Oklahoma football: Future of two Sooner skill-position players in jeopardy

A week ago, it was reported by several media sources, including John Hoover of SI.com, that two Oklahoma football players were involved in a police incident regarding an alleged robbery attempt.

It was subsequently reported by the OU athletic department that the two unnamed players were suspended.

We now know that the two players are sophomore running back Seth McGowan and redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Trejan Bridges. Their identities were first reported by Carey Murdock of SoonerScoop.com.

The broader question, or course, is what the future may hold for the two players and whether this could mark the end of their time as members of the Oklahoma football team.

The Oklahoma athletic department has not really commented on the incident other than to issue a short boilerplate-type response following the initial report issued by the Norman police, stating:

“We are aware of a matter that may involve OU student athletes and are monitoring the situation closely. The student-athletes in question have been suspended pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation.”

Both Bridges and McGowan are considered to have high potential, although their appearances in games has been primarily in a backup capacity. They were both highly recruited, Bridges as a five-star prospect in the 2019 class — the same top-10 overall class that brought two other five-star receivers to Oklahoma, along with the No. 1 quarterback recruit Spencer Rattler. McGowan was rated four stars and was part of the Sooners’ 2020 class.

Bridges, out of Carrollton, Texas, played in13 games his freshman season and caught seven passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns. He was also tried for a few games at defensive back. Right before OU’s 2019 College Football Playoff game with No. 1 LSU, Bridges, along with two other teammates (RB Rhamondre Stevenson and DE Ronnie Perkins) failed a drug test and received a six-game suspension, which carried over to the 2020 season.

Bridges’ 2020 suspension, however, went beyond six games, for reasons that have yet to be publicly revealed. He was not cleared to play until right before the Big 12 Championship game. He saw action in the Sooners’ final two games last season, and his numbers were menial.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

Because of an injury to T.J. Pledger and the suspension for Stevenson, McGowan got the start at running back in Oklahoma’s first game last season. For the year, he finished with 58 carries for 370 yards and averaged 6.4 yards per carry. His best game was in the postseason against Florida in the Cotton Bowl Classic, where he had a 73-yard run and also caught three passes for 70 additional yards.

It is an unfortunate development for both the Oklahoma football program and for the two student-athletes involved. We will not know any more about their future status with the team until the investigation fully plays out and they are either cleared of their involvement in the alleged incident or formally charged.

If the police bring formal charges against one or both players, a legal course of action will ensue, which could take some time. Even if cleared of involvement, their future with the team is still uncertain.

In the case of Bridges, this would be viewed his second misstep as a member of the Oklahoma football team, which could affect any follow-up disciplinary action the team or university could take.

This clearly affects their participation in spring practice, which is currently in process and  concludes on Saturday with the annual Red-White Spring Game, which most definitely will put them behind and, should they be reinstated at some point, move them down on the depth chart.

The Sooners would undeniably be stronger and deeper with Bridges and McGowan on the roster, but the potential impact of not having one or both available for part or all of next season should be minimal.

Running back could have easily been a problem area with Stevenson having declared for the NFL Draft and Pledger leaving the program and transferring to Utah. But Kennedy Brooks, who led the Sooners, exceeding 1,000 rushing yards in both 2018 and 2019 but opted out of the 2020 season, is returning in 2021, and OU picked up former Tennessee running back Eric Gray, who led the Volunteers in rushing a year ago,  through the transfer portal.

Brooks and Gray are expected to be one and two, respectively, on the RB depth chart in the coming season. If anything, the run-game productivity should be greater than a year ago, with or without McGowan.

The Sooners will have one of the deepest and most talented receiver groups in the country entering the 2021 season. They lose Charleston Rambo to the transfer portal, but virtually everyone else is back and they add four-star recruits Jalil Farooq and Cody Jackson as well as Mario Williams, the top wide receiver in the 2021 class nationally.

So, again, having Trejan Bridges available is one more piece to an already deep receiving corps, but the stark reality is, not having him available does nothing to weaken OU’s passing offense. It only gives another talented receiver an opportunity to step up and log playing time that might not be available otherwise.

So, for now, the Oklahoma football preparation for next season continues to move forward on schedule. As for Bridges and McGowan, it’s wait and see.