Lincoln Riley raving about freshman WR Jalil Farooq

Oklahoma freshman wide receiver Jalil Farooq has been impressing his teammates and coaches early on in fall camp. What did head coach Lincoln Riley have to say about him? He met with the media on Tuesday, here are some of his thoughts below.

Riley was very impressed with how hard Farooq has worked to get healthy over the summer after battling back from a hamstring injury.

“Honestly, he had a tough summer,” Riley said. “You know, he didn’t play, and then he played an all-star game right before he came up here and had a pretty substantial hamstring injury coming in here, and so he was limited.”

Riley talked about how it was a really tough summer for the former four-star prospect, because he wasn’t in shape and had never been on Oklahoma’s campus until this summer.

“And so it was a tough summer for him. It was good for him. He needed it, but wasn’t in shape, wasn’t healthy. He was one of the guys in the class that we had never met until the day he got here. I mean, so he had a lot of stuff working against him.”

Riley went on to discuss how he thinks Farooq could be an impact player for the Sooners on offense, potentially during the 2021 season.

“But I give the kid a lot of credit. He’s done a nice job this camp. He’s gotten himself in shape. He’s a playmaker with the ball in his hands. He’s made a lot of big plays so far in camp. He’s still learning a lot and still certainly in the early stages, but there’s a lot to like, a lot of bright spots. So, I think he’s a guy that you could potentially see [this year].

The Sooners’ head coach simply couldn’t stop raving about his freshman receiver and his tremendous potential on the gridiron for Oklahoma.

“Obviously, his career goes on, but even within the season. I mean, he’s going to get better and better, and I think the longer it goes on, the more he settles in, he’ll have a real chance to contribute, because he has [some tools]. Especially for a guy we never saw in person, you kind of say, ‘What’s this guy going to be like walking in the door?’ And we’ve been excited by what we’ve seen so far in camp.”

Farooq was a former four-star recruit coming out of Dr. Henry Wise High School (Upper Marlboro, Maryland). He was rated as the 238th overall prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, according to On3.com. Farooq chose Oklahoma over Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, and many others. He was one of the most highly coveted receiver prospects in the 2021 recruiting class and had 29 total scholarship offers.

JOINING HIS CHILDHOOD FRIEND AT OKLAHOMA

Farooq joined his childhood friend at Oklahoma, fellow class of 2021 commitment Caleb Williams. Williams played quarterback at Gonzaga High School in Washington, DC. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound signal-caller was rated as the top overall prospect in the class of 2021, according to On3.com. Farooq and Williams played football together in the 7th and 8th grade, according to SI Sooners.

“My relationship with Caleb — we grew up together, basically,” Farooq told SI Sooners. “We had a great bond. He played QB, I played running back, so that’s always a good relationship.”

ANOTHER FRESHMAN PHENOM AT WIDE RECEIVER

Another freshman receiver at Oklahoma has that’s expected to make an impact this year is Mario Williams, the 74th overall rated prospect in On3’s 2021 prospect rankings. Williams is from Plant City High School (Plant City, Florida). He played in the Under Armour All-American game and boasted 34 offers from a variety of schools across the country.