So here we are again. Talking about Oklahoma with a sense of déjà vu. Remember last year? Every week felt like opening a cursed email—another receiver down, another blow to the offense. Poor Brent Venables had to watch it keep growing and growing. Jayden Gibson, Andrel Anthony, Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, Deion Burks… No one was spared. But coming to 2025, just when it looked like the clouds were finally parting this spring, the storm’s back. 

One of the biggest breakout stars of spring football, someone who’s been turning heads every single practice, went down. In a new On3 episode on April 13, J.D. PicKell dropped the concern, saying, “This was a freak injury from what I’ve been told. Sounds like he just got rolled up again. I don’t want to give any specifics because at the time of us recording this, we don’t really have a ton of concrete facts to go off of. The facts are significant leg injury, unsure of the timetable, we’ll see what happens.”

Javonnie Gibson, the Arkansas-Pine Bluff transfer who was the Brent Venables’ hope for a revamped season, suffered a serious leg injury. 

Yeah, the same Gibson who earned second-team FCS All-American honors last season. He torched defenses last year with 70 receptions for 1,215 yards and 9 touchdowns for the Golden Lions. Standing at 6-foot-2, Gibson is known for his speed and his talent for stretching the field vertically—a dimension the Sooners lacked the previous year. Upon arriving in Norman, he immediately filled that void for Oklahoma. His smooth routes and significant catches instantly made him that guy for the Sooners.

PicKell noted, “There was conversation around him being the best playmaker for Oklahoma throughout Spring practice.” However, he also pointed out a crucial difference between the current situation and last season. “The difference though where Oklahoma is right now, compared to where they were in in the season last year when the Oklahoma injury bug was just running right in the receivers room, you have a chance now to approach the portal with this information that Javonnie Gibson may or may not be available for a certain period of time in 2025.” But can we find hope in the positive outlook that Brent Venables offered? 

“I just saw him and he had a surgery a couple of days ago,” the HC said. “He got rolled up on in practice, unfortunately, but again, just if he stays on schedule, he’ll be back to start the season.” As PicKell added, “But you have the information now, we probably need to be aggressive at the receiver position in the transfer portal now.” So of course, that comes down to the Sooners’ new GM.

Jim Nagy’s got a big job ahead. With the spring portal opening on April 16, OU needs to act fast. And smart too. “You might need to be a little bit of an evaluation sicko in this one,” PicKell said. “You might need to go find that guy that not everybody’s talking about. Find a way to plug him in.” Because as it stands, even with Gibson possibly making it back, Brent Venables and Co. can’t afford another season like 2024. Remember, they ended with the 119th-ranked passing offense. This time around, everyone has to do more, and luckily, there’s a guy who thrives on carrying the load. 

Can Brent Venables trust John Mateer to make a change?

The new QB in town. John Mateer didn’t come to OU to play it safe. “John Mateer came to Oklahoma with the decision to go and win a lot of games and put his name around that top tier in college football when it comes to quarterbacks,” PicKell said. “Great quarterbacks, they elevate everyone around them. They get more out of the receiver room. The running back room. It’s just going to take everybody else carrying it seems like a little bit extra of the load. The good news is that’s what John Mateer came to do.”

John Mateer was electric at Washington State last season—3,139 passing yards, 826 rushing yards, and 44 total TDs. He was a finalist for the Manning Award, a do-it-all guy, a one-man wrecking crew kind of stuff. Yeah, the SEC is a different beast than the Wazzu schedule, but he’s confident. “Winning games is the only goal,” he stated. “Winning games and doing it for the team; in turn, those things should happen. Because this offense should be pretty explosive.” And that’s what’s going to define this season. 

This offense is going to need John Mateer’s magic. Whether it’s hitting the transfer portal jackpot or getting a breakout from a returning face, Brent Venables and the Sooners have no choice but to rally.