Two Oklahoma Players Land FWAA Freshman All-America Accolades

Nic Anderson set a Big 12 record for freshman touchdown catches, while Cayden Green helped save the day against Texas before transferring to Missouri.
Two Oklahoma Players Land FWAA Freshman All-America Accolades
Two Oklahoma Players Land FWAA Freshman All-America Accolades /
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Two more Oklahoma rookies landed prestigious honors on Tuesday.

Wide receiver Nic Anderson and former OU offensive lineman Cayden Green were accorded Freshman All-America honors by the Football Writers Association of America.

The FWAA has selected a freshman All-America team every year since 2001.

This year’s team consists of 32 total players: 22 true freshmen and 10 redshirt freshmen.

Anderson, a 6-foot-4, 207-pound redshirt freshman from Katy, TX, set a Big 12 record this season for touchdown receptions by a freshman with 10, breaking Marvin Mims’ mark from three years ago.

Anderson, who also earned Freshman All-America accolades from The Athletic and was a semifinalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award, was honorable mention All-Big 12 in 2023 after playing in 12 games and making six starts.

On the season, Anderson caught 38 passes for 798 yards and 10 TDs. He also led the nation in yards per catch going into the Alamo Bowl and finished the season at No. 5 nationally with 21.0 yards per catch. He played 638 offensive snaps in 2023 and finished with a Pro Football Focus overall grade of 70.1.

Green, who left the Sooners and transferred to Missouri after just one year, emerged as a starter at left guard midway through the season, coming off the bench against Texas and locking down a starting spot, and helped solidify the OU ground game.

The 6-5,, 316-pound true freshman from Lee’s Summit, MO, played in 11 games and made five starts before leaving the team ahead of the Alamo Bowl.

Green graded out at 52 or better in nine of his 11 games, and was over 53 in each of his last four, according to Pro Football Focus. He played 568 total offensive snaps at OU in 2023.

OU is one of just six schools with multiple FWAA Freshman All-Americans.

Safety Peyton Bowen also was previously named Freshman All-American by The Athletic.



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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.