Oklahoma football spotlight: Freshman WR Jayden Gibson

Jayden Gibson changed course late in his 2022 recruitment, opting out of a pledge to Florida to become part of the Oklahoma football program under new head coach Brent Venables.

When Jeff Lebby took over as the new offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, he faced the predicament of rounding out a class on the offensive side of the ball, while seeing players like Jadon Haselwood and Mario Williams walk out the door and enter the transfer portal.

While there was a coaching transition in Norman, there was some elsewhere as well. The same thing was happening at Florida, where Billy Napier was taking over the Gators’ program for the fired Dan Mullen. One of the first things Napier did in assuming the role at Florida was to pay a visit to long-time QB commit Nick Evers.

In a surprise to many, the loyal Evers seemed to be spurned or undervalued by Napier which led to Evers pulling his pledge from the Gators, and subsequently his close friend and fellow Florida recruit followed suit.

Lebby and company were quick to pounce at the opportunity of Evers’ and Gibson’s new availability and quickly locked down the two blue-chippers.

Gibson is a 6-foot, 6-inch wide receiver from Winter Garden, Florida. According to Maxpreps, Gibson played in 13 games his senior year and caught 56 balls for 857 yards for West Orange High school. They went 11-2, and made it to the Florida 8A state semifinals. Jayden

Gibson was rated a four-star, according to all of the major wire services. 247Sports’ Andrew Ivans compared him to current Green Bay Packer, and former Iowa State Cyclone WR Allen Lazard, a player Sooner fans are all too familiar with from his college days.

When you watch Gibson’s game film you can see an athlete that can move and cut well, which is something you do not normally see from a player as lengthy as Gibson. He is very fluid, runs routes well, and can high point the ball and pull it in. He had many explosive plays at the high school level such as this:

In terms of fit, I could see Gibson playing a lot in the red-zone area to give QB Dillon Gabriel a big target. Jayden

Gibson caught 22 touchdown passes in his final two high school seasons. He is a bit lanky and could use the off-season program to put on some weight to his frame. He comes out of high school at 190 pounds. Generally, taller receivers are expected to be around the 220-pound range.  So a summer and fall camp with OUstrength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt should be just what the doctor ordered.

While this young man is very talented, I do not see him playing much early in his freshman year, because he will have to transform his body to the college game. With how thin Oklahoma is at the WR position, however, it isn’t crazy to think that he could contribute towards the middle or end of the season. or in special packages in scoring position.

Gibson appears to have a very likable personality, and was a very articulate young man, during the Under Armor All America week. He did a short interview, which can be seen here.

The freshman newcomer has a very bright career ahead at Oklahoma. We might even see flashes of that in a few weeks at the annual Red-White spring game.