Oklahoma Sooners hoping converted defensive back gives them spark at WR heading into Week 5 game against Auburn
It's no secret that injuries have decimated the Oklahoma Sooners' wide receiver room in 2024. Jayden Gibson was hurt before the season started and will miss the entire season, Jalil Farooq broke his foot after the first drive, and Nic Anderson missed the first three games of the year. Even depth players like Jaquaize Pettaway […]
It's no secret that injuries have decimated the Oklahoma Sooners' wide receiver room in 2024. Jayden Gibson was hurt before the season started and will miss the entire season, Jalil Farooq broke his foot after the first drive, and Nic Anderson missed the first three games of the year. Even depth players like Jaquaize Pettaway battled injuries throughout the summer and fall.
Against Tennessee, Anderson started the game but was quickly ruled out after he re-strained his quad. Deion Burks was bruised and battered and was seemingly fighting through an injury by the end of the game.
Now with Anderson's timetable and unknown and poor play from players like Brenen Thompson, the Oklahoma Sooners are turning to other positions to try and find a spark in their receiver corps.
According to George Stoia of On3's SoonerScoop, the Sooners are looking to move cornerback Jacobe Johnson over to wide receiver this week in practice ahead of their game against the Auburn Tigers.
"OU is looking for answers on offense and with the amount of injuries they've had at receiver, they are going to give Jacobe Johnson a look at receiver this week in practice. The staff met with Johnson and asked if he'd be willing to try it out this week and Johnson said yes, wanting to help the team in any way possible. That doesn't mean this is a permanent move for Johnson or that he will play receiver this Saturday at Auburn. But they are going to see if he can help them at receiver this week during practice.This is an experiment at this point in time and want to see if he can get up to speed playing receiver at this level and potentially help them the rest of the season. We don't want to speculate if this means anything on Nic Anderson's injury situation.
Johnson was a two-way player at Mustang High School, totaling over 1,200 all-purpose yards and 19 touchdowns as a receiver and returner. Johnson's listed size of 6'2, 202 pounds would give Oklahoma some much-needed size on the outside after spending much of the season starting the 5'8 170-pound Thompson and 5'8 150-pound Zion Ragins.
As Stoia reported, it's not confirmed if this change points to anything regarding Nic Anderson's status moving forward. This could be a plan to just get more out of a struggling unit whose depth has taken a beating in 2024.
The Sooners can afford to move Johnson to wide receiver, as their cornerback depth has played well this season. Johnson's playing time on defense diminished every week, playing just five snaps against Tennessee.
We'll see if this can help provide part of a solution for a poor Oklahoma offense in 2024.
