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Brayden Willis is embracing a new role for his last season in Norman.
The super senior is the new clear-cut leader in the tight ends room, both on and off the field.
With 36 career receptions, 484 receiving yards and six touchdowns to his name, Willis is the only tight end with significant experience playing on Owen Field.
But while Willis is preparing to be the go-to target out of the tight end room, he’s stepping up his game as a leader for the entire offense.
Willis has battled through position battles, injuries and now a major coaching change in Norman, experience that the Arlington, TX, native believes has helped him find his voice.
“It helps me as a leader,” Willis said last Thursday after OU’s practice. “Every time I get to go through adversity or something along that lines, it just helps me as a leader, helps me become a better person. And it helps me help my teammates that are younger and haven't been through it.”
Still, as Willis and his teammates adjusted to a new offense this offseason, questions remained about just how much incoming offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby planned to utilize Oklahoma’s tight ends.
Last year at Ole Miss, tight ends were virtually non-existent in the Rebels’ passing game despite the fact that Lebby’s offense ran more than enough plays to spread the wealth.
On the eve of fall camp, Lebby quelled any of those fears with a succinct answer about his plans for Willis.
Brayden Willis took on a much larger role in 2021
The Oklahoma tight end posted new career highs with 15 receptions and 177 receiving yards
Now, he's primed to lead OU's tight end room ahead of a massive 2022 season
“Brayden is going to be very, very involved,” he said. “… We’re going to play in all these different packages where we’re getting different guys involved. I think it’s important to find ways to get our best guys on the field.
“As long as we’re doing that and putting guys in position to have success, we’re going to have a chance to roll like we want to.”
It would be no shock to see Willis top his previous career-high of 15 receptions this season, but that aspect of the game isn’t what tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley is worried about.
Over the course of the summer, Finley was focused on giving Willis and teammate Brandon Parker all of the tools necessary to help bring along the youngsters in the room.
“I could not show up and Brayden Willis would be a heck of a football player for us this year,” Finley said earlier in August. “Now it’s — I talk to these guys all the time. What’s the difference between (Michael) Jordan and Allen Iverson or Jordan and great basketball players that haven’t won championships?
“The leadership… That guy knew how to bring his teammates along with him and prepare those guys for championship moments that you can’t prepare for unless you do that every day in practice. And so that’s my challenge to him and Daniel Parker is like, ‘hey man you’ve gotta lead. This is y’all’s football team.’”
Finley isn’t worried about Willis’ focus or drive to improve, either.
Embracing the reality of entering his final year with the Sooners, Finley said Willis is laser-focused on doing everything he can to make it to the next level. So much so, that Finley said he’s had to remind Willis to slow down and soak in the experience of this season at times.
“He’s brought it every single day since I’ve been here,” Finley said. “Even last year. We had three guys that were gonna play and then that guy, I mean he catches 10,000 balls every single summer. That’s a lot of balls to catch on the jugs machine, you know what I mean?
“It just kind of shoes you the commitment that he has. That’s how locked in he is. It’s hard to joke with him right now because he’s so locked in. I’m trying to get him to relax a little bit like, ‘hey man you got to enjoy this stuff too.’ But he’s got that look in his eye of determination and I’ve just been proud of how he’s leading the football team.”
Transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel has also felt the impact of Willis.
The Hawaiian signal-caller said he’s been impressed by Willis’ demeanor since he arrived at Oklahoma, and that it’s easy to see why so many of Willis’ teammates on the offense look up to the veteran tight end.
“He's a fierce competitor,” Gabriel said. “He's just a stud in every area of his life. Very calm. Also, when he speaks, everyone listens. You got to have a guy like that. It takes more than one guy, for sure, and having a guy like Brayden who has put in the time and work and effort every year, just seeing his growth in only this year, I can only imagine how far he's come.”
Brent Venables has revamped the culture in Norman less than nine months after being on the job.
He’s tried to instill a player-led mentality and higher levels of accountability for the Sooners, and Willis is shaping up to be the embodiment of OU’s new direction in 2022.
“There's no gray area. It’s cut and dry,” Willis said. “If you're gonna do the wrong thing and you know it’s wrong, there's no getting around that. You're caught. You know? As far as, like I said, there's no gray area.
“If you're doing the right thing, you know it's the right thing. You're doing the wrong thing, you know, it's the wrong thing. There's no, ‘I thought.’ We're all held to a certain standard. Best is the standard here, and you know, it's just, that's what it is.”
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