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Oklahoma WR Drake Stoops a Finalist for Burlsworth Award

The trophy goes to the top college football player in the nation who began his career as a walk-on and is named for the late Arkansas Razorbacks legend.

John E. Hoover

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Oklahoma slot receiver Drake Stoops is a finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, which goes to the nation’s top college football player who began his career as a walk-on.

Stoops was a Burlsworth nominee in 2020 and 2022, and last week was named a semifinalist for this year’s award alongside James Madison noseguard James Carpenter and Missouri running back Cody Schrader.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has said, “You want to have a whole locker room full of guys like that.”

Stoops leads the Big 12 Conference with 62 receptions (for 692 yards) and nine touchdown catches, and has set career-highs for catches and yards in each of the Sooners’ last two games — 12 for 134 against Oklahoma State and 10 for 164 against West Virginia, His last game, a 59-20 win over the Mountaineers, included a career-best three TD catches.

During Venables' weekly press conference on Tuesday, OU spokesman Mike Houck interrupted to break the news that Stoops was one of three finalists.

"Anyone else get chill bumps?" Venables asked. "That’s cool, really cool. Congratulations, Drake.

"He’s been amazing. Oklahoma has been a benefactor of having Drake Stoops in that locker room. Drake would be the first to tell you that it’s been amazing to him. But I look at it another way. I think Oklahoma was lucky to have a guy like Drake Stoops be part of this program."

The sixth-year senior from Norman is OU’s most reliable pass catcher. He has multiple catches in every game this season, at least four receptions in nine contests and six or more catches five times.

Stoops has compiled 142 receptions, 1,606 yards and 16 touchdowns in his career. He is a four-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection and was a member of the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team in 2018.

The selection committee will announce the winner on Dec. 4.

The Burlsworth Trophy is named after former Arkansas offensive lineman Brandon Burlsworth, who walked onto the Razorbacks’ team, then worked his way into becoming a three-year starter, an All-SEC talent and eventually the 63rd pick in the NFL Draft. Burlsworth was tragically killed in 1999 in a car accident, just 11 days after he was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts.

OU is the only school with a multiple Burlsworth winner. Former Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield, who walked on at Texas Tech and at Oklahoma, took home the award in 2015 and 2016 before winning the Heisman Trophy in 2017.

There were 67 nominees for this year’s Burlsworth Trophy. 

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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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