Oklahoma football spotlight: Freshman WR Nic Anderson

With a 22-member 2022 recruiting class and 13 more players picked up from the transfer portal, almost a third of the Oklahoma football roster for the coming season is made up of newcomers.

Periodically into the summer months, we will be introducing you to these new faces. Today we introduce incoming freshman wide receiver Nic Anderson, who comes to OU as the No. 36 WR prospect in the 2022 class, according to 247Sports.

Who is Nic Anderson?

Nic Anderson is a freshman WR at the University of Oklahoma. He was a four-star recruit in the 2022 recruiting cycle. Anderson chose Oklahoma over the likes of USC, Penn State, Notre Dame, Oregon and others.

As a high school junior, he helped Katy win a state championship in 6A Texas football. He was originally committed to Oregon before flipping to the Sooners in November 2021. He stayed strong with the Sooners after the departure of Lincoln Riley.  Former Oklahoma stand-out running back Rodney Anderson is his older brother. In many ways it could be argued the flip was inevitable whenever the previous staff began to recruit the talented pass catcher. Anderson was an early enrollee and participated in the Red-White spring game.

Oklahoma projections

The Oklahoma wide receiver room is extremely talented, but there is not a lot of depth, a ton of new faces and obviously a new offensive system. Anderson has a good chance to play early. He is already over 200 pounds and stands 6 feet, 2 inches.  He currently projects to play at the Z wide-receiver spot, putting him behind the likes of Jahlil Farooq, and Drake Stoops on the early depth chart. Anderson, however, can provide quality depth and snaps for the Sooners that could help him sprin board his future in a Sooner jersey.

Anderson shows some great body balance here, and breakaway speed:

Scouting

Anderson is a smooth athlete, who gets yards after the catch at a high level. He has tremendous football IQ, which helps him beat several coverages and techniques. He is very strong and lengthy, which helps him beat jams at the line of scrimmage. Anderson shows tremendous catch radius, and ball security in situations where the ball is thrown into traffic. He also shows plenty of ability to jump up and high point the ball. Solid athlete, plays multiple sports, including basketball and track.

Impact for Oklahoma

The Sooners need WR prospects more than arguably any other position during the 2022 cycle. Anderson has all of the size and athletic ability that you would want for his body type at the WR position.  The fact that he is a Sooner legacy is never a bad thing either, as the younger Anderson brother has a good idea of the expectations coming in. He stands to be a quality player with a bright future for the Sooners.

Here Anderson runs a strong route against zone coverage then runs away from the defense: