OU Depth Chart: Who Emerges After All of Oklahoma's Turnover at Wide Receiver?

Whoever gets playing time at wide receiver for Oklahoma this year will have earned it.

The Sooners’ wideouts have been through some challenging times in the past 12 months, and the turnover at the position has been unprecedented — but not quite as unprecedented as the tragic run of season-ending injuries last year’s corps endured.

Top talent like Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony, Jalil Farooq, Jayden Gibson and Deion Burks each missed all or most of the 2024 season with various maladies. 

Now, in 2025, the transfer portal claimed most of those names as wideouts coach Emmett Jones has had to refresh nearly the entire room. 

Jones landed five transfers who coaches hope breath some energy into the group, and there’s some exciting young talent returning as well as OU tries to resurrect one of college football’s most anemic passing games from ’24 behind new quarterback John Mateer.

Javonnie Gibson (6-foot-3, 205 pounds), maybe the best of the bunch and the one who saw the most progress in spring practice, suffered a broken leg in April, but Brent Venables has said he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery. Gibson began his career at Division II Arkansas-Monticello and comes to Oklahoma from FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff after catching 70 passes for 1,215 yards and nine TDs last year.

Keontez Lewis (6-2, 185) showed explosiveness, speed and strong hands in spring practice. He began his career at UCLA, transferred to Wisconsin and then FCS Southern Illinois, where he caught 49 passes for 813 yards and five TDs in 2024.

Isaiah Sategna (5-11, 185) had a solid spring before what was termed a minor injury setback late. He comes to Norman after three years at Arkansas, where he caught 54 passes for 632 yards and three touchdowns in his career and last season became the Razorbacks’ No. 2 option.

Josiah Martin (5-11, 170) played in nine games as a freshman at Cal last season, catching 12 passes for 112 yards for the Bears.

After spring ball wrapped, Jones dipped into the portal one more time to bolster depth — and maybe replace Gibson — by bringing in 6-4, 190-pound Jer’Michael Carter from FCS McNeese State. Last year he caught 37 passes for 537 yards and three touchdowns.

That group has spent most of the offseason getting to know each other and the returning wideouts, as well as Mateer, who has been organizing summer throwing sessions to help build chemistry within the group.

Among the Sooners’ returning wideouts is a gamut of experience, big-play potential and youth.

Burks (5-11, 195), the former Purdue transfer, is back, although a myriad of injuries last year — from torn abdominal muscle to concussion — limited him to just five games (31 catches, 245 and three TDs, all in the season opener). He’ll need to prove to Jones that he can stay healthy for Mateer to truly count on him.

Jayden Gibson (6-5, 196) was recovering from a major knee injury suffered in 2024 training camp but last spring experienced what Venables called a setback and could miss 2025, too.

OU also brings back a handful of players who flashed promise as true freshmen last year: Ivan Carreon (6-6, 223), Zion Ragins (5-8, 150), Zion Kearney (6-1, 206) and Jacob Jordan (5-9, 186). 

Incoming freshmen Elijah Thomas (6-0, 185) and Manny Choice (6-4, 195) certainly could crack the rotation this year as well.