The college football season isn’t even over yet, and an Oklahoma wide receiver is already headed toward the Transfer Portal.
OU head coach Brent Venables announced during Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference that receiver Jayden Gibson is no longer with the program, but Venables did not give any details on why. Gibson is also no longer listed on OU’s online roster.
Brent Venables announces Jayden Gibson no longer with Sooners
“Jayden’s no longer with the team,” Venables simply said.
Shortly after Venables’ announcement, Pete Nakos of On3 reported via X that Gibson is expected to enter the Transfer Portal. Gibson then responded to Nakos’ report, writing, “thank you ou.”
Gibson was one of the few receivers the Sooners actually kept around from last year’s roster. OU had six receivers head elsewhere during the winter transfer window, and all had previously contributed at some point.
Those exits left Deion Burks as the only scholarship receiver who wasn’t a freshman left to play in the Sooners’ bowl game. It also forced the Sooners to use the portal to add some experienced receivers for quarterback John Mateer to throw to.
Gibson, though, hadn’t even touched the field since 2023, when he had 14 catches for 375 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore. Gibson, listed at 6-foot-5, was then expected to be one of the Sooners’ top receivers last year, but a knee injury during fall camp ended Gibson’s season before it even kicked off. Injury setbacks then kept Gibson sidelined during OU’s first six games this season, too.
It could easily be chalked up as bad luck, but the Sooners continue to have talented receivers with promise go down with injuries that sideline them for extended time before they ultimately transfer. Now including Gibson, all seven of the receivers the Sooners lost within the past year to the portal missed most of, if not all of, their final season at OU with an injury before leaving.
Once rotten luck turns into an actual trend, it should be considered a real problem that needs to be fixed.