Sooners WR Burks out for Red River Rivalry game
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Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer
Oklahoma leading wide receiver Deion Burks is out against No. 1 Texas, according to the Sooners’ SEC player availability report.
Burks has a soft tissue injury, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Thursday.
Burks had been listed as questionable in the availability report ahead of Saturday’s Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). He suffered the injury during the Sooners’ loss to Tennessee on Sept. 21 and sat out their victory against Auburn the following week.
Burks, a transfer from Purdue, has produced a team-high 26 catches for 201 yards in four games. He scored all three of his touchdowns in the Sooners’ rout of Temple in the season opener.
Oklahoma will once again be missing five of its top wide receivers when it takes on its rival Saturday. Injured receivers Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony and Jayden Gibson had already been ruled out for the game.
In their absence, J.J. Hester has emerged as the top receiver for true freshman starting quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., catching three passes for 86 yards in the road comeback win at Auburn. Jaquaize Pettaway replaced Burks at slot receiver for that game, and Brenen Thompson and Zion Ragins earned starts.
Hawkins, who graduated up the road from the Cotton Bowl at Frisco Emerson, will be the Sooners’ first true freshman quarterback to start against the Longhorns in the 120th edition of the rivalry. He got his first start two weeks ago against Auburn.
The Sooners have also moved cornerback Jacobe Johnson to receiver for added depth.
Oklahoma running back Taylor Tatum was not included in the availability report and is expected to play against the Longhorns after missing the Auburn game. Defensive backs Kendel Dolby and Gentry Williams have been ruled out for Saturday’s game, as has backup tight end Kade McIntyre.
Texas and Oklahoma are both coming off open dates, marking the first time since they started playing annually in 1929 that both were off the previous week.
This is the 44th time both teams will be ranked heading into the game, which is second only to the Ohio State–Michigan rivalry (49). It’s the fifth time Texas will enter the game at the Cotton Bowl ranked No. 1; Texas is 3-0-1 in the previous four.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Cincinnati Reds left-hander Wade Miley said Friday that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing, one day after reports stated a deposition from a lawsuit alleged he supplied Tyler Skaggs with drugs when both players were with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The deposition is part of a motion for summary judgment filed by the Los Angeles Angels, requesting a lawsuit from the Skaggs family be dismissed.
The deposition from Ryan Hamill, Skaggs’ agent, contains testimony that he was concerned in 2013 about Skaggs’ drug use. Hamill said he and Skaggs’ family confronted Skaggs about his drug use. Skaggs was then in his second season as a teammate of Miley with the Diamondbacks.
“He came clean,” Hamill testified. “He said he had been using — I believe it was Percocets — and he said he got them through Wade Miley.”
Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, at age 27 in a Dallas-area hotel. The autopsy found fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system.
Miley briefly addressed the issue before Friday’s road game against the Detroit Tigers.
“I hate what happened to Tyler, it sucks. My thoughts are with his family and his friends,” Miley said. “But I’m not going to sit here and talk about things that someone might have said about me or whatnot. I was never a witness for any of this. I was never accused of any wrongdoing.”
Former Angels communications director Eric Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence in Texas after being found guilty on two charges of providing drugs related on Skaggs’ overdose.
The Athletic reported that the criminal proceedings against Kay included a recorded phone conversation in which Kay told his mother that Miley was a drug source to Skaggs.
Asked if Major League Baseball has contacted him regarding the allegations, Miley said, “I’d rather just focus on the Cincinnati Reds right now and baseball and what I have to do moving forward. I’ve got to get ready for a game on Sunday.”
Miley was mentioned in Kay’s criminal case, but he was never charged with a crime.
Skaggs was traded to the Angels after the 2013 season. He went 28-38 with a 4.41 ERA in 96 career starts.
Miley, 38, is with his eighth big league team and attempting to revive his career after Tommy John surgery in 2024.
Miley has a career 109-99 mark with a 4.09 ERA in 319 games (311 starts) since making his major league debut in 2011. This is his second go-round with the Reds. He was with the team in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, going 12-10 with a 3.55 ERA in 177⅓ innings over 34 starts (32 innings).
The Skaggs family is suing the Angels, contending that high-level team officials, as well as other employees, knew Kay was a drug user and should have known he was Skaggs’ source.
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