Oklahoma’s receiver room is carrying a lot of weight heading into 2026 - and maybe more upside than it has had in years.
That sounds strange for a group that has been a problem spot in recent seasons, but the Sooners have clearly gone shopping. Brent Venables and his staff attacked the position this offseason, and the result is a receiving corps that looks deeper, faster and far more dangerous on paper than the one Oklahoma rolled out a year ago.
The biggest reason for that optimism starts with Isaiah Sategna III. The Arkansas transfer was John Mateer’s go-to option throughout the 2025 season, and the only receiver Mateer could truly count on.
Sategna finished with 67 catches for 965 yards and was the lone real deep threat in the passing game. Beyond him, no current Oklahoma receiver posted more than 250 receiving yards or more than nine receptions last season.
The lack of help showed up everywhere. Outside of converted linebacker Jaren Kanak, the Sooners got almost nothing from the tight end group. That left Oklahoma short on the kind of playmakers and depth it needed to function in a league as defensively tough as the SEC.
This offseason, the Sooners tried to fix that in a hurry.
At wide receiver, Oklahoma added Trell Harris from Virginia, a Third-Team All-ACC selection who caught 59 passes for 847 yards and five touchdowns last season, and Parker Livingstone, who spent last season at Texas and finished his freshman year with 29 receptions for 516 yards and six touchdowns. The Sooners also brought in Washington State transfer Mackenzie Alleyne, a redshirt sophomore who was a walk-on in 2024 under then-Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. Arbuckle has said he likes what he’s seen from Alleyne, and the receiver also made a touchdown catch and stood out in Oklahoma’s spring game.
The tight end room got a major reset, too. Oklahoma added Hayden Hansen from Florida, Jack Van Dorselaer from Tennessee and Rocky Beers from Colorado State, and all three are expected to play a significant role. The Sooners also hired former NFL All-Pro Jason Witten as the new tight ends coach, a move that signals how serious they are about upgrading that part of the offense.
Venables also pointed to internal growth when he spoke at SEC Media Days this week in Tampa, Florida. He praised sophomore receivers Elijah Thomas and Manny Choice for the progress they made during spring ball and offseason work. He also said more should be coming from Jer’Michael Carter, the 6-foot-2 former McNeese State transfer who had nine catches for 101 yards last season.
There’s even a freshman who could force his way into the mix. Jayden Petit, a 6-foot-4 receiver ranked No. 18 at his position in the 2026 class by 247Sports, is another name to watch in the rotation.
Put it all together, and Oklahoma has a receiver group that could end up being the best Venables has had in Norman. That’s the ceiling.
But the Sooners have already lived through a version of this story before, and that’s where the caution comes in.
Going into the 2024 season, Oklahoma thought it had one of its strongest receiver groups in years. The Sooners returned three of their top four receivers from the previous season, when they led the Big 12 in receiving yards at 324.8 per game. Add in some promising high school talent and more experience from the transfer portal, and the room looked loaded.
Then the injuries hit. Hard.
Those three top returning receivers from the 2023 Big 12 championship team missed practically the entire season, and Oklahoma’s passing game fell apart. The Sooners finished last in the SEC in passing yards in their first year in the league, and the receiver production in 2025 still never really recovered.
So yes, there’s reason to believe this group can be better. There’s more speed, more size, more depth and more help at tight end than Oklahoma has had in a while. But it all still depends on the same thing that always matters most: Mateer staying healthy and the new pieces actually clicking once the games begin a little over a month from now.
If that happens, Oklahoma’s passing game could look a whole lot different in 2026.
In Other News...
Texas Just Handed Oklahoma Fans More Red River Fuel
SEC Media Days offered another little jolt to the Red River rivalry, this time with Oklahoma on the receiving end of some fresh Texas chatter. Steve Sarkisian addressed the transfer of wide receiver Parker Livingstone to Oklahoma while explaining how the Longhorns made room for portal additions, and Arch Manning also weighed in on the modern transfer landscape in a way that underscored just how routine these moves have become.
For Oklahoma fans, the more interesting part is how the conversation keeps circling back to familiar names and familiar colors. Brent Venables took a respectful tone on former Sooners cornerback Gentry Williams, now at Georgia, while Texas sounded plenty aware of where Livingstone landed and what that means for a rivalry that never needs much extra fuel. [Read more 🡒]
Former Texas Receiver Is Already Turning Heads At Oklahoma
Parker Livingstones move from Texas to Oklahoma has already become one of the more interesting subplots of the Sooners buildup to the new season, and it is not hard to see why. A receiver who once lined up for a rival program is now settling into a new playbook in Norman, and quarterback John Mateer has been among the first to notice how quickly Livingstone is picking things up.
Mateer has described Livingstone as big, dynamic and strong at the catch point, while also praising the way he is handling the mental side of the transition. There is still obvious curiosity around a transfer from Texas, but the conversations around the team have stayed more personal than tactical, with the two talking more about their experiences than about how the Sooners plan to use him. [Read more 🡒]
SEC Just Sent Oklahoma A Message About Brent Venables' Team
The SECs preseason media poll offered a clear little nudge toward Oklahoma, slotting Brent Venables team seventh in the league heading into 2026 after the Sooners were projected 10th a year ago. It is still a crowded upper tier, with Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, LSU and Alabama all sitting ahead of Oklahoma, but the climb matters for a program trying to prove it belongs in the conferences top half.
The poll also reflected why the Sooners have a real chance to keep moving up, with David Stone, Taylor Wein, Kip Lewis, Peyton Bowen, Eli Bowen, Isaiah Sategna, Michael Fasusi, Tate Sandell, Ben Anderson and Grayson Miller all earning preseason All-SEC recognition. Sandells first-team nod stands out after his Lou Groza Award season, and Oklahoma will get an immediate read on how much that respect translates once Georgia and Texas open a schedule that also brings Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Missouri into the mix. [Read more 🡒]