Oklahoma
Why 2024 is an Important Season for Oklahoma State Wide Receiver Talyn Shettron
In 2021, former Edmond Santa Fe (OK) standout Talyn Shettron backed off of his pledge to Oklahoma and announced his commitment to Oklahoma State.
Landing Shettron was a huge victory for Mike Gundy and company on the recruiting trail, especially snatching an in-state prospect away from the Sooners.
Coming out of high school, Shettron was rated the No. 126 overall prospect and No. 19 wide receiver in the nation, making him a big addition to the Cowboys roster. In his first two years on campus, however, the 4-star prospect has yet to make much of an impact for the Pokes.
As a true freshman in 2022, Shettron played in four games, recording three catches for 31 yards and a touchdown. During his redshirt freshman season, the local product appeared in seven games, tallying six catches for 78 yards.
While it is hard for young receivers to earn time on the field early in their careers, Shettron’s size and athletic traits make him a candidate to crack OSU’s receiving rotation as a redshirt sophomore in 2024.
Brennan Presley and Rashod Owens return as the Cowboys’ two leading receivers, but Shettron will have an opportunity to see more snaps as the team’s third or fourth option. With solid speed at 6-foot-2, Shettron could become a big-play threat for Alan Bowman in Kasey Dunn’s offense if he has a strong showing in fall camp.
If Shettron is able to establish himself as a reliable receiver for the Pokes, he will have a chance to take over as the team’s No. 1 option once Presley and Owens collegiate careers end after the 2024 season.
With the potential for a breakout year from Shettron and the Cowboys looking for a berth in the College Football Playoff, the upcoming season will be very important for the former 4-star recruit.
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Oklahoma
OKC’s Super Cao Nguyen gets Late Night shoutout from actor John Mulaney
Oklahoma City’s local food offerings took the national stage again thanks to a mention from a guest on “Late Night with Seth Myers.”
Emmy Award-winning actor, writer and comedian John Mulaney, brought up Oklahoma City’s Super Cao Nguyen market, 2668 N Military Ave, in the conversation during a segment with Myers.
Mulaney, who recently married Oklahoma-born actress Olivia Munn, was talking about his wife’s family and spending time with them. In particular, Mulaney highlighted interactions with his new mother-in-law,”Ms. Kim’s” family. Munn’s mother, Ms. Kim, who was in the audience at the time, is a Vietnamese woman of Chinese ancestry who emigrated to Oklahoma City following the Vietnam War.
“Marrying into a large Vietnamese family is one of the most fun things I’ve ever done,” Mulaney said.
He also spoke about members of Munn’s family having very specific “Vietnamese-Oklahoma accents,” before discussing the experience of visiting Asian markets, joking that at a certain age you think you’ve seen every fruit. But the actor, who is 41, said when he first went to an Asian supermarket at 39, he realized he was wrong.
More: OKC restaurants are taking drastic measures to survive. ‘There’s no going back’
“There are supermarkets like H-Mart and Super Cao Nguyen in Oklahoma City — Vietnamese market, have you been there? Super Cao Nguyen? It’s in Oklahoma City,” Mulaney said. “There’s fruits — jackfruit and durian — these look like Avatar fruits, they’re all new fruits.”
Ba Luong, one of the brothers who owns and operates Super Cao Nguyen, called the name drop, “surprising to say the least.”
“We are extremely grateful to be a part of this growing community for so many years,” Luong added.
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, also posted about the shout out on X, formerly Twitter. He posted a short snippet of the segment with the caption “Yes, John, we’ve all been.”
Oklahoma
In Jayden Gibson’s Absence, Oklahoma WR J.J. Hester is Primed to Play a ‘Real Role’
NORMAN — J.J. Hester’s patience has been tested at Oklahoma.
The Tulsa native transferred back to the Sooner State after two years at Missouri, but has spent the better part of two years on the training table rehabbing foot injuries at OU.
Injuries prevented Hester from building on his 12 catches for 225 yards and two scores in his redshirt freshman season at Missouri, but the time might finally be right for the 6-foot-4 receiver to make his mark for the Sooners.
“The only thing that’s held J.J. back is some injuries in his past,” OU coach Brent Venables said after practice on Tuesday. “He’s fought through that… He had a broken foot twice.”
Suddenly, Hester will have the opportunity to carve out a role in Emmett Jones’ receiver rotation.
Jayden Gibson’s season unfortunately came to an end with an injury he sustained in training camp, opening up a bundle of touches that the third-year player was expected to get this fall.
Andrel Anthony, OU’s breakout star from the first half of the 2023 season, is still working back from the knee injury that cost him the back half of the season, leaving Deion Burks, Jalil Farooq and Nic Anderson as the proven commodities on the outside for quarterback Jackson Arnold.
Finally back and healthy, Hester’s speed and large frame has him in position for a role in the offense when the Sooners kick off on Aug. 30 against Temple.
“I’m feeling 100 percent,” Hester said on Tuesday. “You know, it took me a while to get back to this, but overall it’s been going great, and I’m just blessed to get back on the field.”
Hester said he finally started to feel like his old self as spring football closed down a few months ago, which was cathartic after battling through the rehabilitation process.
“It took a toll on me, definitely, just the mental side of it,” Hester said. “Just coming in here, wanting to help the offense play and then getting injured, that was definitely unexpected. I just stayed close with family, friends and kept God close, and I was able to battle back and come back.”
Gibson, who is listed at 6-5, would have been a matchup nightmare for opposing secondaries.
Hester feels he’s built similarly, and that he’s a great option to slide in and post similar issues.
“[I’m] a big, physical, downfield threat with speed,” Hester said. “Able to use my body in multiple ways and just, you know, put the defense in a bind.”
The guys who go up against Hester every day in practice agree with the wide receiver’s assessment of his skillset.
“I’ve seen that ‘918 JJ’ that I’ve known since high school,” Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings said on Tuesday. “He is showing himself and back into his groove and showing everybody why he should be fighting for that starting spot.”
Venables is excited about Hester’s all-around game, as he thinks he can impact the game in multiple ways.
“He’s been fantastic,” Venables said. “He’s long, he’s really fast, he’s got a tremendous catch radius, he plays tough, blocks well and then he’s an excellent special teams player.
“So, again, his growth and development is exactly other than the injuries is exactly what we thought we could potentially get out of him. So he’s going to have a real role for us.”
Losing Gibson was a blow, but Hester is ready to slot in and take his opportunity this fall.
“I’m looking forward to making a big impact,” Hester said. “You know, when one man goes down, the next is up. That’s what our coach preaches a lot, and he has everybody ready to go if anybody goes down.”
Oklahoma
How Oklahoma Has Helped Out Its Young Starting QB, Jackson Arnold
During a time in college football when some programs have seven-year veterans at quarterback, the Sooners will be led by a sophomore with one full game of experience.
Jackson Arnold will be QB1 for Oklahoma this upcoming season. He started OU’s bowl game against Arizona and threw a pass in just four games last season, completing 44-of-69 with four touchdowns. He also threw three interceptions — all of which came in that lone start against Arizona.
And as he endures his own learning experiences of playing through a full Division I football schedule for the first time, Arnold will also guide the program into its own unknown, as OU enters its first season in the SEC.
“After that Arizona game, there was a lot of maturing and a lot of growing up that I had to do,” Arnold said at SEC Media Days. “Stepping into that QB1 role, I had to be a real leader for us, for our team, and just stepping into that role, I know I need to mature as a person, as a player too. And the person that I am now and the player that I am now has improved drastically from where I was in that bowl game.”
Although Arnold will eventually learn from experience throughout OU’s season, his teammates are trying to prepare their young quarterback before the Sooners even take the field in their season opener against Temple on Friday, Aug. 30. Help for the rookie quarterback has come through advice from those who already have that experience Arnold will soon gain, or as simple as trying to make sure Arnold has as much time as possible to make decisions from the pocket.
“He’s a dude,” tight end Jake Roberts said. “He can sling it, for sure. It’s been great working with him. Being a younger guy, too, I feel like I’m able to help him with some of the experience side of things, playing a lot of football. He’s got the talent, obviously, and I just try to help him out when I can, but he’s great. It’s been great working with him.”
This offseason, Roberts transferred to OU with exposure to 49 games in four seasons with now three different programs after joining the Sooners. More over, he started his career at North Texas, where he played under OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell, who was the Mean Green’s head coach at the time.
Roberts played under Littrell for three seasons, then left for Baylor when Littrell was fired and went to OU as an offensive analyst. Roberts started 22 games for Littrell after immediately seeing the field as a freshman in 2020, a year in which Arnold was still a sophomore backup down the road at Guyer High School in Denton, TX.
“That experience, you can tell Jake’s played ball,” Arnold said. “Alongside that, he’s played with Coach Littrell, too. He knows how Coach Littrell operates, what he wants in the offense. So going out and running it and executing those plays that he’s known how to do has been big for us. And even teaching those young guys how those plays are supposed to be run.”
Like Roberts, offensive lineman Febechi Nwaiwu also eventually followed Littrell from Denton to Norman. Nwaiwu was at UNT for three years before transferring this past offseason. He played for Littrell two of those seasons, however, he redshirted his first year on campus in 2021. Once he got on the field as a redshirt freshman, Nwaiwu was named a second-team Freshman All-American by The Athletic and third-team Freshman All-American by College Football News after starting 12 of 14 games. His production dipped last season with Littrell gone, starting seven games and missing two because of injury.
“We want all of our quarterbacks to feel like they’ve got all the time in the world, especially Jackson,” Nwaiwu said. “We want him to be back there and be able to set the ball down and take a drink if he has to. We want him to have all of his options available, whoever he wants to throw to. Just give him enough time to punch it in there.”
So far, Arnold has gotten by with a little help from his friends.
Already during fall camp, OU coach Brent Venables noted Arnold’s improved decision-making and running back Jovantae Barnes praised Arnold’s growth as a leader.
“Jackson understands better than anybody what goes into being a quarterback of a football team,” Venebles said, “of the locker room, the leader, the face, the responsibilities, the challenges.”
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