It is no secret Oklahoma football is consistently among some of the best recruiting classes in the country. After losing many seasoned players to the NFL and COVID-19, the Sooners’ offense is younger than we have seen in the past. With a young team comes many concerns from fans and coaching staff alike. However, after the performance put on last weekend by multiple rookie players, the future’s looking bright for the Sooners.
As a whole, the new freshman class looks very promising. Two freshmen in particular who I see having a major impact on OU’s offense this year are Marvin Mims and Seth McGowan. If you haven’t heard those two names after last week’s game, you might be living under a rock. The performance put on by both McGowan and Mims looked like that of a seasoned college player.
Mims is from Frisco, Texas attending Lone Star High School before coming to OU. The four-star wide receiver made a name for himself at Oklahoma after his insane performance on special teams and at wide reciever last weekend.
Of course it is hard not to miss seeing CeeDee Lamb on special teams. However, Mims made it a whole lot easier to cope. Completing 68 yards on punt returns for the game, Mims proved right off the bat he is equipped for the Sooner offense.
Not only is Mims becoming a standout on special teams, he showed major promise at wide receiver. Scoring the second touchdown of the night, Mims met the end zone in true Sooner fashion after catching a beautifully thrown 58 yard throw from Rattler.
I am eager to see what else Mims has up his sleeve as we enter conference play.
The Sooners started their season off with a pretty depleted depth chart due to COVID-19 with 17 players in quarantine last weekend. One of those players was starting running back TJ Pledger. The concern of losing Pledger quickly faded the moment McGowan, a true freshman, took his first carry.
McGowan is from Mesquite, Texas attending Mesquite Poteet High School. Similar to Mims, McGowan came into OU as a four-star recruit, giving us a five-star performance.
Scoring the first touchdown of the Sooners’ season, it became clear pretty fast that the rookie will be capable of hanging with the all-star offense. Strutting into the end zone with ease, McGowan took the lead for the Sooners and never looked back.
Mcgowan has already racked up a total of 61 rushing yards for the season as well 37 receiving yards after scoring his second TD on the night.
Following last weekend’s performance, I have a strong feeling we will be seeing McGowan’s rushing numbers steadily increase in the coming weeks.
Overall, the show the rookies put on at Gaylord-Memorial Stadium sends a message to the rest of the Big 12 that they do not plan on giving up their reign any time soon.
