What does the Jadon Haselwood injury mean for Oklahoma and the Big 12?

News broke Monday that Oklahoma WR Jadon Haselwood suffered a torn ACL while training. The former 5 star recruit was 5th on the team with 272 receiving yards as a freshman in the 2019 season. Lets take a look at what this injury means for Oklahoma and rest of the Big 12.

OKLAHOMA

The Sooners are breaking in a new starting QB this fall and they do have 2 promising options in Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler. Rattler was a 5 star recruit ranked 11th overall in the 247Sports composite . Regardless of who wins the job neither QB will have a great deal of experience coming into the season having attempted a combined 37 passes last season. Lincoln Riley has a reputation for getting great production out of his QB’s the past 3 seasons, but all 3 of those QBs were transfers who had experience. This will be the 1st time Riley is playing an inexperienced QB that he recruited.

Anytime you have an inexperienced QB, the blocking and weapons around him are key to making that QB’s job easier. The Oklahoma offensive line should be stout with 2 returning all conference selections, and a bevy of experience from last year. The running game will likely feature Kennedy Brooks who ran for over 1,000 yards last year and averaged over 6.5 yards a carry.

That’s all great news, but Haselwood was going to be counted on to fill the void created by CeeDee Lamb’s departure to the NFL. Of Oklahoma’s 5 leading receivers in 2019, only Charleston Rambo and Jadon Haselwood were returning for 2020. There was already a large void to fill and that void grew with the loss of Haselwood, but Oklahoma is one of the few teams that can fill such a void.

Theo Wease was a 5-star recruit in the 247Sports composite in his own right, and Trejan Bridges was ranked the 66th best player in the country. Both played sparingly as true freshmen but still had over 200 receiving yards and 4 TDs between them. The two standouts should be able to makeup for some of the production that Haselwood was going to be counted on for. If transfer receiver Theo Howard can get healthy from his achilles injury that will add another weapon to Riley’s offense.

You can never lose a player the caliber of Haselwood and not miss a beat, but Oklahoma is one of the few teams that has the weapons to make up for the lost play-making ability. If Wease and Bridges can develop as expected, and the remaining play-makers can stay healthy the offense should continue to hum and the impact on the 2020 season although still significant will be minimized.

THE BIG 12

Oklahoma is no doubt the King of the Big 12 recently, and everyone else is trying to catch them. Texas, Baylor, Iowa State and others were hoping the inexperience at QB could help them make up the gap and this is another blow to the Oklahoma offense.

Although Oklahoma has the surrounding talent and options at receiver to help make up the for the lost production, they still lose the impact Haselwood has on the game. A player of his caliber commands a certain amount of attention, which contributes to everyone else’s job becoming easier. Lastly, great players make great plays and sometimes one of those plays is the difference between a win and a loss. It remains to be seen if the guys replacing him can make the big plays that Haselwood was going to be counted on for.

The door was always open for Texas and the rest of the Big 12 this year due to the inexperience at the most important position on the field, and the loss of the teams best play-maker last year in Lamb. Now without the heir apparent to Lamb the other teams in the Big 12 will see this opening and gain hope they might be able to push through and win the conference.

While the injury isn’t devastating for Oklahoma’s chances to win the conference it does create opportunity for others. If Wease or Bridges can develop and make the big plays when needed that opportunity may disappear as quickly as it appeared. Oklahoma should still be the favorite in the Big 12 but the gap just got a little smaller.

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