Big-time numbers
UCO’s Luper is having a standout season and defying anyone who doubted his abilities.
EDMOND — J. T. Luper knows there are doubts about him.
He heard them as a high school player in Sherman, Texas. He heard again them when he went south to play junior college ball in Tyler. Even now in the midst a record-setting season at Central Oklahoma, he hears them.
“He can do this, but ... ”
“He can do that, but ... ”
The questions arise because of his stature. He’s 5-foot-9. He’s 175 pounds. The prototypical wide receiver, he’s not.
“The eye test,” he said, “I always lose.”
That’s about the only thing he’s lost lately.
Luper has become a statistical giant. The UCO senior leads all of college football in receiving yards this season. Yes, all of college football. He has 1,544 yards receiving, more than any other player in any division at any level this year. No one has racked up any more receiving yards than Luper.
Not James Washington, the Oklahoma State receiver who’s expected to win the Biletnikoff Award.
Not Mark Andrews, the Oklahoma tight end who’s expected to win the Mackey Award.
In our state, catching the football is as revered as it is beloved. This season, no player here has done it any bigger than Luper.
“If I’m one-on-one with somebody, I feel like I’m going to win,” he said. “We’re both human. I just feel like I can do a little bit better than him.”
Luper has proved as much.
Catches: 101. Receptions per game: 9.2.
Yards per game: 140.4. He’s done all that despite ever-increasing attention from defenses. About midway through the season, opponents
started dedicating two or three defenders to him. Dropping a linebacker under him. Putting a safety over him. Refusing to leave him with single coverage.
You can’t blame them. Luper had a couple massive games at the end of September, going for 253 yards on eight catches at Missouri Western, then 230 yards on 12 catches against Emporia State.
Even with defenses adjusting the final two months of the season, Luper still had four games with 10 or more catches. Three games of 100 yards or more, too.
“It’s kind of fun for me,
seeing all these coverages,” he said. “It’s like a game.”
Adding to the challenge has been UCO’s dependence on him. Injuries and defections severely depleted the running back position, so getting the ball to Luper became vital as the season went on.
UCO was creative in how it got the ball in his hands. Bringing Luper in motion, then shoveling it to him became a staple of the offense. He even lined up in the backfield a few times.
The team did whatever it could to give him the best chance to make a play — and sometimes, he made a play even when the odds were against him.
That was evident against Emporia State when Luper made the play of the year. He caught a deep pass and was hit immediately. But he didn’t go down. He spun completely around, was hit by another defender, then lunged from the 5-yard line toward the goal line. His left hand hit the turf, but he actually used it to propel himself forward.
Extending the ball with this right hand, he scored.
“J.T. has been great,” UCO coach Nick Bobeck said after Luper was named Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Offensive Player of the Year, a first for UCO since it entered the league in 2012. “He embodies, on a smaller scale, what our team has been through this year. He’s resilient, tough and will adjust when things don’t go as planned.
“It helps that he is really talented, too.”
Luper hopes to keep showing that talent. He will also play one final collegiate game Saturday in the Corsicana Bowl, then go to the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, a showcase for draft-eligible seniors on Jan. 20.
He sees all of it as opportunity.
“I still have somewhere I want to go,” said Luper, who will likely be named a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, the Heisman of Division II, later this week. “This isn’t it. This isn’t good enough.
“I’m trying to make a statement.”
J.T. Luper wants to go even bigger than he already has.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/ JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.