So here we are again. Talking about Oklahoma with a sense of déjà vu. Remember last year? Every week felt like opening a cursed email — another receiver down, another blow to the offense. Poor Brent Venables had to watch it keep growing and growing. Jayden Gibson, Andrel Anthony, Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, Deion Burks. No one was spared. But coming to 2025, just when it looked like the clouds were finally parting this spring, the storm’s back.
One of the biggest breakout stars of spring football, someone who’s been turning heads every single practice, went down. In a new On3 episode on April 13, J.D. PicKell dropped the concern saying “This was a freak injury from what I’ve been told. Sounds like he just got rolled up again. I don’t want to give any specifics because at the time of us recording this, we don’t really have a ton of concrete facts to go off of. The facts are significant leg injury, unsure of the timetable, we’ll see what happens.” Javonnie Gibson, the Arkansas-Pine Bluff transfer who was the Brent Venables’ hope for a revamped season, suffered a serious leg injury.
Nov 12, 2022; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables argues a call with an official during the first quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Yeah, the same Javonnie Gibson who torched defenses last year with 1,215 receiving yards and nine TDs for the Golden Lions. He came to Norman and instantly became that guy for the Sooners. Smooth routes, big catches, everyone was buzzing. Can we place hope on the silver lining that Brent Venables gave?
“I just saw him and he had a surgery a couple of days ago,” the HC said. “He got rolled up on in practice, unfortunately, but again, just if he stays on schedule, he’ll be back to start the season.” As PicKell added, “But you have the information now, we probably need to be aggressive at the receiver position in the transfer portal now.” So of course, that comes down to the Sooners’ new GM.
Jim Nagy’s got a big job ahead. With the spring portal opening on April 16, OU needs to act fast. And smart too. “You might need to be a little bit of an evaluation sicko in this one,” PicKell said. “You might need to go find that guy that not everybody’s talking about. Find a way to plug him in.” Because as it stands, even with Gibson possibly making it back, Brent Venables and co can’t afford another season like 2024. Remember, they ended with the 119th ranked passing offense. This time around, everyone has to do more and luckily, there’s a guy who thrives on carrying the load.
Can Brent Venables trust John Mateer to make a change?
The new QB in town. John Mateer didn’t come to OU to play it safe. “John Mateer came to Oklahoma with the decision to go and win a lot of games and put his name around that top tier in college football when it comes to quarterbacks,” PicKell said. “Great quarterbacks, they elevate everyone around them. They get more out of the receiver room. The running back room. It’s just going to take everybody else carrying it seems like a little bit extra of the load. The good news is that’s what John Mateer came to do.”
John Mateer was electric at Washington State last season — 3,139 passing yards, 826 rushing yards, and 44 total TDs. He was a finalist for the Manning Award, a do-it-all guy, a one-man wrecking crew kind of stuff. Yeah, the SEC is a different beast than the Wazzu schedule but he’s confident. “Winning games is the only goal,” he stated. “Winning games and doing it for the team; in turn, those things should happen. Because this offense should be pretty explosive.” And that’s what’s going to define this season.
This offense is going to need John Mateer’s magic. Whether it’s hitting the transfer portal jackpot or getting a breakout from a returning face, Brent Venables and the Sooners have no choice but to rally.
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