Search for next great Cowboy WR will include Jaden Bray and John Paul Richardson
Jenni CarlsonOklahoman
STILLWATER — Tylan Wallace rarely walked on the field at Boone Pickens Stadium without folks taking notice.
So it was Saturday afternoon.
He wasn’t in uniform, of course. His Oklahoma State days are done, his future to be determined later this week during the NFL Draft. But during the Cowboys’ spring game, he was still hard to miss.
His shoes made it so.
They were completely fluorescent orange, so much brightness that astronauts on the International Space Station could well have caught a glimpse of them.
But Wallace’s presence, announced by those kicks, loomed large as the Cowboys continued their search Saturday for his replacement. They are looking for their next great receiver.
Wallace’s heir apparent may have already played in games for OSU; big moments Saturday by Tay Martin, Brennan Presley and Braydon Johnson were reminders of their abilities. But on a day several of the game’s biggest plays came from freshmen receivers who would be attending high school prom if they hadn’t enrolled early, you had to wonder if the next go-to guy, the next alpha receiver is among that bunch.
“Those guys had more reps this spring than most starters have had over the last 15 years,” Cowboy coach Mike Gundy said. “We had a few veteran receivers that missed some spring ball, had a little injury here, an injury there, and those young guys had the same amount of reps as what a varsity player would have been for us in the past.”
And it showed Saturday.
Jaden Bray had two catches of 20-plus yards, a 47-yarder on a deep ball and a 25-yard touchdown, both from Shane Illingworth. The touchdown came in the corner of the endzone on a fade pass, a timing play even the most seasoned receivers aren’t always capable of pulling in. Bray did despite some tight one-on-one coverage.
The Norman High product added a second touchdown late in the game, a diving, competitive catch with a defender on his back. If instant replay had been in use Saturday, it’s a play that would’ve been reviewed — isn’t every catch nowadays? —and it might’ve been overturned.
Might’ve been upheld, too.
It was close.
Still, Bray made some big-time plays.
“You see the raw talent,” Illingworth said, mentioning how good Bray’s hands and body position are even though he only played a couple years of high school football. “It’s not even raw anymore. He’s going out there and he’s running great routes.
“He’s had a great spring. Phenomenal spring.”
John Paul Richardson made several catches, too, including a 21-yarder early in the second half. None of them were quite as dynamic as Bray’s, but take Bray out of the equation, and most people would’ve said Richardson, a Missouri City, Texas, product, had a stellar day for an early-enrollee freshman.
Solid.
Controlled.
You don’t always see that out of veterans much less newbies.
As good as Bray and Richardson were, perhaps the two most talked-about freshman receivers, identical twins Bryson and Blaine Green, didn’t even play Saturday. They are dealing with injuries.
They were in uniform, though. They went through warm-ups and even participated in the seven-on-seven drill session before the scrimmage began.
Even though the Allen, Texas, brothers didn’t play in the scrimmage, you could see that one of the things they’ll bring to the receiver position is size. They are tall and broad. They look like guys who have been in college a few years instead of a few months.
Frankly, Bray and Richardson have some stoutness to them, too.
“This class that came in,” Gundy said when asked about this new receivers, “they’re all long and tall and are going to be pretty big.”
The Green twins are 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, and Gundy believes they’ll play at around 225 pounds.
Bray, listed at 6-3, 195, is likely to play between 205 and 210 pounds.
“There’s some length and some body to them that’s going to allow them to play a little bit different football than a guy like Brennan Presley,” Gundy said. “Brennan’s fabulous at what he does, but these other guys will bring a little different side to it with their size.”
The Cowboys have had alpha receivers who aren’t the biggest. James Washington at 5-11 comes to mind. But bigger receivers who can handle physical corners, who can go up and snag a ball, who can muscle through double coverage have an advantage. And this incoming bunch has several guys with those physical attributes.
Does that automatically make them great?
Of course not.
But Saturday showed they are already building on their physicality and making strides. On their first big stage as collegians, they performed. They didn’t crumble under pressure, even as Tylan Wallace watched from the sideline.
They let it be known they’d like to fill his fluorescent-orange shoes one day.
