Juaquin Iglesias barely created a ripple when he signed with Oklahoma in February of 2005. After all, he was part of a recruiting class that included the likes of Malcolm Kelly and Manuel Johnson and the Sooners already had a huge crop of receivers ahead of him.

He didn’t possess any of their accolades, but he did possess something else.

“He’s a guy with great ability and has shown a willingness to work and make himself better,” OU coach Bob Stoops said.

Iglesias has. He leads the Sooners with 21 receptions, including five last week against Texas. Those numbers come off a freshman campaign which finished with 290 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.

In two seasons, he became the prototypical possession receiver every offense seeks.

“I’m just trying to become as well rounded as I can be,” Iglesias said.

Most believed it would be tough for him to get on the field with so many older players and highly-touted recruits ahead of him.

Iglesias’ prep career at Killeen (Texas) High School was solid. He caught 42 passes his senior year and found the end zone 10 times. But his efforts didn’t catch the attention of many big-name college programs.

He was entertaining offers from UTEP, SMU and Houston when the Sooners called.

He jumped at the chance to come to Norman. Killeen used a similar offense to OU’s and Iglesias had seen what receivers like Mark Clayton, Brandon Jones and Mark Bradley had done in the system. He wanted to be a part of it.

But even he never imagined it would happen so quickly.

“I came from a town where people were always like, ‘You’re not going to play,’” Iglesias said. “That was kind of the mindset I had coming out of Killeen. I didn’t expect to play.”

Most, including Iglesias, figured he was destined to redshirt in 2005. OU had Travis Wilson and several older players who’d been waiting in the wings. Plus, Kelly and Johnson were expected to have the best chances to make immediate impacts.

Besides, freshmen who play right out of high school are few and far between. The speed of the game tends to overwhelm most.

“It’s an eye-opening experience for anybody,” OU receivers coach Kevin Sumlin said. “The first thing that happens to most players is they see that the game is extremely fast the first time they go out there. Things happen in a hurry and they don’t know what’s going on. Even though you’ve practiced it, it’s not the same.”