All Sooners

Oklahoma Starting 11: Wide Receiver Marvin Mims

SI Sooners Examines OU's Best and Brightest Players on the 2022 Roster Heading Into Spring Practice. Today: No. 3, Marvin Mims.

John E. Hoover

When Marvin Mims declared his intentions ahead of the Alamo Bowl, Brent Venables, Jeff Lebby and rest of the Oklahoma coaching staff collectively exhaled.

Still, Mims hedged his words, and so maybe his feelings.

“I definitely want to be here,” Mims told media assembled at the Alamodome.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later, when Mims’ dad, Marvin senior, posted on Twitter that Sooner Nation joined in the relief.

So the 5-foot-11, 177-pound Mims is back, and that’s a very good thing for the Oklahoma offense. His freshman and sophomore seasons, Mims was easily the Sooners’ best receiver, and emerged as one of the top talents in the Big 12 Conference — and one of the most dangerous downfield threats in the nation.

Earlier this month, wideouts coach Cale Gundy hinted there might be bigger things ahead.

“We feel very good with Marvin Mims,” Gundy said, “with the offseason he has had.”

Marvin Mims, Alamo Bowl
Daniel Dunn / USA TODAY Sports

Marvin Mims scores a 55-yard touchdown in the Alamo Bowl. 

Marvin Mims, Texas Tech Red Raiders
Kevin Jairaj / USA TODAY Sports

Despite not many catches, Mims was OU's most productive receiver in 2020-21.

Marvin Mims 3
John E. Hoover / SI Sooners

Mims averaged 22 yards per catch during the 2021 season.

Mims - TCU 2
Joshua R. Gateley / OU Athletics

In 2020, Mims set the Big 12 record for touchdown catches by a freshman with nine.

As a freshman, Mims earned Freshman All-America honors from the Football Writers Association of America and was voted second-team All-Big 12. He tied for the team lead with 37 receptions for a team-best 610 yards (16.5 yards per catch) and scored a Big 12 Conference freshman record nine touchdowns.

During his sophomore season, Mims was honorable mention All-Big 12 after catching 32 passes for 705 yards (22.0 yards per catch) and five TDs.

More Mims in 2022 would certainly serve Lebby’s offense well, so this is a big spring for Mims to pick up the playbook and build chemistry with new quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

A consensus 4-star prospect from Frisco, TX, was a priority recruit for the Sooners after setting Texas state records for career receiving yards (5,485) and single-season receiving yard (2,629).

As a high school senior, Mims caught 117 passes and scored 32 touchdowns, bringing his career total to more than 60.

Mims chose OU over Stanford but also had offers from Colorado, Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Wisconsin and others.

While the passing game has struggled at times over the past two seasons, Mims was productive but could have been utilized much more. Still, he played the good soldier.

Those days, however, may be over. To hear Gundy tell it, Mims isn’t all that quiet any more.

“He’s taken huge steps in being more of a vocal guy,” Gundy said.

Does that mean more throws in Mims’ direction for his junior season? Maybe. Maybe Lebby has been planning on just that — at least since the Alamo Bowl, when Mims caught just two passes but hauled in one of those for a 55-yard touchdown.

“You guys have seen he’s kind of calm and always has that smile on his face,” Gundy said. “He has really taken big steps in being a leader on this offense.”

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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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