Oklahoma Spring Review: Wide Receiver Could Be a Make-Or-Break Position
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With spring practice in the past and the NCAA Transfer Portal spring window now closed, it’s the ideal time to assess the Oklahoma roster heading into summer.
AllSooners has compiled a 10-part series, position by position, reviewing the Sooners’ spring and where that position goes from here.
Wide Receiver
Oklahoma’s usually dynamic offense suffered a setback season last fall. When healthy, Jeff Lebby’s offense showed flashes of greatness but far too many inconsistencies to make serious progress.
The addition of Jackson Arnold and an offseason of improvement for Dillon Gabriel should make the wide receivers a better group in general. But plenty of the offense’s overall improvement and development will fall on the playmakers’ shoulders this fall — especially with Oklahoma’s top pass catcher now in the pros.
For More Spring Reviews
- Offensive Line Needs Numbers and Some Good Luck
- LBs Performed Well, But It's Clear More Depth is Needed
- RBs Had Some Setbacks, Some Growth
- Defensive Line Could Now be a Strength
- Depth at Safety Could Be a Point of Strength
The wide receiver room feels like it’s in a weird spot with unproven depth but loads of potential. And, the staff was determined to add talent through the late transfer portal window. The group now has plenty of potential difference makers.
Jalil Farooq and Drake Stoops are the two veterans in the group, each spending last season with Lebby and Gabriel. Stoops is a quarterback’s dream, sure-handed and a terrific blocker, and should fill into an expanded role in Oklahoma’s offense. Farooq on the other hand, is expected to break out as the Sooners’ No. 1 target and truly make a name for himself.
Stoops reeled in 39 catches for 393 yards and three touchdowns a season ago, always stepping up when the Sooners needed it most. His veteran leadership will be much needed in a group full of fresh faces and a calming presence for the entire offense.
Oklahoma’s new wide receivers coach Emmett Jones was thrilled to inherit a room with a leader like Stoops.
“I still got my guy Drake Stoops with me,” Jones said. “It’s another coach in the room. Does everything right. Practices his tail off. I was telling the room the other day: even when I was at KU, even when I was at Texas Tech watching film on the University of Oklahoma, I used to always ask my room why is this guy on the field for the University of Oklahoma with the type of receivers they have in the room? But being around him I see why now.
“He’s a true student. He’ll give you everything he got. And he’ll fight. I told the coaches — I will walk down any dark alley in South Dallas with him. Any dark alley. That’d be one of the first guys I grab to walk down that dark alley.”
Stoops will help complete the room, but Farooq can take the group to new levels. His flashes of talent, through the air and out of the backfield, became hard to ignore even as the Sooners’ second option. Farooq totaled 37 receptions for 466 yards and five touchdowns a season ago, and found 140 yards on the ground too. His ability to make plays as a Swiss Army Knife is indispensable in Oklahoma’s offense.
“Tough, skilled player, man,” Jones said. “Probably one of the best guys I’ve been around. He reminds me of Jakeem Grant, Keke Coutee, Andrew Parchment – a unique skillset. And he wants to be coached. He wants to be developed. He wants to be challenged. And I try to challenge those guys every day in the classroom, on the football field.
“And at the same time, I always tell them, ‘Do not let coach Jones get in your head. I’m your No. 1 fan.’ But my job is to see who I can go to war with every day. So I’m going to try to bring it to you as much as possible out here on this practice field. … It’s not how I say it, but what I’m saying. At the end of the day we’re all family. A big fraternity.”
If Farooq can step into a No. 1 role on the field, the wide receiver room should be in a good spot.
“I think we've created depth in there,” Lebby said after the spring game. “With a couple of guys who were out today, not having Nic (Anderson) and not having JJ (Hester) as we finished up. Again, we're sitting here with Jalil and Drake having the production coming back from last fall. But we've got guys in the room who are very capable. We're looking to add a couple more pieces to the puzzle as we get into this summer, and I'm excited about that part of it too.”
Of course, Oklahoma has a pair of highly touted 2022 signees ready to step up in Jayden Gibson and Anderson. Neither receiver found the field much last fall, but with a year of experience and more time in the weight room, it feels like it’s only a matter of time.
Both Gibson and Anderson were 4-star prospects and have great height and massive frames for wideouts. If they can produce, Gabriel will have big targets to throw to — and the speed is just a bonus.
Gibson dropped the game winning 2-point conversion in the spring game, but his potential is undeniable. His size and speed allows him to get open on any occasion.
“I’m just thankful that the coaches have continued to just allow me to become a better player,” Gibson said. “I feel like … the outer world ain’t seen nothing yet. I’m just working. Dirty hard work in the dark. To myself, I know I’m getting way better. Just whenever the opportunity comes for me to go out there and just be Jayden Gibson, I’ll jump at it and I won’t look back.”
Lebby wrapped up the spring by mentioning the need to add newcomers to the room, and Brenen Thompson committed soon after. The former Texas Longhorn could have an instant impact in Norman with his speed on the field. As a prospect, Thompson was a 4-star and the No. 22-rated receiver on 247 Sports. He was a top-150 recruit nationally.
Back in January, the Sooners added Michigan transfer Andrel Anthony, too, who had an impressive spring by all accounts. As a freshman in 2021, Anthony registered 12 catches for 248 yards and three touchdowns. Last year he caught seven for 80 and one score. His teammates have described his game as extremely fast, which could be just what Oklahoma needs.
“Andrel, he’s a burner,” fellow receiver Gavin Freeman said. “He’s insanely fast. So quick off the line. He’s just a burner. His brain, he’s smart, too, which helps his speed, and can just blow by everyone. We love him.”
Freeman had an impressive spring of his own, too, going from a walk-on to a scholarship contributor. He scored a touchdown on his first touch last fall and never looked back, making impressive plays all over the field.
Filling out the room, LV Bunkley-Shelton and Hester will be waiting in the wings for an opportunity, each bringing experience and repetition from other Division I schools. Bunkley-Shelton is an established route-runner that could end up seeing the field often.
“At wideout, they like that group of guys,” Venables said. “It’s a deeper group, a group of guys, got some young guys, old guys, between Farooq and Stoops, LV. And look outside, you got guys like JG, Anderson, those guys hav been really really good. Then you throw in the speed that Anthony can bring to the table, and he’s hungry and super coachable, that’s been fun to see that.
“And Freeman has been really outstanding, too. … So that group, between Freeman taking the next step and Andrel really been learning what we’re doing, and his speed has really been showing up.”
Former corner D.J. Graham’s move to wide receiver seems to be a successful experiment so far, too. He made multiple highlight plays in the spring game including two long catches where he had to track the ball down in the air. He could play his way onto the field at any point this season.
If it wasn’t clear before, Oklahoma has options. The bodies are there, and the talent is in the room, the coaches are just waiting for players to step up and take over the position.
“I love my classroom,” Jones said. “I love my classroom. I got all types of skillets. The good thing about it is we’re kind of young, too. Young. But eager to learn. Eager to gain experience. We got true slots. Small-type bodies. Guys that have grit.”
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