Oklahoma football: Best thing I saw in Bedlam
By Chip Rouse
On the second Oklahoma football play of the game and 2nd-and-10 from the Sooner 25-yard line, quarterback Dillon Gabriel took the no-huddle snap from center in the shotgun formation and fired a pass to senior wide receiver Drake Stoops in the flat for a 13-yard pickup and a first down.
That reception was the first of four Stoops would make in the opening quarter on his way to a career-best five in the first half and six for the game in Oklahoma’s 28-13 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Later in the Sooners’ first possession, the son of legendary head coach Bob Stoops, caught a 33-yard pass that set up OU at the Oklahoma State two-yard line. On the next play, Gabriel scored on a two-yard keeper to give Oklahoma a 7-0 lead.
The 33-yard reception was the young Stoops’ longest of the season and the second longest of his career. He had a 51-yard reception against Kansas State in his redshirt sophomore season.
On Oklahoma’s sixth possession of the first quarter, Stoops was on the receiving end of a 23-yard touchdown pass from Gabriel, his third of the season. That reception, which wasn’t an easy one as Stoops caught the ball while falling backwards at the back of the end zone, put the Sooners up 28-0 with a minute still remaining in the opening quarter.
Stoops finished Saturday’s Bedlam game with six receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown. He was OU’s leading receiver in the win over the in-state rival Cowboys and Gabriel’s top target in the game with 10.
For the 2022 season, Stoops has 31 catches for 311 yards, an average of 10.0 yards per catch. He also has gained 48 yards on the ground on eight rushing attempts.
It has been an up-and-down 2022 season for the Sooners in Brent Venables first year on the job, but one consistent throughout has been play of his fifth-year senior wide receiver.
"“You want to have a full locker room of guys like that, just young people of excellence,” Venables said recently. “Obviously you want as many guys like that as you can, you hope other people learn from him.”"
Stoops not only has been a steady performer on the field, he also has earned high honors in the classroom as well. Multiple times in his OU career he has been named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team.
"“I think people are contagious,” Venables said, “so having a bunch of guys like that who know how to work, how to respond, how to show up with the right attitude every day…Drake has certainly been a great example of that.”"
Stoops walked on to the OU football program in 2018 as a three-star prospect out of Norman North High School. He played in two games that season and became the first Oklahoma true freshman to make a reception in a season opener. Stoops was awarded for his hard work and the example he was setting with a scholarship after the spring game in 2021.
Over the next five seasons and 46 games, Stoops has 72 receptions for 832 yards and seven touchdown catches.