Dede Westbrook’s Career Day Earns Him Big 12 Player of the Week Honors
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma wide receiver Dede Westbrook is the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.
With offensive records falling all over the place in Oklahoma’s win over Texas over the weekend, it was hard not to select a Sooner as the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week.
The honor could have gone to any one of three Oklahoma players, but it is hard to dispute the incredible stat line that Westbrook put up on Saturday in the Sooners big win over Texas in this year’s Red River Showdown.
The senior from Cameron, Texas, caught 10 passes in his second and final Red River rivalry game for a career high and Oklahoma school-record 232 yards and three long touchdown catches. All three numbers were career highs for Westbrook, who came to the Sooners in 2015 from Blinn Community College in Brenham, Texas.
His three touchdown receptions on Saturday went for 71, 42 and 47 yards.
Westbrook broke the 100-yard receiving level only once last season, when he caught five passes for 107 yards against West Virginia in his fourth game as a Sooner.
His previous high in both receptions and receiving yards in a single game while at Oklahoma was just a week earlier, when the 6-foot, 175 wide receiver hauled in seven passes for 158 yards in Oklahoma’s 52-46 win at TCU.
In his last two games alone, Westbrook has 17 combined catches for 390 yards and five touchdowns. A couple of pretty good days at the office.
According to the latest Big 12 stats for the 2016 football season, Westbrook leads the conference in receptions (8.5 per game), receiving yards (195.0 per game, all-purpose yards (197 per game) and scoring (15.0 points per game).
Westbrook is the second Oklahoma Sooner to be named a Big 12 Player of the Week this season and the first on offense. Austin Seibert was named Special Teams Player of the Week a week ago.
In addition to Westbrook, OU’s Samaje Perine and Baker Mayfield also had outstanding offensive performances over the weekend. Perine gained 214 yards rushing on a career-high 35 carries against Texas, and Mayfield completed 21 of 32 passes for an Oklahoma record 390 passing yards against the Longhorns in the all-time series.