The Oklahoma pass catcher spent two years in Columbia, MO, before transferring to OU.
Saturday will be a little different for J.J. Hester.
Oklahoma’s leading receiver is returning to where he began his collegiate football career.
Hester enrolled at Missouri after shining at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa for the first two years of his career.
He redshirted in 2020 and played in 13 games for the Tigers in 2021. Hester caught 12 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns in 2021 before deciding to use the transfer portal and return to his native state in 2022.
Hester had heard about the battle with Missouri since the Southeastern Conference announced OU’s opponents, but when the official schedule was released, he contacted some of his former teammates with whom he had kept in touch while going to Oklahoma.
“I stated right away, ‘This is going to be a night game.’ “And it turned out to be a night game,” Hester said after practice Tuesday. “And I texted some of the guys over there and said, ‘I’ll see you in November.'” And that’s how it started.”
Hester said he’d enjoy hooking up with some old friends after the game, but he’s trying to treat this week like any other.
“I know I’m going back home to where I started off at,” he added. “I’ve received a lot of queries about it, but I’m going to approach it just like any other game. Trying to do something unusual is how you disrupt the routine and stuff like that.
This week, Hester will look to build on OU’s 59-14 victory over Maine.
He had a strong performance, including teaming with quarterback Jackson Arnold on a scramble drill for a 90-yard touchdown reception.
That massive play, as well as the offense’s overall success against the Black Bears, will instill confidence in the offense as it travels to face the Tigers.
“We came out and we executed on what we wanted to execute,” Hester told me. “That was very good, especially considering our errors and such. We just wanted to get the offense flowing, so that’s what we did. We’ll just use that to keep going.”
Hester will not be the only athlete on Saturday who has strong links to both programs.
Missouri’s standout wide receiver Luther Burden was previously committed to Oklahoma, and the Sooners were in a public recruiting fight with Tigers defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri.
Missouri’s offensive lineman Cayden Green and receiver Theo Wease arrived on campus in Norman, adding to the mix between the two locker rooms.
“We haven’t really talked too much about it,” OU linebacker Dasan McCullough said of reconnecting with old teammates. “… But we’re going to treat this as any other week. “We’re just excited to get out there and play.”
Brent Venables said the matchup, between the recruitment fights and the actual competitions inside the white lines, doesn’t feel “spicy” to him, but it will be strange for a man like Hester, who will be returning to the stadium where he once called home.
“(It’s not weird) right now thinking about it,” Hester remarked. “But when you get there, it’ll probably happen. Going back to where I started will undoubtedly bring back memories.”
