Why Oklahoma's Wide Receiver Corps Expects Big Days, Big Numbers Ahead

NORMAN — That Oklahoma’s leading receiver each of the last two years had less than 40 receptions doesn’t cloud the coaching staff’s vision for what they expect to be a wildly productive group in 2022.

“I think in this system, we’re going to have a chance for several guys to have a lot of catches,” receivers coach Cale Gundy said. “If we do our job as an offense and coaches and players, we’re going to have multiple guys with a higher number of catches than we’ve had around here in awhile.”

That’s good news for a ballyhooed receiver room that hasn’t been nearly as productive as it was promising.

Marvin Mims set every record there was as a high schooler in Texas, and Theo Wease was a 5-star prospect, but neither has had a statistical breakout season yet. They tied for the team lead with 37 catches in 2020, and while Wease missed all of 2021 with a foot injury, Mims was tied for third with 32 grabs.

While Drake Stoops had 16 catches and Cody Jackson had five and Jalil Farooq had four and names like Brian Darby and Trevon West delivered a handful of big plays, OU’s passing game in Lincoln Riley’s final season often went through the fullbacks (Jeremiah Hall had 32 grabs), tight ends (Brayden Willis and Austin Stogner combined for 29) and running backs (Eric Gray and Kennedy Brooks combined for 32).

At the almost halfway point of spring practice everyone — including Gundy — is still picking up the finer points of Jeff Lebby’s offense. But Gundy is confident that the talent in the receiver corps will emerge as the players settle into their roles.

With dynamic, explosive talent like this, OU quarterbacks should be confident in feeding the football to them over and over again.

“Right now, the ceiling’s pretty high for the receiver room,” Mims said. “I feel like we have a pretty good group of guys in me, Drake and Theo kind of leading everything, just because we’ve done it for multiple years. And even with Theo being out last year, the things he’s done, you can’t just put that aside.”

Marvin Mims led Oklahoma in receiving yards the last two years.

It’s an age-old question in offensive football: is it better to have a go-to guy, one target who leads the team in receptions and yards and touchdowns like a Mark Clayton or Ryan Broyles or Dede Westbrook? Or is it better to have a handful of players with similar numbers because everyone has a chance on any given play to be a game-breaker?

“This system’s not just built to throw to one person every single time,” Gundy said. “That’s the beauty of it. The ball’s going to be spread around to a lot of playmakers.

Theo Wease delivered impact plays his first two seasons at OU.

“Obviously, as the quarterback, you’ll get in situations where you start to get comfortable with some guys and maybe have a little bit tighter trust with some guys here and there. They may get a few more balls than the other guys. But we’re going to have a good five, six strong receivers that are going to be able to go out there because of the way we’re playing and our offense. I think we’ll have guys with a lot of receptions.”

Drake Stoops emerged as a Sooners walk-on and now is a veteran leader.

While Gundy was quick to praise incoming freshman Jayden Gibson in the early stages of spring, this group will be “player-led,” Lebby said, and that means leadership from veteran players who have been there and done that. That means Wease, Mims and Stoops.

“From a unit standpoint, we want guys that can bring other guys along with them, every single day,” Lebby said. “ … We’ve got older guys that have some ability to coach other people, and we expect that from those guys every single day. I think the more you do that, the better it is. Everybody’s got great knowledge of what we’re doing. Being Year 1, those older guys have really taken to it and done a good job with it.”

Finally healthy for the Alamo Bowl, Jalil Farooq had 64 yards receiving.

“I don’t necessarily think there’s pressure,” Stoops said. “I’ve kind of stepped into that leadership role over the past couple of years just with my play and my voice in the locker room and bringing guys with me. I definitely think it’s important for me to step up in that leadership role in being one of the older guys in the room. It’s teaching the younger guys the routes and bringing them along, showing them the way we do things and stuff like that.”

Players and coaches alike describe how Lebby’s up-tempo system will — or could — mean more offensive reps for everyone.

“I don’t know if I’d say more reps,” Mims said. “Just because (with the) tempo, there’s been a couple times where, especially on film, you catch the defense off guard and you might have a free touchdown or something like that. So there’s no telling what the tempo’s gonna do, but it definitely wears down on the defense.”

“It's fast,” Wease said. “It's definitely fast, and we're definitely going to be well in shape.”

There are so many x-factors that go into turning a talented receiver corps into a productive receiver corps. Good health is the most important thing. Effective play-calling and game-planning helps. Efficient quarterback play is huge. OU misfired at times in all three areas last year.

In addition to Wease missing the whole year, Farooq — who didn’t play his senior year as his school district shut down sports for COVID — had to overcome early health issues. Jackson played in just two games as he battled a serious illness.

And of course, the whole drama with Riley over the second half of the season and the change in quarterbacks from Spencer Rattler to Caleb Williams didn’t help stabilize the play of the wideouts.

Wease even tested the waters in the NCAA Transfer Portal, but said he never wanted to leave and was only looking at his options. Now he’s one of the leaders of the group.

“It’s the experience part of it,” Lebby said. “You gotta live it. You can’t buy it. You have to live experience. He’s gotten that. He’s had a bunch of good, he’s had some bad. So he’s at this point right now, we’re judging him on today. And going to judge him on tomorrow and what he’s done since we’ve been here.”

“Everyone takes different paths,” Stoops said. “I’m definitely thrilled that he’s here with us now and he’s going to have a chance to play ball again. At the end of the day, that’s what we all to do. You hate to see one of your good friends – he’s more than a teammate; we’re like a family – it hurts to see a brother missing games and practices due to injury. I’m just thrilled to have him back this season.”

Wease’s return was a huge boost for Gundy’s group. Having Jackson healthy will be big. And considering his lack of action over the last two years, everyone says Farooq is having an incredible spring so far.

“I’m definitely putting my money into Jalil Farooq stock,” Wease said. “He goes to work every day, he plays hard, he thinks hard and he's just an all-around great person. I'm excited to see what he does this season.”

Farooq played in just seven games and caught one pass for 5 yards, then in the bowl game victory over Oregon hauled in three receptions and exploded for 64 yards. He said he’s been riding that positive momentum ever since — which is big because he’d been out for so long.

“It was very tough on me,” Farooq said, “especially coming from high school, being the guy, coming to college, having to deal with adversity. … I came late, came off of injury, too. I was taking it slow to catch on.”

Things are “different,” now, too, Mims said, because Lebby doesn’t divvy up the coaching between inside receivers and outside receivers. Now Gundy has them all, and at times, the room can seem crowded and the instruction can seem “kind of like everywhere,” Mims said.

“But it’s not really that much of a big deal,” Mims said. “I mean, in the slot right now, you’ve got me and Drake, and we’ve been doing it forever, building off each other and stuff. And outside, you have Theo and Jalil, and Jalil’s still growing into that role, but Theo’s been out there. I feel like we have a good coaches — like, player-coaches.”

Gundy, Lebby and new quarterback Dillon Gabriel need not overthink things. All things being equal, Mims figures to be the player most likely to emerge as the alpha this season. In two seasons, he has 69 catches for 1,315 yards and 14 touchdowns. In his career, he’s averaging 19.1 yards per catch.

“We want to get the ball to whoever’s open, whoever gives us a chance to score touchdowns and play the fastest we possibly can,” Gundy said. “Again, if you focus on just one guy, then the defense is going to focus on one guy.

“Obviously, Marvin’s a very talented receiver and, like I said, I think we’re going to have a few receivers that are going to have a lot of receptions in this offense.”

“The way this offense is going,” Mims said, “how fast we’re playing, how it looks, there’s mismatches all over the field. You know what I mean? Anybody could do something one game or the other. That’s kind of the thing with this offense, just the freedom with it. I feel like it complements different people, and some people can move around anywhere and just exploit different areas.”