Michael Hawkins Jr. is making the first start of his young, and seemingly promising career when Oklahoma plays at Auburn on Saturday. He’s going to be short-handed, though. According to Thursday’s updated injury report, the Sooners are heading down south without the services of Deion Burks and Taylor Tatum.
In all, there are five receivers listed as out for Saturday’s game, including Burks who leads the team with 201 yards and three touchdowns. Obviously Jayden Gibson was out before the season even started and Jalil Farooq was lost in Week 1. Andrel Anthony has been battling an injury all season, as has Nic Anderson. This group very quickly went from being one of the top position units on the team to a walking triage unit. Brenen Thompson, Jaquaize Pettaway, and JJ Hester are the next men up and they have to find a way to produce in order for Hawkins to have a successful debut.
Losing Tatum is tough to see as well. He’s possibly the toughest runner on the team, and while he doesn’t lead the Sooners in rushing yards, his 6.4 yards per carry average isn’t something to take for granted. I’m not sure what’s happened to Gavin Sawchuk, but it looks like the success of the running game is going to hinge primarily on the abilities of Jovantae Barnes, and I’m actually okay with that.
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