Brent Venables: Jalil Farooq suffered broken foot vs. Temple, out 6-8 weeks

Jalil Farooq suffered a broken foot in Friday’s game against Temple, Brent Venables told reporters. He will undergo surgery and be out for 6-8 weeks.

Farooq left the game in the first half and later limped toward the locker room. His lone reception came early when Jackson Arnold connected with him for a 47-yarder to get things underway at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

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Farooq is coming off the biggest year of his career as a junior in 2023. He had a career-high 694 yards to go with two touchdowns and is looking to take on a bigger role in the offense this season.

Jalil Farooq broke his foot tonight and will have surgery. Brent Venables says he’ll miss 6-8 weeks. Brutal.

— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) August 31, 2024

Farooq’s injury is the latest long-term issue for the Oklahoma receiver room. The Sooners lost Jayden Gibson for the season after he suffered a knee injury during camp, meaning they’ll be down two key contributors in the long run. Nic Anderson sat out Friday’s game, but it was largely out of precaution, according to the ESPN broadcast.

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Jalil Farooq wasn’t the only injury for OU, though. Venables confirmed center Branson Hickman suffered an ankle sprain in the first half and will undergo further evaluation.

Oklahoma didn’t leave much room for doubt with Friday’s resounding 51-3 victory over Temple. It marked the first regular-season start for Arnold, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 141 yards and four touchdowns. His connection with Purdue transfer Deion Burks was on full display as he totaled six receptions for 36 yards and three touchdowns in the effort.

Venables said he tried to keep the game plan simple to avoid showing too much in the season opener. But there’s still room to get better, and he said that’ll be the focus in practice going forward.

“We went in with a really plain, vanilla game plan from a strategy standpoint,” Venables said. “There’s some things that we’ll be able to get better in some of our RPO world that can help us, as well. Again, we lost Branson early, and I thought Geirean [Hatchett] came in and he did a really nice job. Guys picked up the slack for Jalil, as well.

“We did what we needed to do, won 51-3, had great game control. Again, a lot that we can still improve. I thought our tight ends played well, Jake [Roberts] and Bauer [Sharp]. Kade McIntyre and Kaden Helms got in, so that was really good to see, as well.”