Oklahoma football: Friday will be Drake Stoops’ final game on Owen Field
By Chip Rouse
On Friday, Oklahoma football wide receiver and legacy Drake Stoops will play his final game at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
The sixth-year Sooner has played in in 60 games in his Oklahoma career and started in 29, including 11 this season. The 2023 season has by far been his most productive.
When the Sooners host TCU on Black Friday for an 11 a.m. kickoff, the son of former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops will be among a number of Sooner players honored on Senior Day even though he formally graduated several years ago with a degree in communication.
Over the past couple of seasons, the younger Stoops has become known as Mr. Reliable in Oklahoma’s high-powered offense, the go-to receiver in third- and fourth-down, must-yardage situations. Stoops in second in the Big 12 this season with 66 catches and No. 5 in the conference with 755 receiving yards. His nine touchdown catches are tied with OU teammate Nic Anderson and Adoni Mitchell of Texas for the most in the Big 12.
In back-to-back games this season against Oklahoma State and West Virginia, Stoops went over the 100-yard mark in receiving yards in a game for the first time in his career. He made 10 catches for a career-high 164 yards and three touchdowns in a win over West Virginia and caught 12 balls for 134 yards a week before in a loss at Oklahoma State.
Stoops might have had one more touchdown grab in the Oklahoma State game were it not for a blatant missed call for pass interference. Despite being pulled to the ground by the OSU defender while the ball was still in the air, Stoops still managed to make the catch, but was ruled out of bounds after being pulled down by the defensive player.
Stoops is one of the most popular players in the Oklahoma locker room and a team leader on and off the field. Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby speak highly of his coachability (probably helps to be a coach’s son), his work ethic and his determination to be the best he can be. He brings it every single practice and again on game days, Lebby has said numerous times this season.
“He’s just tough,” Venables said of his sixth-year wide receiver in a recent weekly press conference. “People say he’s a coach’s kid, but he’s a fantastic football player. I think that’s discrediting all the work Drake has put into his career, his instincts, his consistency and his ability to make plays.
“He’s special. Players love being around him. I’m really thankful for what he brings to the locker room every single day.”
You wouldn’t know it by the way he plays and what he contributes to this team, but Stoops walked on to the Oklahoma program as a freshman in 2018. In 2021, he was awarded a much-deserved scholarship. He is one of three finalists this season for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded every year to the most outstanding college football player who began his career as a walk-on. The other two finalists are RB Cody Schrader of Missouri and NG James Carpenter of James Madison.
Stoops ranks 17 in career receiving yards at Oklahoma with 1,669 and is currently 11th with 146 career receptions. With at least two more games to play, he could move up several more spots on the Sooner career leaderboard.
Stoops not only has been outstanding on the football field for Oklahoma, he also has excelled in the classroom. Throughout his OU career, the son of the winningest coach in Oklahoma football history has been an Academic All-Big 12 First-Team selection.
For the past 25 seasons, there has been a Stoops family member — both as a coach and player — directly associated with the Oklahoma football program. Issac Stoops, Bob’s other son and twin brother of Drake, also was involved with the Sooner football support staff for a while.
The Stoops active participation and involvement with OU football may be gone after Drake leaves the team, but you can be assured that the Stoops legacy and history with Sooner football will live on forever.