NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -One is a junior college transfer who earned accolades as a punter. Two missed significant time with knee injuries. One is a converted running back. The rest are simply unproven.
This is the corps of receivers No. 12 Oklahoma is calling on to replace a group that combined to catch 211 passes for more than 3,300 yards and 35 touchdowns last season.
To say the least, it’s a work in progress.
Considering the line of NFL receivers to come out of Norman in recent years, it’s easy to expect Oklahoma’s current crop of pass-catchers to become the next Mark Clayton, Brandon Jones, Malcolm Kelly and Juaquin Iglesias.
But it’s not so simple.
Through two weeks, the Sooners (1-1) are still waiting for their next receiving star to emerge. Ryan Broyles, the only returning starter from last year, dominated the passing game last week with seven catches for 155 yards and three touchdowns – all career-highs.
he other receivers combined, and he’s the only one to find the end zone with four TDs so far.
“We’re finding out about guys, but guys are going to have to step up and really perform with confidence. I think that’s the most important thing,” receivers coach Jay Norvell said. “We’ve got some guys that haven’t played a lot, they don’t have a lot of experience and you’ve got to have a little success sometimes to play with confidence.”
With Tulsa up next for the Sooners, the supporting cast for Broyles includes:
– Cameron Kenney, a Georgia native who transferred to the Sooners from Garden City (Kan.) Community College;
– seniors Brandon Caleb and Adron Tennell, who each came in with limited experience after missing time with knee injuries;
– Mossis Madu, a third-string tailback who was moved out wide for a chance at more playing time;
– sophomores Dejuan Miller and Jameel Owens, who played primarily during mop-up duty last season as freshmen; and
– Jaz Reynolds, a freshman from Texas.
So, who is quarterback Landry Jones banking on?
t now.”
Jones, who figures to be in charge of the Sooners for the next one to three weeks while Bradford recovers, downplayed the importance of a single receiver becoming a go-to guy after star tight end Jermaine Gresham was lost to season-ending knee surgery.
He’s going to go through his reads and throw to whoever is open, no matter who that is.
“Landry will not play well if he thinks he needs to throw the ball to one guy,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “He needs to take what’s there.”
After the season-opening loss to BYU, Sooners coach Bob Stoops called on the receivers to be more competitive when going for the ball and to quit breaking off their routes. And the coaches decided to rely on a proven commodity in Week 2.
Wilson and Stoops said Broyles’ big night against Idaho State was by design. They wanted to see if he’d be able to flourish as a featured receiver after playing more of a complementary role last year to Iglesias, Gresham and Manuel Johnson.
It also allowed the less experienced receivers another week to grasp the system as they try to claim bigger roles.
“There’s a little bit of growing up that you go through,” Wilson said. “The talent’s there, the preparation’s there, who they’re going against. Hopefully just with game time, they’ll gain confidence, have success and roll into becoming the players they’re capable of being.”
ntually expects about five receivers to earn spots in Oklahoma’s receiving rotation. But after two weeks, he thinks it’s too early to start worrying about who the primary targets will be.
“We played a game where our starting quarterback got hurt and we played another game in a driving rainstorm,” Norvell said. “We played good enough to win last week and we didn’t play good enough to win the first week. I think we all have to play a little bit better. I think we’ve got plenty of capable guys.”
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