Just Now: Sooner Football Adds In Another Top Strong Elite Player….
The league released its list of 2024 NFL Scouting Combine invitees on Tuesday, with three former Oklahoma football players earning a bid. However, not among the 321 players sent an invite to showcase their talents is former Sooners standout and near 1,000-yard receiver Drake Stoops.
The league sent 39 wide receivers an NFL Scouting Combine invite, including stars like Texas’ Xavier Worthy, Florida State’s Keon Coleman, and Oregon’s Troy Franklin, among others. However, several players with fewer stats received a bid over Stoops.
Drake Stoops, the son of former head coach Bob Stoops, arrived in Norman as a preferred walk-on for the 2018 season. After two low-production seasons, he carved out a complimentary role for quarterback Spencer Rattler during the 2020 campaign. He caught 15 passes for 219 yards and two scores before posting similar stats in 2021. Stoops elevated his play in 2022, his first with gunslinger Dillon Gabriel at the helm. The five-foot-ten, 190-pound wideout snagged 39 passes for 393 yards and three touchdowns.
Stoops posted career numbers in 2023, his final with Oklahoma football. The Norman native registered 84 receptions, 962 yards, and ten touchdowns. He eclipsed 100 yards receiving in three of his last five games, including posting a ten-catch, 164-yard game against the West Virginia Mountaineers. He scored thrice.
Despite a standout season, the 2024 Senior Bowl did not invite Stoops to their annual showcase. He instead played in the Shrine Bowl, where he earned high praise from multiple media outlets for displaying elite route running ability during one-on-one drills and team practice.
Oklahoma Football: Offensive Line Representing Program at NFL Scouting Combine
The offensive line trio of Tyler Guyton, Andrew Raym, and Walter Rouse will represent the Sooners during this year’s NFL Scouting Combine. Guyton shinned during the Senior Bowl while allowing zero sacks on 335 pass-blocking snaps in 2023. Guyton is projected as a first-round selection in April’s draft. Meanwhile, Raym and Rouse started alongside Guyton on the offensive line. Raym, a second-team All-Big 12 honoree, started ten games at center, while Rouse started all 12 games at left tackle, earning All-Big 12 honorable mention.
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It was the lone coaching position we did not receive consistent news about; however, information came on Monday about a former Big 12 assistant leaving his program to join Kalen DeBoer’s staff for the Crimson Tide. Parker Thune, who covers the Oklahoma Sooners for Rivals, reported that Jay Nunez is leaving Oklahoma to be Alabama’s special teams coordinator.
Before arriving in the Big 12, he served as a special teams coach, assistant head coach, defensive tackles coach, co-recruiting coordinator, and tight ends coach at Eastern Michigan University from 2017 to 2021. Nunez operated special teams at Southern Illinois University in 2016 and was a quality control assistant for special teams at the University of Minnesota from 2011 to 2015.
He has had success at each coaching stop, but it will be interesting to see what Nunez does for the Tide.
