Injuries have created opportunity for young OU wide receivers to step up

The makeup of the Oklahoma wide receiver room has changed fairly dramatically in the past few weeks.

Injuries are going to happen in the game of football because of the violent nature of the sport. That's a given. How a team adjusts and overcomes those unplanned predicaments can be the difference between winning and losing, especially when the injury happens to key personnel.

To show how quickly things can change in college football, three weeks before the start of the season as preseason training camp was underway, Oklahoma was set to kickoff the season with the strongest and deepest receiving corps the team has had in a number of years. Now, one week into the new season, the Sooners are without three of their best wide receivers and with a fourth who is working his way back from a season-ending knee injury a year ago.

Jayden Gibson suffered a knee injury during training camp and is ruled out for the season. Redshirt sophomore Nic Anderson, one of the team's leading receivers last season is out with an undisclosed injury and did not play against Temple, and on the second play from scrimmage in the opening quarter of the Temple game, senior Jalil Farooq made a 36-yard catch and tacked on 11 more yards after the catch. Unfortunately, he suffered a foot injury on the play, which was later diagnosed as a fractured foot and will keep him out of action for six-to-eight weeks.

The wide receiver concerns amid the mounting injuries within that position group were among the subjects Brent Venables addressed on Tuesday in his weekly press conference ahead of the matchup with Houston.

Venables was asked specifically about Anderson's heath status and if he would be available to play against Houston. "Nic will be back sooner rather than later," was the OU head coach's nonspecific reply.

Without Gibson and Farooq for most is not all of the season, the Sooners lose over 1,000 receiving yards from a year ago, and without Anderson and Anthony, who caught one pass for four yards in the season opener with Temple and who the OU coaches are bringing back slowly, the team is without two of its top producers from last season.

Purdue transfer Deion Burks has emerged as the team's top receiving target, but as Venables noted, the Sooners need some of their young receivers to step up and contribute to avoid opposing defenses to key on and/or double team Burks.

Venables specifically mentioned sophomore Jaquaize Pettaway as one of the young receivers who could be asked to do more in view of the thinned-out wide-receiver group. Pettaway, who can play both in the slot and outside, played 11 snaps against Temple but did not have a reception. In nine games last season, he caught 11 passes for 70 yards.

"He's fast and he has a good catch radius," Venables said about Pettaway. "He's really an explosive player. He had a hamstring injury the last few weeks that just kind of kept him from being full speed."

The young receivers the Sooner head coach was referring to include true freshmen Zion Ragins, Ivan Carreon, KJ Daniels and Zion Kearney. Ragins and Carreon each saw action in the Temple game and caught one pass apiece.

Whoever it is from among the first- and second-year receivers that the Sooners turn to in the absence of Farooq and Gibson, they "are going to have to grow up quick," Venables said, with SEC play just a few weeks straight ahead.

"Saw them get better (against Temple," Venables said about the younger receivers. "Saw them at times play a little inconsistent. Sometimes it's mindset. Sometimes it's fundamentals. Sometimes it's just sense of urgency. But I love the group of guys. Coachable. Really talented. You got size, you got speed, you got length, you got a lot of things that you want, the the toughness, too."