Oklahoma 'Underdog' Gavin Freeman Rewarded Again: 'You Gotta Believe in Yourself'

“I love an underdog story,” head coach Brent Venables said.

Freeman seems less like an underdog every time he touches the football.

Freeman grew up a Sooner fan in Oklahoma City. He was a high school star at Heritage Hall. His dad is former Sooners tight end Jason Freeman.

On Aug. 25, Venables closed practice by gathering the team at midfield in the stadium and directed their attention to the video board.

“You want to talk about a legacy?” Venables told his players. “You want to talk about a dream come true? You’re walking in the good ol’ days — right now. These are the good ol’ days for you.”

That set off a mosh pit of back slaps, pick-ups and congratulations from his teammates.

A week later, Freeman was being mobbed again.

Freeman scored on the first touch of his freshman season, a 46-yard reverse. He also scored on his first touch of his sophomore year, an 82-yard punt return TD — OU’s first since 2016. In less than 15 minutes of action Saturday, he doubled his 2022 touchdown output.

“I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet,” he said after the game.

Freeman stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 185 pounds. To suggest that he’s small — even by college football standards — is to ignore how he uses his lack of vertical inches to his advantage. He’s stronger than tacklers think, faster and quicker, too, and plays with tremendous balance, a low center of gravity and sees running lanes unfold as he moves downfield.

His punt return was a perfect example: he stepped toward the football, made an immediate cut upfield, burst through a wide open hole, cut back to his right, easily dodged the punter and exploded away from the coverage team for the final 40 yards.

“So, I just remember catching it. And then I remember seeing the gaping hole because my guys were blocking their asses off. So I just hit it. I hit the outside and they made another massive hole on the sideline and I just hit it.”

Freeman also caught four passes for 19 yards on offense, including a 7-yard touchdown pass from Dillon Gabriel on which he ran a basic out route to the left flat, out-leveraged his defender to the corner flag and skidded through the end zone.

“First off, Gavin, that's something he does every single day in practice,” said linebacker Danny Stutsman. “That's a blue-collar dude. He works for everything. It kind of shows what this program is about. He's just a dude who's going to put that work in, put that time in and see the fruits of his labor pay off on that field.”

It was yet another dazzling play from the player teammates call “G Freaky” — a nickname bestowed on him by former wideout Marvin Mims.

“Personally I like it,” Freeman said. “It’s just different than Gavin because we have three Gavins on the team (Sawchuk, Marshall). It’s pretty funny.”

Is there an origin story? The world may never know. Freeman just smiled, then snickered, then thought about Mims and declined to reveal details.

“We would just sit in meetings all the time and we’d be right by each other,” he said. “That’s as much as I can say.”

Walk-on or scholarship player, Freeman said nothing has really changed this year.

“Not really,” he said. “I always have a mindset of just being ready when my number’s called. Mindset is to just play. Play to the best of my ability for my teammates. For the team. Try to come out with win every game.”

For Venables, though, there is change — change in the reward, change in how people see Freeman.

“Yeah, I think it creates a buy-in that you want,” Venables said. “From, again, everyone having a genuine appreciation for everybody’s role in their journey. Everybody’s going through something. You know? And pulling for each other and having a selfless attitude and being thankful for the opportunity and thankful for a brotherhood. We, like probably everybody, we push family and relationships and connection. I think foundationally, that’s where everything starts. And so I love to see that. It’s an endearing thing to see, as opposed to self-promotion and it’s all about me and what about my opportunities. I love that. And I love an underdog story, and so do the players. But we’ve got a bunch of guys like that.”

“Any time you’re in position and can do that … you want to reward guys that deserve it.”

For Freeman, he’s trying to stay humble and focused. But seeing his family in the stands during and after the game melted that stoic facade just little.

“It’s really cool for sure,” he said. “Seeing my family in the stands. I know they support me. It’s really cool.”

Freeman says he doesn’t run through defenses with a chip on his shoulder. He’s not looking to prove anyone wrong or seeking affirmation.

He lets his performance take care of all that.

“I would say I know my ability, and confidence-wise what I can do,” he said. “It’s more about proving myself right. You gotta believe in yourself at the end of the day. You have to confidence you can make plays.”

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