During his 13 years coaching high school football in Dallas, Emmett Jones’ teams were patterned after Oklahoma.
The former Texas Tech and UTEP receiver, hired away from Texas Tech to be OU’s receivers coach on Jan. 10 and will make $550,000 a year, admired coaches Bob Stoops and Brent Venables for years and implemented their leadership styles at the four high schools where he coached.
Jones remembers attending an OU-Texas game at the Cotton Bowl in the early 2010s to watch Longhorns receiver Mike Davis, who he coached at Skyline High School, only to end up sitting in the Sooners’ section.
He wanted to be closer to Stoops and Venables to study their every move.
“Everything we did, it was cut and pasted straight from Oklahoma,” Jones said Thursday. “From mindset to grit, the style, the physicality, the grit — all of that — it came from the University of Oklahoma.
“I always said to myself, ‘If I get the chance to work with these guys, that’s a no-brainer. I don’t care whatever options I have, whatever current situation I have, that’s a no-brainer for me.’ So it was destined.”
Similar to quarterback Dillon Gabriel before him, Jones brought a prior familiarity with offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and his offense when he arrived in Norman. The two often crossed paths in living rooms during Jones’ time as the head coach at South Oak Cliff High School from 2012-14, while Lebby coached running backs at Baylor.
Before the Sooners’ 51-48 overtime loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock last season, then-Red Raiders wide receivers coach Jones bumped into Lebby at the 50-yard line. A couple days later, Lebby called Jones regarding the same job at Oklahoma, which had an opening after longtime assistant Cale Gundy resigned last August.
“Coach Jones has been awesome,” Lebby said Tuesday. “ … A guy that I trust that is incredibly passionate about being great every single day. He fits our room and happy he's here, it’s been great for those wideouts.”
Jalil Farooq, who many expect to fill Marvin Mims’ shoes as Gabriel’s No. 1 weapon, has enjoyed learning from Jones so far. The Landham, Maryland, native who’s entering his third season with OU appeared in all 13 games and caught a touchdown against Texas Tech in front of Jones in 2022.
Jones noted Farooq is one of the best receivers he’s been around. He compared him to former Texas Tech star Keke Coutee and former Kansas and Florida State standout Andrew Parchment.
“We’re building a great relationship,” Farooq said. “He's a great coach, a fundamentally sound coach. He likes to build us from scratch … He’s focused on the details so I feel like I’m going to improve my game a lot.
“ … First and foremost, he dove into getting in and out of my breaks at the top of the route. Releases, he has a great release package. I love it. I can't wait to add some of that to my game. He has a lot to add.”
The longtime high school coach has also gained respect from younger players such as redshirt sophomore receiver J.J. Hester.
“He drops gems all the time,” Hester said. “He’s funny too sometimes, I like coach Jones. But he just gives us wisdom and knowledge all the time, stuff that’s relatable to us.”
OU football passing game coordinator/wide receiver's coach Emmett Jones during the Sooners' spring open practice on Mar. 21
Some of Jones’ humor was on display when he recalled asking his players at Kansas, where he coached from 2019-21, “Why is this guy on the field for the University of Oklahoma?” in regards to Drake Stoops.
However, Jones added after being around Stoops for a few months he sees why he’s had so much success.
“I will walk down any dark alley in South Dallas,” Jones said. “(Drake) would be one of the first guys I’d grab to walk down that dark alley (with me), love him.”
Now, Jones is tasked with coaching one of the most intriguing position groups this spring. Oklahoma lost nearly 68% of its receiving production from last season after Mims, tight end Brayden Willis and running back Eric Gray, declared for the NFL draft, while Theo Wease transferred to Missouri.
OU returns Farooq and Stoops, who combined for 859 yards and eight touchdowns last season, but has little experience beyond them.
Freshmen Nic Anderson, who was injured most of last season, Jayden Gibson and Gavin Freeman, who Lebby dialed a few plays up for in 2022, could see their roles increase. Hester, who missed most of last season due to surgery after transferring from Missouri, could also factor in.
Former Oklahoma standout and South Carolina transfer Austin Stogner will likely replace Willis, while four-stars Jaquaize Pettaway and Keyon Brown will arrive on campus this summer. Other likely contributors include D.J. Graham, who switched from defensive back to receiver, and Michigan transfer Andrel Anthony.
OU’s new assistant sees his group’s youth as a positive and has been pleased with what he’s seen.
“I love my classroom,” Jones said. “I’ve got all types of skill sets there. And the good thing about it is we’re kind of young too. Young but eager to learn, eager to gain experience. We’ve got length, we’ve got true slots, smaller type bodies and guys that have grit.”
Gabriel shares that confidence.
“I’d just say freaky,” Gabriel said when asked to describe OU’s receivers on Thursday. “We've got a lot of guys who do a lot of different things and at the end of day, it's gonna be (about) making plays and that's the name of the game, making big time players in big time moments.
“They’re all capable of doing that, but just making it happen, it's a production-based sport. Our sport is performance based and that's what we’ve got to do.”
Jones still sometimes gets chills when driving down Lindsey Street and thinks back to his first time in Norman when he was arriving at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium with Kiff Kingsbury at Texas Tech.
While he has his work cut out for him to help bolster the Sooners’ passing attack, he can’t help but reminisce. He’s the same guy who intently watched his now-boss Venables as a fan all those years ago in the stands at the Red River Showdown.
“I wanted to sit on Oklahoma’s side in maroon,” Jones said. “And you could see on my face I was locked into everything Coach Stoops and Coach Venables and those guys were doing down there. So it was a no-brainer (to take the job).”
This story was edited by Austin Curtright.
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