More former Oklahoma Sooners have found new homes via the transfer portal. As of Friday night, OU has added seven players in the portal but had 25 declare their intention to leave Norman to play elsewhere.
Jalil Farooq, who spent four seasons at Oklahoma, is transferring to Maryland. He was part of the 2021 recruiting class, the final one under former coach Lincoln Riley. He decided to stay a Sooner when Riley and quarterback Caleb Williams bolted for Southern California and play for new Sooners coach Brent Venables.
Farooq had productive seasons in 2022 and 2023 and was supposed to have another one in 2024. However, he broke his foot in the season-opener against Temple, and missed all but one game (Missouri) the rest of the year.
Fellow wide receiver Andrel Anthony hopped in the portal again. He played for the Michigan Wolverines before spending two seasons in Norman.
He was a breakout player for the first half of 2023 before tearing his ACL in the Texas win. That injury continues to affect him. He played in only the Temple game in 2024. He could never get healthy. Now, he’ll try to do so with the Duke. The Blue Devils are hoping he can be the deep threat he was for a handful of games in a Sooners jersey.
Farooq’s move to Maryland and Anthony’s move to Duke are the latest in a line of pass-catchers leaving OU this offseason. Nic Anderson (LSU), Brenen Thompson (Mississippi State), J.J. Hester (Kentucky), Jaquaize Pettaway (East Carolina) and Bauer Sharp (LSU) have new schools as well.
Oklahoma has added Javonnie Gibson (Arkansas Pine-Bluff), Keontez Lewis (Southern Illinois) and Isaiah Sategna (Arkansas) to the roster in an effort to replenish the wide receiver depth chart. The Sooners shouldn’t be done, but the returns of Deion Burks and Jayden Gibson will be a huge help as well.
