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Official: Oklahoma Gets Two Receivers Back for Mizzou Game

After long absences, the Sooners bring Jalil Farooq and Deion Burks back to Jackson Arnold's receiving corps.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma wide receiver Deion Burks
Oklahoma wide receiver Deion Burks / John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI
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COLUMBIA, MO — Finally, they’re back.

Oklahoma officially will have two more weapons added to the offensive arsenal for tonight’s game at No. 24-ranked Missouri.

Wide receivers Jalil Farooq and Deion Burks are both off the pregame SEC Media Availability list, released 90 minutes before kickoff, giving the OU offense and quarterback Jackson Arnold two of his top weapons for the first time in almost two months.

Farooq, a senior from Lanham, MD, went into this season with 86 career catches for 1,229 yards and seven touchdowns, but he suffered a broken foot on the second play of the 2024 season, a 47-yard catch from Arnold.

Burks, a transfer from Purdue, had 55 career catches for 635 yards and seven TD catches before coming to OU and burst out in the Sooners’ spring game with two long touchdowns. Burks had 26 catches for 201 yards and three touchdowns before his injury against Tennessee.

Both players also are dressed out for the game and fully participated in all pregame warmups.

The Sooners and Tigers kick off at 6:45 p.m. OU is 5-4 overall and 1-4 in SEC play, while Mizzou is 6-2 and 2-2.

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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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