Oklahoma football player profile: Sophomore WR Jalil Farooq

Oklahoma football has quite a few newcomers joining the roster this season, but we’ll also see more of some returning players we haven’t seen much of in prime roles previously.

Sophomore WR Jalil Farooq is one of those players we will be seeing much more of this fall. Farooq played a lot of special teams for Oklahoma last year but was able to play some on offense in Oklahoma’s Alamo Bowl victory over Oregon. He finished with three catches for 64 yards leading the team.

Farooq came to the university of Oklahoma in large part due to his relationship with former Oklahoma QB Caleb Williams, who recently transferred to USC joining his former coach, Lincoln Riley. In the days that followed the departures of both Riley and Williams the belief was that Farooq would follow them.

That ended up not being the case, however. Farooq stayed, and has been rewarded massively, as he has performed well in spring practices and is expected to be a major contributor to the 2022 Oklahoma offense under new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.

Farooq came out of high school as a four-star prospect from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Since coming to OU, he has drawn some comparisons to former Sooner standout Sterling Shepard as a reliable target anywhere on the field. Farooq split time at both RB and WR in high school, as he combined to have over 1,500 total yards and 22 touchdowns from scrimmage.

“Me and Caleb, as kids we played on the same little league team, so it was a dream come true to come to the same school,” Farooq said.

"“We narrowed our schools down. We always wanted to come to the same college. Unfortunately, things do happen. Life. We had to deal with adversity. He made his decision, I made mine.”"

Farooq is listed at 6-foot, 1 inch, 205 pounds. He has tremendous athletic ability and can really run in space after the catch as demonstrated by  big plays in the Alamo bowl against Oregon last season.

“I’m definitely putting my money in the Jalil Farooq stock,” OU WR Theo Wease explained to OU Daily. “He goes to work every day. Plays hard, finishes hard and he’s an all-around great person. I’m excited to see what he does this season.”

Sources say he has continued to make big plays for the Sooners in spring ball, as demonstrated by this particular highlight reel one-handed catch in the end zone:

Oklahoma appears to be in a great position at the WR position with Marvin Mims, and Wease returning, and Farooq’s offseason momentum. It will be interesting to see who gets the most touches of the trio.