Young wide receivers standing out in Oklahoma Sooners spring practice

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The Oklahoma Sooners are working to build depth on both sides of the ball. Even though they've got one of the better projected starting wide receiver trios in college football in Trell Harris, Isaiah Sategna, and Parker Livingstone, the Sooners will need to find some depth this season that can take over in 2027 with Harris and Sategna off to the NFL.

This offseason is important in developing a room that has struggled to develop blue-chip talent in recent years. But with Harris and Livingstone missing time this spring, several players are earning opportunities to showcase their abilities. Meeting with the media on Tuesday evening, Brent Venables was asked about former three-star signee Manny Choice and Washington State tranfer Mackenzie Alleyne. He had positive things to say.

"Yeah, those two guys in particular had another really good day today," Venables said after practice. "And Mackenzie Alleyne is a really good football player. He knows how to play the game. He's tough, he's competitive. And, you know, Manny Choice is a guy we're really excited about. Again, a big, strong body guy that's athletic, he's wide open, plays with tremendous effort and strain. And it's got great, you know, awareness, understanding of how to play receiver, and still learning and growing in that space as well. And buddy, he's got a, again, a high, you know, give it crap meter, as we talked about before, both of those guys do, and they show up every day. And really competitive."

In a conference that deploys big, physical cornerbacks, the Sooners need answers at wide receiver that can battle on the outside and make contested catches over the middle of the field.

Choice, a redshirt freshman, went into spring ball at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds. With prototypical NFL size, all that Choice needs to do is display the playmaking prowess that intrigued the Oklahoma Sooners coming out of high school. With an opportunity to run with the first team offense, it sounds like he's doing just that.

Alleyne played sparingly for Washington State in 2025, playing just 127 snaps over 10 games for the Cougars. But he has an opportunity to earn more playing time in the Sooners wide receiver rotation.

Another player that's standing out in spring ball is true freshman wide receiver Jayden Petit. He was a late flip from Wisconsin in the 2026 recruiting class but has all the potential in the world to be a game-changer for the Sooners.

Venables added, "And Jayden Petit, another young guy that's really coming off the scrimmage from a few days ago, made a couple of really nice competitive, tough plays in traffic and lot of turbulence going on. And then finished with the second group a two minute drill. And Bowe (Bentley) does a great job of putting the ball right in the right spot and in tough traffic here in the end zone, to finish the two minute drill today. So really excited about the young guys at that position."

Oklahoma didn't have much beyond Sategna and Deion Burks last season. Keontez Lewis suffered multiple injuries and Javonnie Gibson never realized the potential he showed in spring ball due to injury.

Injuries are going to happen and the Sooners need to find guys who can step up and contribute when called upon. In spring ball, it seems like that's coming together for the Oklahoma offense.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Wide Receiver depth making an impression on Brent Venables

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