Oklahoma Position Preview: Wide Receiver

Typically, one workforce shedding 4 extremely touted large receivers in a single offseason could be trigger for panic.

However, the 2022 Oklahoma Sooners aren’t like most circumstances.

Regardless of second-leading receiver Mike Woods heading off to the NFL and former 5-stars Mario Williams and Jadon Haselwood together with former 4-star Cody Jackson all switch out of Norman for the reason that finish of final season, there isn’t a lot concern for OU within the depth of their receiving room.

The Sooners, even with all the losses, nonetheless return a great deal of expertise to their receiving corps and have made a number of additions to the place for brand new quarterback Dillon Gabriel to work with.

2022 Oklahoma Place Previews

No. 1 receiver Marvin Mims is again as soon as once more after there was some gentle concern he might look to switch elsewhere. As an alternative, he opted to return to Norman to play with Gabriel and below new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.

Mims caught 32 passes for 705 yards and 5 touchdowns final yr in a season the place most would take into account him underutilized. If given the targets he ought to garner along with his expertise, an enormous yr doubtless lies forward for the Texas native.

Additionally again is former 5-star Theo Wease, who seems to be to make a huge effect after lacking all however one play of the 2021 season because of harm.

When he’s on the sphere, Wease is dynamic and productive. In 11 video games in 2020, he caught 37 passes for 530 yards and 4 touchdowns as a real sophomore.

Pairing with Mims, Wease seems to be to create an explosive duo that might wreak havoc on Massive 12 secondaries in 2022.

The Sooners additionally return the manufacturing of Drake Stoops and Jalil Farooq, with each anticipating to see an uptick in utilization this season.

Stoops has confirmed a reliability that quarterbacks and coaches dream of with Farooq’s upside being arguably as excessive as any receiver on the workforce.

To not be neglected are budding returning skills Brian Darby and Trevon West, who’ve each proven a capability, when given the chance, to be playmakers.

With the receiver room having immense depth, it might be arduous for Darby and West to carve out lots of snaps in 2022. However the Sooners ought to believe they’ll get the job carried out as each have made issues occur earlier than.

However, regardless of having all this returning expertise, large receivers coach Cale Gundy and Oklahoma weren’t carried out making the unit one of many deepest on the workforce.

The Sooners as soon as once more raided the switch portal for key additions, with Missouri switch Javian Hester and Arizona State switch LV Bunkley-Shelton.

At 6-foot-3 and 202 kilos, Hester seems to be like a traditional Lebby large receiver along with his prolonged body and athleticism.

Without having fairly the identical dimension as Hester, Bunkley-Shelton’s capabilities will definitely be helpful in addition to he brings particular manufacturing with him to Norman.

As a redshirt freshman with the Solar Devils in 2021, Bunkley-Shelton caught 33 passes for 418 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Rounding out the brand new crop of wideouts is a dynamic duo of freshmen who look poised to change into stars sooner reasonably than later.

The 4-stars recruits, 6-5 Jayden Gibson and 6-2 Nic Anderson each have the scale and pure capability you simply can’t train.

Whereas they will not essentially be wanted to be an enormous a part of the offense in 2022, it wouldn’t shock anybody in the event that they labored themselves into the fold.

All in all, the large receiver room seems to be to be an space of nice power for the Sooners regardless of shedding three of their prime 4 yardage leaders from a yr in the past in Woods (400), Haselwood (399) and Williams (380) and a budding star in Jackson.

With the return of Mims and a wholesome Wease to guide the cost, Oklahoma seems to be to have a gaggle that might trigger nightmares for opposing defenses.

In Lebby’s high-tempo offense, the power to go deep into the bench to maintain guys recent will likely be extremely helpful as they hope to run a number of performs constantly with out subbing and permitting the protection an opportunity to breathe.

If all goes based on plan in 2022, Oklahoma must be all set in its receiving corps as Gabriel, Lebby and the new-look OU offense hope to make waves throughout the Massive 12 and school soccer.