The tight end position at Oklahoma has just as many, if not more, question marks than the wide receiver position. It’s been a productive position over the years, but there’s not a lot of production to bank on heading into 2023.
The Sooners lose [autotag]Brayden Willi[/autotag]s, who was the second-leading receiver on the team and one of the best players in 2022. He was selected in the seventh round by the San Francisco 49ers.
His leadership made him an invaluable player for the Oklahoma Sooners. Willis has a career year last season. He hadn’t previously eclipsed 200 yards receiving before going for over 500 in 2022.
It was his performance in 2022 that earned him a draftable grade. In addition to what he brings on the field, his leadership on and off will be missed.
On a positive note, Oklahoma sees a familiar face return in [autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag]. Without Stogner, tight end would be in a load of trouble.
Stogner brings experience, but his production hasn’t matched his talent yet. His best season was his sophomore year at Oklahoma when he had 422 yards and three touchdowns. Since then, he hasn’t reached 215 yards in a season.
The hope is Stogner will have a similar type of breakout that Willis experienced. The Sooners also return [autotag]Jason Llewellyn[/autotag] and [autotag]Kaden Helms[/autotag].
They don’t have a lot of experience. Neither played more than 40 snaps on offense for the Sooners in 2022. What’s going to limit their ability to take a step is that neither Llewellyn nor Helms participated in spring ball due to injury.
This room is going to really rely on Stogner to take a massive step like Willis did and hope missing spring ball didn’t hurt the growth of Helms or Llewellyn.
The Sooners did add someone to be Gabriel’s go-to guy on third downs and in the red zone, areas where Oklahoma struggled in 2022. Stogner has the talent to be a big-time receiving threat for the Oklahoma Sooners, but time is running out in his career to show it.
[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1366]
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.