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Report: Oklahoma Loses Young WR to Transfer Portal

Jaquaize Pettaway, a high school All-American from Houston, caught 16 passes for 157 yards in his OU career.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma receiver Jaquaize Pettaway
Oklahoma receiver Jaquaize Pettaway / Nathan J. Fish-Imagn Images
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The NCAA Transfer Portal doesn’t open until next week, but Oklahoma has suffered its first casualty of 2024.

Jaquaize Pettaway, a sophomore from Houston, will reportedly enter the portal, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Pettaway was an Under Armour All-American and a top 100 recruit, but his career never got going in Norman. If he leaves, he’ll do so with 16 career receptions for 157 yards and zero touchdowns. Pettaway also had one rushing attempt for 10 yards.

The 5-foot-10, 194-pound Pettaway was the Sooners’ only wide receiver in the 2023 recruiting class. His career actually got off to a nice start in 2023 as he led the Sooners with nine catches for 56 yards in the blowout win over Arkansas State. But he caught just two more passes the rest of the year.

It seemed his fate was set, however, when Emmett Jones’ receiver room suffered injury after injury this season and Pettaway was only called on once as a replacement: a career-high 79 yards on three catches. He seemed to have developed a rapport with backup QB Michael Hawkins, who came in to rally the Sooners to two fourth quarter touchdowns, but Pettaway’s playing time diminished and he eventually fell out of the rotation completely.

Pettaway played 127 snaps this season, but only 91 on offense. As a true freshman, he played just 92 total snaps, including 64 on offense.

This year’s transfer portal window opens Dec. 9 and closes on Dec. 28. The spring window opens in April.

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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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