Oklahoma Sooners WR Corps Healthy, Refocused and Ready to Make ‘Miraculous Catches’
When Lincoln Riley called out his Oklahoma receiver corps last spring, maybe the most surprised person on the team was cornerback D.J. Graham.
“I was a little shocked,” Graham said Tuesday on a video press conference. “Because in practice, the dudes are making these miraculous catches, and OK, it didn’t translate on the field sometimes.”
Graham saw what Theo Wease and Marvin Mims and Jadon Haselwood and Drake Stoops and others could do — he tried his best to stop them from doing it on an almost daily basis.
But the Sooners leading all of college football last season in dropped passes (including nine touchdowns) was something that made Riley openly declare that the position at Oklahoma had higher standards and that he would demand more out of them.
“It was a little agitating,” Graham said, “like, ‘Dang, OK, they didn’t bring what they were doing in practice and didn’t implement it on the game field.’ ”
Wease and Mims were co-leaders on the team with just 37 receptions. While Mims was a more dangerous deep-ball threat, Wease become a reliable third-down option. Haselwood was coming back from an offseason knee injury. Now, it sounds like, everyone is healthy and everyone is refocused — especially after Riley’s pointed words.
Having Haselwood — a former 5-star recruit and No. 1 receiver prospect in the nation — healthy again should help. Haselwood said he just tried to stay engaged while rehabbing his knee. Even as the rest of the corps sometimes struggled, Haselwood tried to stay positive.
“That’s kind of toxic to just be like, ‘Dang if I was out there I would have did this,’ you know?” he said. “So I just pretty much encouraged everybody. But now that I am back and we got, I mean we’re loaded at receiver right now.
“The standard is there and we’re really close to it.”
Wease also said he’s 100 percent coming off an undisclosed offseason injury that cost him spring practice. Like Haselwood, he said Tuesday his injury situation gave him a different perspective on playing football.
“I definitely feel the best I’ve ever felt going into camp,” Wease said. “It was just God’s plan. He probably wanted me to sit down, focus on myself for a little bit, figure some things out.
“Maybe just coming off a season where maybe I didn’t play my best, and just take a (step) back and look at the big picture, not try to rush anything. It’s all in His plan and He’s gonna make everything happen when it’s supposed to happen. Just trusting His plan.”
Haselwood saw other qualities in Wease that weren’t necessarily evident before the injury.
“He was grinding, too, when he was hurt,” Haselwood said. “I mean, the rehab process always pulls something else out of you.”
Wease, Haselwood and the others heard Riley’s declarations that everyone had “a clean, blank slate,” and although they say it didn’t necessarily both them, it did make them take notice.
“I wouldn’t say … like, feeling any type of pressure,” Wease said. “At the end of the day, it’s just football. Go out there and do what we can do, do what we’ve been doing since we were little.
“But definitely, as a group, as a unit, we definitely wanna take strides. We say last year was a down year or whatever you wanna call it. We definitely expect to be better this year.”
They’re not the only ones.
“I expect them to come out this season, like, two at least 1,000-yard receivers,” Graham said. “There’s no reason (they can’t). Marvin Mims, he’s gonna do what he’s been doing. Theo Wease should have a huge, huge season. I’ve been playing with him forever, so I think I don’t expect anything (less) out of him like that. And also, Jadon Haselwood. He’s been working in practice really hard and I feel like if he can stay healthy, he can impact the team on a way positive note.”
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