake was a high-producing receiver,” Venables said. “It didn’t matter what you asked that guy to do, whether that was beat someone on an over route, get open on an underneath crosser, something like that. Drake would make all the competitive plays. 

“We’ll need to continue to have that kind of production out of that position in order for us to be successful systematically.”