In the new age of football, when the passing attack is king in high-powered offenses, talented receivers give teams a leg up on the competition.

Oklahoma’s receivers rank among the best in the country, as does its passing offense.

After the OU-Texas game, junior quarterback Landry Jones said his receivers routinely make his job easier because of their talent and playmaking abilities.

“[They] just make my job a lot easier,” he said. “I don’t have to be as accurate as I need to be. I can miss a throw every once in a while, and they’re going to make the play on it. So it just takes a lot of pressure off me, knowing that I have receivers that I can put the ball up to in tight coverage, and they’re going to make a play.”

The emergence of sophomore Jaz Reynolds has bolstered OU’s already stout receiving corps, led by senior Ryan Broyles and sophomore Kenny Stills.

The trio has put up numbers comparable to the nation’s best units, despite Reyonds and Stills having only contributed to half as many games as most of the country’s receivers have.

“Obviously, I’m a little biased for my guys, but I think they’re the best in the country,” Jones said. “They’re playing like it right now. It makes my job a lot easier having them out there.”

Stills said he and the other receivers don’t pay much attention to how they rank nationally.

“We want to pride ourselves on being the best in the nation, but we don’t really compare ourselves to anybody else,” Stills said.

Josh Heupel, co-offensive coordinator, said he doesn’t really care much about who’s wideouts are the best or which team has the best unit.

“Ultimately, those are things that I’m not really concerned with,” he said. “I don’t know if these guys care about necessarily that. Those are things [media] and fans get to debate.”

Heupel said the Sooners instead focus on becoming better collectively to be the best offense they can be.

And the players seem to have bought what Heupel and the coaches are selling about putting the team first.

Reynolds is a perfect example. When asked whether he thinks his receiving unit is the best in the country, Reynolds said he does — but not just because of yards or touchdowns or big plays.

“I think we do a lot more blocking than [the rest],” Reynolds said. “Outside of catching the ball, getting yards and getting touchdowns, we block every play. That’s what I think sets us apart from everybody else.”

Jay Norvell, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, said the squad needs to develop stronger consistency before they can be the best.

“I told our guys, ‘Let’s put our foot on the accelerator now and see how well we can play every week for the rest of the year and see if we can be great.’ I think we’ve kind of touched on it, but we really want to push to see if we can be great all the time,” Norvell said. “If we do that — if we’ve got three or four guys playing at that level — I think we can.”

Norvell said the players are not done improving individually or collectively, and he said he hopes they keep growing as the season goes on.

“We’re just scratching the surface of what we can be, and we really want to push the envelope to see how good we can be,” Norvell said. “If we stay hungry, we can be able to do a lot of special things before the end of the year.”

• LINK: http://oudaily.com/news/2011/oct/14/which-team-has-best-receivers-college-football/