Dorial Green-Beckham has joined Oklahoma’s football program after visiting the campus in Norman, Oklahoma, on Thursday. The former Missouri receiver is slated to sit out the 2014 season due to NCAA transfer rules but will likely try to get a waiver to be eligible to play immediately.
OU’s pursuit of Green-Beckham makes sense on many levels. The Sooners were one of the finalists for Green-Beckham when the receiver was making his final choice out of high school, OU is searching for proven playmakers at receiver and Green-Beckham’s talent is unquestioned.
Unless he allows his off-the-field struggles to continue to derail his future, Green-Beckham is a future NFL player. His physical gifts make him one of the top talents in college football with his tremendous size, athleticism and ball skills. There are no doubts he has the ability to change games with his talent.
Yet OU’s decision to add the elite receiver could end up being the wrong move.
Everyone deserves a second chance, and it’s too early to simply write Green-Beckham off as a troubled individual with no hope for the change that maturity and personal growth would bring. At 21 years old, he still has time to mature. Bob Stoops and the Sooners' coaching staff are banking on his maturation process going smoothly at OU.
But adding Green-Beckham to the mix brings distractions and questions that make it easy to ask the question: Is he worth it?
Although inexperienced, the Sooners are not in horrible shape at the receiver position. Junior receiver Sterling Shepard has the ability to put up numbers second to none in the Big 12 this fall and will enter the season as quarterback Trevor Knight's No. 1 target. Behind Shepard, the Sooners have several talented underclassmen with terrific potential, including sophomore Derrick Woods, redshirt freshman Jordan Smallwood and several others. The 2014 season is an opportunity for those receivers to grow, mature and improve.
Green-Beckham’s off-the-field problems are well-documented, and on the heels of Texas Tech’s dismissal of Nigel Bethel II for allegedly punching a Tech women’s basketball player, Green-Beckham’s addition could be considered a bad PR move for OU. Like it or not, it looks like OU is taking a “win-at-all-costs” mentality.
The Sooners will contend that is just surface-level conjecture. Under Stoops, the Sooners haven’t hesitated to give players second chances and strive to help instead of discard players when they run into off-the-field struggles. OU clearly believes it can help Green-Beckham by giving him a new environment and chance to redeem himself while he provides a significant boost to the team's national title pursuit. And the former Missouri receiver sounds like he understands he could be looking at his final chance.
“I appreciate this opportunity from Coach Stoops and the University of Oklahoma,” Green-Beckham said in a statement issued by the university. “There are people here who will help me build a strong foundation. I’ve disappointed myself and others in the past. I know that I have a lot of work to do and I’m ready to get started. OU is a great program and I feel privileged to be part of it.”
The Sooners have the talent to compete for national championships, even without the ultra-talented former Tiger, during the next few seasons. If the Sooners come up short in their title pursuits, it’s unlikely we’ll point to a lack of production from their receivers as the culprit. In addition, it’s quite possible Green-Beckham, regarded as a top prospect for the 2015 NFL draft, never plays a down in Norman if his waiver appeal for immediate eligibility is denied and he declares for the draft after sitting out the 2014 season.
Thus, there are major questions about the decision to add Green-Beckham, particularly with a best-case scenario that likely includes just one season of production from the Missouri native before he heads to greener pastures in the NFL.