Why Oklahoma WR J.J. Hester, Finally Healthy, Has a Big Opportunity Ahead

Hester's first three years of college football have been stop-and-start, but the Tulsa native is hoping to make the most of last year's transfer from Missouri and a new position coach.

NORMAN — Maybe 2023 will finally be that fresh start that J.J. Hester has been looking for.

After two start-and-stop years at Missouri and another at Oklahoma, Hester has been at OU for about 10 months now. But a week into his first spring practice as a Sooner, Hester is taking small steps.

“It feels good to be back on the field,” Hester said after practice last week. “I just missed this. Missed the bond with my teammates. You don't really just get this feeling with nobody else. It's a great feeling. I just give all glory to God just to be back.”

At 6-foot-4 and 202 pounds, Hester has the frame and the length to contribute to OU’s young, inexperienced receiving corps — if he can stay healthy.

As the Tigers’ highest-rated recruit in the class of 2020 out of Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, OK, Hester’s career at Mizzou simply never took off.

He reportedly suffered a foot injury in 2020 and did not play in any games. He played in 13 games in 2021, with his first career start coming in Missouri’s bowl game against Army, but caught just 12 passes all season.

After transferring to OU, he played in the first three games of the 2022 season and caught a pass in the Week Two win over Kent State, but then suffered a leg injury that head coach Brent Venables said required surgery and kept him out the rest of the regular season.

“It was very tough,” he said. “Just dealing with an injury coming in, you know, expecting things. Everything doesn't turn out how it's supposed to be. So I just really kept my faith in everything that I was doing and I just got through and I prevailed with God.”

OU’s only two experienced wideouts in 2023 are fifth-year senior Drake Stoops and third-year sophomore Jalil Farooq. No one else has more than three catches in their career. With Marvin Mims in the NFL and Theo Wease transferred — to Missouri, actually — Hester may have an opportunity to have a big role in the offense.

“I believe so,” Hester said. “I just have to work for it at the end of the day. I've never promised myself anything. Everything comes from hard work.”

After arriving at OU last May, Hester was lauded by his offensive coordinator heading into fall camp.

Jeff Lebby called Hester a “really talented kid and a really raw kid that’s got great upside.”

Now it’s new receivers coach Emmett Jones who gets to mold Hester from a promising lump of clay. So far, Hester says the process of getting to know Jones “has been real great. He drops gems all the time. He's funny too sometimes. I like coach Jones. He just gives us wisdom and knowledge all the time, stuff that's relatable to us.”

As for tips from Jones on Hester’s game, Jones’ early evaluations started with some foundational items and have already produced results.

“I would say technique,” Hester said, “and he like, (nitpicks) at little bitty things that you really wouldn't see in your own game. He just helps us develop into whole receivers overall and I really like that about him.

“ … Just staying low, using my size always, not exposing the chest area. Just always playing at a great body level. … Pad level and stance as well. Those are two things he really emphasizes a lot, so, you know, I like him a lot.”

Jones has already imparted other “gems” that go beyond alignment and stance and pad level, Hester said.

“Yeah, he just says that when you're on the field, it's basically your job,” Hester said, “so take it serious every day and you'll get rewarded in the end.”

It’s that kind of detailed, motivational coaching that players want when they go off to play college football, and it’s what Hester signed up for when he exited the transfer portal and chose Oklahoma. In a short time, he’s built lasting relationships.

“It was like a brotherhood when I first came here,” Hester said. “I just felt the energy. Coach Venables had a lot to do with that as well. I just loved everything he preached about. I just knew he was a man that was really serious about everything that he said and it really meant something to me.”