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2020 Position Preview: Wide Receiver

Even with CeeDee Lamb gone, there's a lot of talent coming up. But there's even more question marks about the Sooners receiving corps in 2020.

John E. Hoover

Charleston Rambo
Charleston Rambo / Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Every Friday going into Big 12 Media Days on July 20-21, SI Sooners will break down one Oklahoma position group. Today: Wide receiver.

Everyone knows Oklahoma will miss Ceedee Lamb. In three seasons, Lamb became a Sooner All-American, ranks among the school’s leaders in virtually every receiving category and turned himself into a first-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys.

But in 2020, as Lincoln Riley breaks in yet another new quarterback, the Sooners also will miss established role players like Lee Morris and Nick Basquine.

Outshined in their careers by the brilliant star power of Lamb, Marquise Brown and Dede Westbrook, Morris and Basquine combined for 87 receptions for 1,522 yards and 14 touchdowns.

This OU team could use that kind of production, and certainly that kind of experience and consistency.

Charleston Rambo is currently Oklahoma’s most experienced receiver with 51 career receptions for 868 yards and six touchdowns. Most of Rambo’s numbers came last year, when he caught 43 passes for 743 yards and five TDs as a complement to Lamb.

Now, however, Rambo might be the go-to guy on a receiver corps with more questions than answers.

  • Can former 5-star prospect Jadon Haselwood bounce back from an offseason ACL injury?
  • Can UCLA grad transfer Theo Howard return from a winter Achilles’ injury?
  • Will Trejan Bridges’ NCAA suspension for a positive drug test be repealed, or will the former 5-star prospect sit out the first five games of the season?
  • Can grad transfer Obi Obialo contribute on the Big 12 level after catching 81 passes for 998 yards and four touchdowns at Marshall (before a 2019 foot injury)?
  • Is Marvin Mims — the most prolific receiver in the history of Texas high school football — ready to play college football right away?
  • Is former 5-star prospect Theo Wease ready to deliver a breakout sophomore season?
  • Will Drake Stoops continue to be a crowd favorite at the end of games, or is he ready to become a consistent weapon in Lincoln Riley’s offense?

Rambo should be the first name that opposing defensive coordinators find. He’s been on their radar since Kyler Murray escaped the rush and floated a 49-yard touchdown pass to Rambo against Alabama in the 2018-19 Orange Bowl. He finished that night with a season-high three catches and 74 yards, and his performance portended great things ahead.

WR Depth Chart

Last year Rambo broke out early but then leveled off. He caught three passes for 105 yards and a touchdown in the season-opener against Houston, then caught five passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns at UCLA. In Week 4, Rambo caught two passes for 122 yards, and he added four catches for 71 yards and a score against West Virginia and four for 82 in the loss at Kansas State. Then in the final three games of the season, Rambo caught just five passes for 42 yards and did not score.

Can Rambo be the next Sooner great? He’ll have to prove it first.

Two potential starters are currently coming off major injuries: Haselwood, one of last year’s three 5-star prospects, injured his knee in what Lincoln Riley called a non-football injury, and Howard, the UCLA transfer, is rehabbing what has been reported as a torn Achilles’ tendon from January.

It’s believed Howard could be on the field by September although it could also be after that. Riley said in May that he’s hoping Haselwood could play later in the season as well.

Theo Howard
Theo Howard / Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

“He’ll miss some of the early part of the season and we’ll have to see how the rest of it, how he responds and how he comes back from that before we know anything further,” Riley said. “It’s not football related, non-workout related. Kind of a freak accident at home, basically.”

Haselwood played in 10 games last season and was fifth on the team with 19 catches for 272 yards and one touchdown (against South Dakota).

Obialo could emerge as a pleasant surprise. He caught 45 passes two years ago for the Thundering Herd, but then played in just four games last season and took a redshirt after a foot injury sidelined him. He still caught 18 passes in those four games, and if he catches on to Riley’s system, he has the experience and ability to be a reliable playmaker.

Bridges’ situation also is somewhat cloudy. Oklahoma is appealing his suspension with the NCAA Riley has said repeatedly that it hasn’t been decided yet. But the NCAA’s legislative calendar to hear such appeals has been reduced by the Coronavirus pandemic shutdown. So the plan now is for Bridges to be available at midseason.

Theo Wease
Theo Wease / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

All the uncertainty could provide a huge opportunity for Wease, who caught just eight passes for 136 yards last season but delivered a massive touchdown in the comeback victory at Baylor.

Wease is fast and has good hands, but he showed power and elusiveness on both of his touchdowns. Against USD, Wease caught a pass over the middle and broke six tackles on his way to the end zone.

In Waco, Wease caught a short pass on the sideline and evaded four tacklers for the score.

Mims caught 215 passes for 4,828 yards scored 57 touchdowns in his career at Lone Star High School in Frisco, TX. That included a senior season in which he had 114 receptions for 2,626 yards and 31 TDs. He set new standards for single-season and career numbers, and in Riley’s offense, the 5-foot-11, 174-pound Mims could be the next big thing.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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