Perhaps Washington coach Tyrone Willingham described it best. In the days leading up to the Sooners’ game against the Huskies, he was asked about OU’s offense. One play stuck out.

“The receiver was just like a lightning bolt up the sideline,” he said.

Willingham was talking about Ryan Broyles’ first catch in the Cincinnati game. It was a simple crossing route. OU quarterback Sam Bradford hit him in stride. Broyles made a defender miss and Willingham’s description was pretty exact.

It was the first of 10 catches Broyles has made in the last two games and most have been highlight-reel material.

The former Norman High All-Stater is averaging 22.6 yards per catch and 113.0 yards per game. No receiver in the program’s illustrious history has gotten off to a better start.

Yet, no one at OU is surprised either.

“I think it’s something that we’ve seen all summer with him,” quarterback Sam Bradford said. “He’s made plays in the spring and the summer, even in two-a-days. He’d make plays and everyone would kind of stop like, ‘Did he just do that?’ We knew it was coming.”

Players and coaches have been saying the same things about Broyles since last season. Since he arrived on campus there’s been talk about the little receiver that can make a secondary look foolish.

It’s hard to believe Broyles wasn’t a highly-touted prospect when he signed with OU in the winter of 2007. Sure, his early-February switch from Oklahoma State to OU turned into a statewide story. It didn’t cause much of a ripple in the national recruiting scene, though.

“I wasn’t highly rated,” Broyles said. “People just kind of looked at my height and weight and nothing else.”

At first glimpse, there’s isn’t much to him. He’s generously listed at 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds. He’s fast, but no one has ever touted Broyles for having world class speed.

He just has other things that are hard to measure with a stopwatch or weights.

“The game kind of slows down for him,” receivers coach Jay Norvell said. “He plays at a faster speed. And he acts like he’s been doing it for a long time. That’s unusual for a guy that hasn’t played a whole lot.”

Broyles’ two-touchdown performance in last Saturday’s 55-14 victory over Washington was the just the second game of his career.

But OU’s inner circle has expected big things from Broyles since they first fit him for a helmet.