If Oklahoma wide receiver Deion Burks’ football career doesn’t pan out, he might have a future in dramatic theater.
Burks shocked head coach Brent Venables, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and receivers coach Emmett Jones on Saturday when he met them in Venables’ office and — in dramatic fashion — informed them he would be returning for his senior year in 2025. He posted a video of the interaction on Twitter/X.
Burks, a transfer from Purdue and one of the Sooners’ most promising playmakers in last spring’s Red/White Game, sat out almost the entire season with a soft-tissue injury. Burks has eligibility left after missing all but five games this season. Venables had hinted that he expected Burks to leave for the NFL.
In the video, Burks greets the coaches in Venables’ office, then presents his head coach with his crimson No. 6 jersey. Venables humbly took it and said nobody wore it better — Burks interjected Baker Mayfield — and then extolled Burks’ many virtues and explained why he was such an asset to the program.
As they stood up to apparently part, Burks hugged Venables, smiled and said “I got one more thing though, man,” and unzipped his jacket, revealing a different OU jersey. “I ain’t gone yet. I’m switching that No. 4.”
As Venables, Arbuckle and Jones celebrated with high fives, Burks said, “I gotta do it one more time, man!”
After catching 63 passes for 804 yards and seven touchdowns in his first three years with the Boilermakers, Burks was expected to be a key playmaker for the Sooners’ rebuilt offense in 2024.
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