Perhaps no player on the Oklahoma Sooners roster will benefit more from the change in offensive play caller than wide receiver Marvin Mims.
For the second season in a row, Mims led the Oklahoma Sooners in receiving yards, despite finishing fourth on the team in targets behind Jadon Haselwood, Michael Woods, and Mario Williams. Mims averaged 22 yards per reception last season and had huge days against Tulane, Texas, and Texas Tech.
Mims was incredibly underutilized down the stretch in 2021, receiving just eight targets the final three weeks of the season against Baylor, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State. Games in which the offense struggled for all or parts of those contests.
With a new play caller in Jeff Lebby and a believer in Brent Venables, Marvin Mims is about to take the college football world by storm.
Heading into year three with the Oklahoma Sooners, Marvin Mims has been named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list for 2022.
𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬!
Marvin Mims named to the @biletnikoffawrd Watch Listhttps://t.co/oiInJQpTMS@marvindmims | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/kqyj7OjcEI
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) July 21, 2022
Awarded annually since 1994, the only Oklahoma Sooner to take home the Biletnikoff was Dede Westbrook back in 2016.
Mims, who admitted he would have transferred had Lincoln Riley stayed in Norman, will get a new lease on life in an offense that feeds its number one wide receiver. Ole Miss’ No. 1 receiver in 2021, Dontario Drummond, received 94 targets. That’s more than double the number of targets Marvin Mims received last season.
Drummond also had the fifth-most snaps among Rebels last season with 902. Marvin Mims was ninth on the Sooners in snaps played with just 470, second to Jadon Haselwood among wide receivers.
If Drummond’s usage is any indication, then Mims is looking at his first 1,000-yard season with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2022. For the Sooners to get back to the top of the mountain in the Big 12 and into contention for the College Football Playoff, Mims will need to be the focal point of the Sooners’ passing attack.
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