Loss of Sterling Shepard Could Strengthen Sooners at Wide Receiver

For those Sooner fans who are concerned that the loss of Sterling Shepard will take a toll on Lincoln Riley’s Air Raid offense allow me to sway your glass-half-empty thinking into a glass half full of lemonade.

Shepard was one of the best in the business at hauling in passes: a possession receiver with speed, quick moves and Velcro for hands who could also take you deep in a heartbeat. No question he will be missed in the Sooner offense as he moves on to hopefully bigger and better things at the next level.

And it isn’t just Shepard that the Sooners need to replace in 2016, but also Durron Neal. Between them. Shepard and Neal accounted for almost 50 percent of Oklahoma’s receiving yards last season.

The 5-foot, 10-inch Shepard was quarterback Baker Mayfield’s primary target last season. And why wouldn’t he be? Shepard’s 86 receptions, a career high, were nearly double that of any other Sooner receiver. As such, the All-Big 12 first-teamer always drew the full attention of Oklahoma’s opponent and generally its best cornerback defender.

In contrast to a year ago, this season the Sooners will go more with a receiver-by-committee approach, looking for defensive mismatches and creating more deception as to Mayfield’s throwing options.

Between Dede Westbrook, Mark Andrews, Jarvis Baxter and relative newcomers A.D. Miller and Dahu Green, Oklahoma will not lack for talent, size and speed in the receiving corps in the coming season. Add to that Penn State-transfer Geno Lewis and junior Jeffery Mead, who showed quite a bit of promise in the latter stages last season, and the Sooners will be able to put plenty of receiving weapons on the field for the Big 12 Player of the Year and one of the country’s top quarterbacks in Mayfield.

Mead, at 6-foot, 5 inches, Green and Miller all stand 6-foot-3 or better and give the Sooners some size at the wide-receiver spot they haven’t had in recent seasons. Andrews, a tight end, also lists at 6-foot, 5 inches and had a terrific freshman season, hauling in 19 passes, seven of which went for touchdowns.

Westbrook, the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year in 2015, was OU’s second leading receiver a year ago with 46 receptions for 743 yards and four touchdowns. He will be counted on to have another big year in 2016.

And don’t forget about redshirt sophomore Joe Mixon, who was the Sooners’ No. 4 receiver a year ago with 28 catches for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Because he is such a threat running with the football, opposing defenses tend to forget about him on passing downs. And he has made teams pay quite a few times when they make that mistake.

Offensive coordinator Riley likes what he sees from the Oklahoma receivers coming into the 2016 season. He may not have that one standout star or game-changer like he had in Shepard, but he clearly has plenty of bullets to riddle and keep the chains moving with in the passing game.

Said Riley in an interview this week with Ryan Aber, OU beat writer for the Oklahoma City Oklahoman: “I don’t know that we will have one guy come in and do what (Shepard) did, but as a whole we feel we can be better (in 2016).”