Oklahoma football: Enough about Bama’s NFL-ready WRs; OU’s are better
By Chip Rouse
Let’s get this straight right upfront: The fact the Oklahoma football offense has been the best in the nation each of the past two seasons is no fluke.
It’s because the Sooners have had the best quarterback in the country and surrounded him with arguably the best complement of talented offensive weapons found anywhere in college football.
Pass receiving is only a part of the offensive equation, but in Lincoln Riley’s four seasons as the chief architect of the Oklahoma offense, it has been the most potent part.
In an article earlier this week, ESPN staff writer Alex Scarborough posted an article titled “There’s no stopping Alabama’s ‘super fast’ receiving corps,” calling the Crimson Tide receivers this season the fastest and most talented under a single roof in college football.
Scarborough cites the statistic that Alabama’s top four returning receivers (juniors Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, DeVonta Smith and sophomore Jaylen Waddle) combined for a total of 3,597 receiving yards and 38 touchdowns last season. Those four players alone ranked in the top 70 of all Power Five teams in receiving yards a year ago.
That same combination of receivers is back for Alabama in 2019, along with Heisman Trophy runner-up quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, which is the prevailing reason Scarborough and several other college football analysts, like Phil Steele of the eponymous College Football Preview publication, calls the Crimson Tide as the top wide-receiver unit in the country this season.
“Alabama used to be a one-man show when it came to the receiver position,” writes Scarborough. “Now it’s difficult to settle on just one word to describe the receivers have become.
"“They’re not just fast. They’re super fast. They’re not just good; they’re super good.”"
When you go back and look at the NCAA team offensive statistics for last season, Alabama and Oklahoma rank right next to each other in several key passing and receiving categories. Alabama ranked sixth in total passing offense (323.6 yards per game); the Sooners were seventh, less than a yard behind (322.9).
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The same phenomenon holds true for passing yards per completion. OU averaged 16.50 yards per completion a year ago, fifth-best in the country; the Crimson Tide were one back, averaging 16.13 yards per catch.
And, yes, the two guys triggering those passes, Kyler Murray and Bama’s Tagovailoa, were two and one, respectively, nationally in passing efficiency (199.4 to 199.2).
O.K., I give you that Tua is back for what will likely be his final collegiate season, and Murray is off to the NFL. But don’t underestimate the ability and determination of Jalen Hurts, the quarterback Tua replaced in Tuscaloosa, at Oklahoma this season. Reports are the Alabama graduate transfer is throwing the ball as well as ever, and with high accuracy.
The Sooners did lose their leading receiver from last season, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown — selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft — the position that junior CeeDee Lamb now moves into. But he’s going to have lots of company.
OU’s strength at the wide receiver position is not limited to two or three super studs, but rather the incredible depth of talent available at the position. The Sooners make it difficult for opposing defenses to focus on just two or three primary receivers and take them out of the game.
Last season alone, 19 different players caught passes for Oklahoma, and that included seven different running backs. Sixteen of those players are back for the 2019 season and hungry as ever.
In addition to the returning receiver corps, Oklahoma adds three five-star prospects and a four-star tight end as part of the nation’s fifth-best 2019 recruiting class, according to Rivals.
Jadon Haselwood, out of Georgia, was considered by a number of experts to be the top receiving prospect in the 2019 class, Theo Wease, out of Allen, Texas, and the same high school that produced Kyler Murray, was the No. 3 wide receiver in the class. Another Texas native, Trejan Bridges, was ranked No. 4 in the 2019 wide-receiver class, and may prove to be the best of the three.
Oklahoma also added depth behind tight end Grant Calcaterra with the addition of four-star prospect Austin Stogner, from Plano, Texas.
There should be little question that the Sooners brought in the country’s No. 1 receiving class, and you can expect to see one or more of these freshman receivers early and often this season.
So as good as the Oklahoma receivers have been in recent seasons — with the likes of Dede Westbrook and “Hollywood” Brown emerging as national highlight reels — the 2019 receiver room may be the best ever assembled at Oklahoma.
When they prove it on the field this season, there should be a change of perspective nationally regarding which school is most deserving of the honor “best of the best” in the 2019 receivers category.