Five Worst Things That Could Happen to OU Football in 2016
By Chip Rouse
Wide Receivers Fail to Show Up
With the exception of Sterling Shepard, the Oklahoma wide receivers were a generally maligned unit much of last season. Now Sterling is gone, along with No. 3 receiver Durron Neal. Those two accounted for almost 50 percent of the Sooners’ receiving yardage last season. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley is high on this year’s group of OU pass receivers, though, and believes it could be even better than last year’s team that included Shepard.
One premise for that thinking is that the speedy, sure-handed Shepard was always the obvious No. 1 target and, because of that, drew heavy defensive attention. This year the Sooners will be more of a receiver-by-committee look, making it difficult to key or any one or two individuals in the pass routes.
Riley’s Air Raid offense calls for a lot of designed pass plays, and this year will have an assortment of receiving targets for quarterback Baker Mayfield. Absent a go-to receiver like Shepard, however, it will be interesting to see who or how many of the returning receivers step up. Watch for Dede Westbrook, Penn State transfer Geno Lewis, AD Miller or even tight-end Mark Andrews to help bridge that gap.
If the Sooner receivers struggle and are victimized by too many dropped balls, and Oklahoma becomes too reliant on its power run game to keep the chains moving and the offense becomes too one-dimensional, the Sooners are apt to find themselves in more than a few close games that increase the odds of losing.
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