How Oklahoma WR Coach Emmett Jones Has Handled a Wounded Position Group

Jones has had to navigate a year without his five best players most of the season, but he could be getting a talented duo back on Saturday.

Oklahoma WR coach Emmett Jones / Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Emmett Jones has sure had to earn his living as Oklahoma’s wide receivers coach this season. 

During Jones’ second season in the position, the Sooners have been without their initial top five receivers since Week 4. First, Jayden Gibson suffered a season-ending injury only weeks before the season kicked off. Nic Anderson has also been battling an injury since the preseason, and when he did finally get back out there Week 4 against Tennessee, Anderson played essentially one series before injuring his thigh and hasn’t been back since. 

Then, Jalil Farooq went down during the Sooners’ season opener against Temple, and Andrel Anthony hasn't featured much since the season-opener as he works back from the ACL injury that prematurely ended his season in 2023.

OU coach Brent Venables has not given a timeframe for Anthony’s return, but he does expect Farooq to be back soon since it’s been nine weeks and Farooq was initially expected to miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery on a broken foot. 

“He’s a great competitor, cares about this program, cares about his teammates,” Venables said of Farooq during Tuesday’s weekly press conference. “He feels like his mission, his journey is not over here at Oklahoma. He wants to have a legacy here. I think that’s important for Jalil. He’s had a lot of growth, development and transformation. He’ll be the first to tell you that since he’s been here. He loves to compete if you watch him play. If you never talked to him but watched how he plays, you would say a lot of those things. 

“A guy that cares a lot, plays with great toughness, an edge. He’s wide open, can do a lot as a receiver. Both explosively and can challenge you vertically in the touch game. We’ve missed that piece since he and Deion (Burks) have been out. I know he’s been working hard. I know he has high hopes to contribute quickly.”

With four receivers already sidelined after one game, Purdue transfer Deion Burks quickly emerged as OU’s top receiving option. He caught three touchdowns in his OU debut when Farooq and Anthony went down. In four games, Burks caught 26 passes for 201 yards, both of which led the team at that point. But Week 4 against Tennessee, Burks suffered a soft tissue injury and has been out ever since. 

“Kind of like our offensive line, the next group of guys who's going to be available for (Jones),” Venables said on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference. “He's done a great job from a mindset standpoint, from a development standpoint.” 

Jones has had to turn to young sophomores and true freshmen to step up and catch passes, even while OU was shuffling two other young guys at quarterback. Walk-on freshman Jacob Jordan has come out of nowhere since recording six receptions for 86 yards three games ago against South Carolina. He also caught his first career touchdown the next week against Ole Miss. 

Brenen Thompson, a junior who hadn’t started a game until this season, has had to help fill in for Burks. J.J. Hester, a redshirt senior with only one start before 2024, now leads the Sooners with 265 receiving yards. True freshmen Zion Ragins, Zion Kearney and Ivan Carreon have also had to play enough significant snaps this season they’ve burnt their redshirts. 

“He's done a really good job developing leadership, the toughness and just improving the guys with all the little things,” Venables said, “whether it's perimeter blocking that early in the year wasn't very good, and you have a bunch of young guys do it and how to do it with toughness and the precision that that requires and how to ID people and things change, and then getting the guys involved from an execution standpoint, throwing the football. 

“He's done a really good job, and they've taken on that personality of Coach Jones.”

Reinforcements could coming for the Sooners, though, before they play No. 24 Missouri at 6:45 p.m. Saturday. The first SEC availability report won't release until Wednesday night, but Venables and quarterback Jackson Arnold both sounded optimistic on Tuesday about Burks and Farooq returning against the Tigers.

So as Jones has quickly developed young talent and helped the offense survive without its best receivers, those receivers who have stepped up sooner than expected could now be united with the experience and talent they've been missing.

“We’re going into this week like, ‘Damn, we got two of our studs back at receiver,’” Arnold said. “We’ve had guys play great, but you get two leaders, two studs come back, it’s a big confidence booster for the offense.”