Gavin Freeman stood amidst a scrum of reporters, face sunburned and hair unkempt, and did his best to rub two words together.

But for the second straight year, the Sooners' season opener had understandably left him a bit lost for words.

"I don't think it's fully sunk in yet," he breathed.

A year ago, Freeman introduced himself to Sooner Nation with a dazzling 45-yard scoring scamper on the first touch of his collegiate career. He kicked off his sophomore campaign in similarly memorable fashion on Saturday, cribbing an 82-yard punt return less than three minutes into the contest. It set the tone for Oklahoma's 73-0 rout of Arkansas State, and it ended the Sooners' seven-year drought without a TD via kick return or punt return. Come Monday, it was also enough to earn Freeman a nod as Big 12 Special Teams Co-Player of the Week.

But Freeman wasn't done. He added a 7-yard touchdown catch, the first receiving score of his collegiate career, before the end of the first quarter. All told, the 5-foot-8 speed demon tallied 119 total yards (19 on four catches, 90 on a pair of punt returns) before taking a well-deserved rest in the second half as the Sooners cruised to victory.

It's astonishing to think that two years ago, Freeman was hardly moving the needle for FBS institutions as a recruit. He committed to Air Force shortly before the beginning of his senior season, but later reneged on his verbal and eventually pledged to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were one of just three FBS schools (Air Force and Tulsa were the others) that bothered to extend a scholarship offer to the diminutive wideout from Oklahoma City.

But Freeman didn't need a scholarship; all he needed was an opportunity.

A pair of coaching changes late in the 2021 season drastically altered the trajectory of his recruitment. First, Tech tabbed Joey McGuire as the program's next head football coach after Matt Wells' firing, and it quickly became apparent that McGuire and his staff would not honor Freeman's commitment to the Red Raiders. But opportunity quickly came knocking much closer to home... and closer to the heart.

In January 2022, Brent Venables was mere weeks into his tenure as Oklahoma's new head football coach. When Venables and Cale Gundy presented Freeman with the opportunity to join the Sooners as a preferred walk-on, their offer was met with virtually immediate acceptance. When he joined the program in June, Freeman's work ethic and uncanny athleticism quickly caught the eye of the coaching staff, and he began to move up the depth chart. He only recorded 10 touches as a true freshman in 2022, but given that the Sooners' four scholarship pass-catchers combined for exactly one catch all year, Freeman's output in Year 1 at Oklahoma is undeniably impressive in context.

Heading into Year 2, Venables and other Oklahoma staffers publicly raved about Freeman's dedication and ability, with the Sooners' head ball coach commenting that "the best receiver coming out of spring was Gavin Freeman by a long way." Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby echoed that sentiment, calling Freeman "an absolute pleasure" and "really dang talented."

Somewhat predictably, there were plenty that interpreted Venables' praise for Freeman as an indictment on the rest of the receiver room. After all, how on earth could Oklahoma have no better option at wideout than a 5-foot-8 walk-on?

Freeman certainly answered those skeptics' queries with a flourish on Saturday, just days after he was awarded an athletic scholarship by the Oklahoma staff.

"We got explosive playmakers and want to get the ball in their hands," Venables remarked after the game concluded. "[Gavin] can run through trash. He can stop and start. He has one of the best acceleration metrics on our team."

Indubitably, there will be those who dismiss Freeman's performance as nothing more than a natural by-product of a matchup with an inferior opponent. But even if nothing else, one thing Freeman certainly did this past weekend is earn an additional measure of trust from the coaching staff. His competitive nature shone through most conspicuously in the second quarter, when he turned a seemingly doomed punt return into positive yardage and an ovation. Will Przystup's towering boot sailed well beyond Freeman, forcing him to retreat and try to field the ball on the run. The pigskin caromed off his shoulder pads and bounced dangerously toward the end zone. Undeterred, Freeman ran after his own muff, picked up the ball, reversed field and eluded several would-be tacklers for an 8-yard return — one in which he probably covered 80 yards.

Even today, Bob Stoops will tell you that one of his biggest mistakes as a coach was his refusal to recruit Wes Welker, who like Freeman was a prep star at OKC's Heritage Hall High School. Over two decades later, the Sooners almost let another electrifying playmaker escape from their own backyard. But this time around, they were fortunate to land a Welker-esque dynamo who's anything but an average walk-on.

“It really is incredible," Lebby said of Freeman. "He’s one of those guys, man. You always talk about — recruiting is not — you can never bat a thousand. It’s different every single year with every single kid. And he’s a young man that, again, he can play anywhere in America. Dang glad he’s playing for us.”