Brent Venables Gives Update on Oklahoma's Injured Receivers

The Sooners were without Deion Burks and Jalil Farooq again against Alabama, but it's still uncertain if they will return this season.

Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Deion Burks / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As he’s had to do all season, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables updated the Sooners’ injury situation at wide receiver during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. 

The Sooners were without Jayden Gibson, Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony, Deion Burks and Jalil Farooq against Alabama on Saturday night. OU’s top five receivers have been out of the lineup most of the season – if not all – and Burks and Farooq seem to be the only ones with a chance to see the field again this year with a regular-season finale against LSU and a bowl game left. 

After transferring from Purdue, where he was the Boilermakers’ top receiver, Burks immediately emerged also as OU’s No. 1 pass catcher. He caught three touchdowns in his debut against Temple in the season opener. He led OU with 26 catches for 201 yards through the first four games of the season before getting injured against Tennessee. 

Then after missing five games, Burks returned against Missouri to catch five passes for 44 yards. But during the last drive of the game, Burks took a hard hit and was sidelined again against Alabama because of a concussion. And on the same night that Burks was injured again, his family’s home burned down. 

Venables was asked Tuesday about the chances of Burks returning to the field through the injury and tragedy. 

“It's still up in the air, and we'll see where he's at,” Venables said. “I think he had a history of concussions at Purdue, and so you keep track of all that, that history. It's a very delicate thing, but he's as tough as they come. I bragged on his toughness in the wintertime and how competitive and tough he's been since he's been here. He had a Grade 2 thigh contusion, a tear, confirmed by an MRI, so he was dealing with that, and he came back from that, and then was great.

"But all of that pales in comparison of what you go through as a family. I've never had that happen to me, but what they had to deal with, what they've had to overcome through that. And his family is still at a hotel and will be for the foreseeable future. 

“But he's been great. He really wants to get back, and he loves his team and has loved his opportunity.”

Even if Burks does get cleared this year and for the future, ever seeing him in a Crimson and Cream uniform again still isn’t certain. Burks, a redshirt junior, has been the best receiver on every college team he’s been on and will be draft eligible at the end of the season. 

“We'll see what the future holds, both this week and even after that,” Venables said. “He's a guy that's going to have to make some decisions. He can get drafted pretty high. I'm no draft expert, but I know receivers, a lot of receivers, are taken early in the first several rounds, and he's a guy that he definitely has an NFL (future) and, God willing, he has that in his future immediately, and so we'll see where that all lands. 

“But a lot of good players, and a lot of good players that have a history of tape too, that they can sell. And certainly he has that a little bit here and certainly at Purdue. But we're there for him to support him and help him. And if he comes back, it's because we've done it all, dot the I's and crossed the T's, from a health standpoint. And those are nothing – the concussions are nothing to play around with.” 

Farooq also returned alongside Burks against Missouri after being sidelined since breaking his foot in the season opener. Farooq caught two passes and tallied 11 receiving yards, but was again injured and missed Saturday night’s game. 

“He had a little bit of a setback at Missouri,” Venables said. “X-rays showed a little bit of a setback there. So really just kind of unfortunate. (Tight end) Jake Roberts, he had the same (or) similar type of injury, and he's come back and had a great year. And so everybody's a little bit different.” 

Like Burks, Farooq’s return is also uncertain, possibly leaving the Sooners without their top five receivers the rest of the way. That number could grow to six if Brenen Thompson is unable to return from his ankle injury against Alabama on Saturday night.

The SEC will release OU’s first availability report on Wednesday evening for the first news of Burks and Farooq’s status for Saturday against LSU.