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WATCH: Oklahoma WR Deion Burks Shocks Brent Venables With Some Needed Good News

It seemed like Burks would follow many of his teammates to the transfer portal or maybe the NFL, but he stunned his coaches with a dramatic flip on Saturday.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma wide receiver Deion Burks
Oklahoma wide receiver Deion Burks / John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI
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If Oklahoma wide receiver Deion Burks’ football career doesn’t pan out, he might have a future in dramatic theater.

Burks shocked head coach Brent Venables, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and receivers coach Emmett Jones on Saturday when he met them in Venables’ office and — in dramatic fashion — informed them he would be returning for his senior year in 2025. He posted a video of the interaction on Twitter/X.

Burks, a transfer from Purdue and one of the Sooners’ most promising playmakers in last spring’s Red/White Game, sat out almost the entire season with a soft-tissue injury. Burks has eligibility left after missing all but five games this season. Venables had hinted that he expected Burks to leave for the NFL.

In the video, Burks greets the coaches in Venables’ office, then presents his head coach with his crimson No. 6 jersey. Venables humbly took it and said nobody wore it better — Burks interjected Baker Mayfield — and then extolled Burks’ many virtues and explained why he was such an asset to the program.

As they stood up to apparently part, Burks hugged Venables, smiled and said “I got one more thing though, man,” and unzipped his jacket, revealing a different OU jersey. “I ain’t gone yet. I’m switching that No. 4.”

As Venables, Arbuckle and Jones celebrated with high fives, Burks said, “I gotta do it one more time, man!”

After catching 63 passes for 804 yards and seven touchdowns in his first three years with the Boilermakers, Burks was expected to be a key playmaker for the Sooners’ rebuilt offense in 2024.

Instead, he played just four games, suffered an injury against Tennessee and sat out the next five games. He returned against Missouri, but suffered a concussion to end that loss.

For the season, Burks caught just 31 passes for 245 yards — just 7.9 yards per reception — and scored three touchdowns (all in the season opener against Temple).

In his college career, Burks has 1,049 yards on 94 receptions and has 10 touchdowns.

If healthy, his return next year could be huge for the Oklahoma offense as the Sooners rebuild again in Arbuckle’s first season as offensive coordinator. With Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony, Brenen Thompson, J.J. Hester and Jaquaize Pettaway all currently in the transfer portal, Jones’ OU receiver room has been stripped to the foundation. But Burks’ return would be a big step in the rebuild, especially if redshirt junior Jayden Gibson comes back next year.

The Sooners have lost 23 players this week to the transfer portal, so as players start transferring in, Burks' return could give the Sooners some needed momentum.

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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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