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Oklahoma football: Drake Stoops semifinalist for 2023 Burlsworth Trophy

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Drake Stoops (12) catches a pass beside Oklahoma State Cowboys safety Cameron Epps (7) during a Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. Oklahoma State won 27-24.
Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Drake Stoops (12) catches a pass beside Oklahoma State Cowboys safety Cameron Epps (7) during a Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. Oklahoma State won 27-24. /
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Most college football fans know very little, if anything, about the Burlsworth Trophy. Oklahoma football fans can tell you a thing or two about the award, though, because the Sooners have won a couple of them.

We’re at the point in the season when things start to fall into their natural order. And that goes for the legitimate contenders for national awards. The laundry list of names that show up every preseason for the national awards in college football gets pared down to a more realistic and most deserving list of candidates by this time in the season.

Sixth-year senior Drake Stoops is one of 10 semifinalist for the 2023 Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded every season to the most outstanding player in college football who began his career as a walk-on.

Oklahoma is intimately familiar with this award because former Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield won it in back-to-back years in 2015 and 2016.

The son of former OU head coach Bob Stoops began his career at Oklahoma in 2018, over the past six seasons, he has 132 catches for 1,442 yards and 13 touchdowns. The 2023 season has been his best so far with a team-high 52 catches for 528 yards and six touchdowns. Stoops is coming off of his best game as a collegian in the Sooners 27-24 loss to Oklahoma State last Saturday. He made 12 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown.

Stoops has proven to be more than just a solid, hard-working and dependable player for Oklahoma, he also has excelled in the classroom. He is a four-time Academic All-Big 12 First-Team selection and was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team in 2018.

On Nov. 14, the selection committee will pair the list down further and announce the three finalists for the 2023 Burlsworth Trophy. The winner will be revealed on Dec. 4.

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