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Oklahoma WR Jalil Farooq Wins National Award

The Sooners' dynamic and versatile junior wideout leads the team in all-purpose yards, including 180 and several clutch receptions on Saturday against Texas.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma WR Jalil Farooq Wins National Award
Oklahoma WR Jalil Farooq Wins National Award

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma wide receiver Jalil Farooq is this week’s winner of the Paul Hornung Award National Player of the Week.

The Hornung Award goes to “outstanding performances by versatile college football players who often go unnoticed” and is often associated with all-purpose excellence in multiple categories, including special teams.

On Saturday against Texas, Farooq — a junior from Lanham, MD — delivered 130 yards receiving, 13 yards rushing and 37 yards on kickoff returns, accounting for a game-high 180 all-purpose yards in the Sooners’ riveting 34-30 victory over their arch rival.

Farooq touched the ball 10 times three different ways and also accounted for six first downs. Five of Farooq’s first downs came on pass receptions, four were instrumental in Sooner scoring drives, including a 16-yard catch into Texas territory with 1:02 remaining that led to the winning touchdown. He carried the ball three times and returned two kickoffs.

Farooq is currently third on the team with 20 receptions and second with 415 receiving yards and leads the Sooners with 661 all-purpose yards. He will likely see an increased workload in the passing game with Monday’s news that Michigan transfer Andrel Anthony was lost for the season with a leg injury.

The Louisville Sports Commission began the Paul Hornung Award in 2010 to honor its namesake and native son. A national selection committee comprised of 17 sports journalists and former NFL stars votes for the Hornung Award finalists and the winner.

Other finalists this week were Oregon State’s Silas Bolden, Buffalo’s Ron Cook, Jr., and UCLA’s Keegan Jones.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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