How an Oklahoma Freshman Wide Receiver has Impressed Brent Venables

NORMAN — The Sooners recently had their first spring scrimmage, and OU’s wide receiver depth stood out to coach Brent Venables.

Oklahoma retained Isaiah Sategna — who caught 67 passes for 965 yards and eight touchdowns in 2025 — and also added former Power Four stars Trell Harris and Parker Livingstone from the transfer portal.

Sategna, Harris and Livingstone are expected to be the position group’s stars, but Venables believes those three won’t be the only contributors.

In fact, Venables sees true freshman Jayden Petit as someone who may contribute immediately.

“Coming off the scrimmage from a few days ago, made a couple of really nice competitive, tough plays in traffic, a lot of turbulence going on,” Venables said.

Petit is listed at 6-4 and 220 pounds on OU’s 2026 spring football roster. He was a consensus 4-star prospect in the Class of 2026 and flipped his commitment from Wisconsin to Oklahoma just a couple of days before Early National Signing Day.

As a senior at St. John Neumann (FL) High School, Petit logged 1,544 yards and 23 touchdowns on 69 receptions. He participated in the Navy All-American Bowl just days before enrolling at Oklahoma.

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When Petit signed his national letter of intent on Dec. 3, Venables knew that his team had added a special player.

“A guy that we had our sights set on for a long time,” Venables said at his signing day press conference. “Big, strong, athletic, amazing, not only in catch-radius but his strain at the top of the route. He's gonna be able to jump in right away and help make that position immediately better.”

Fast forward a couple of months, and it appears that Venables’ prediction of Petit’s instant impact was correct.

In a two-minute drill at Tuesday’s practice, Petit caught a touchdown pass from fellow true freshman Bowe Bentley.

“Finished with the second group, a two-minute drill and Bowe does a great job putting the ball right in the right spot and in tough traffic here in the end zone,” Venables said.

Petit is one of several wideouts who have turned heads within Oklahoma’s coaching staff during the first few weeks of spring ball.

Also on Tuesday, Venables praised wide receivers Mackenzie Alleyne and Manny Choice, both of whom will be sophomores in 2026. And in the first week of spring practice, Venables acknowledged Elijah Thomas’ development, saying he expects the sophomore wide receiver to have a larger offensive role in the fall.

Between Sategna, Harris and Livingstone, Oklahoma has one of the more proven starting receiver rotations in the SEC. And Venables believes that some of the youngsters — like Petit — in the position group can be impactful when September rolls around.

“Really excited about the young guys at that position,” Venables said.