Inexperience and injuries have forced Oklahoma’s turning to freshmen to help carry the load.

It’s a less than ideal situation for any team, but the Sooners were looking at youngsters making an impact even in the preseason.

Rhett Bomar was expected to compete at the quarterback spot, and he wasn’t the only one.

Malcolm Kelly arrived in Norman as the biggest prize of OU’s 2005 recruiting class. He joined Eric Huggins, Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson to comprise a group of young receivers expected to add punch to the Sooners’ passing attack.

OU coach Bob Stoops and offensive coordinator Chuck Long both said the quartet has the ability to be just as good as the group that just left: Mark Clayton, Mark Bradley, Brandon Jones and Will Peoples. Those four, along with quarterback Jason White, produced record-setting numbers in 2003 and 2004.

It only took one practice for Kelly to show why. Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 204 pounds, he has the size to bang with defensive backs and the speed to run away from them.

All of it was on display in early August, when Kelly routinely turned in big plays in practice.

“He was the guy that we thought would contribute probably the first out of that crew,” offensive coordinator Chuck Long said.

But as it went with the rest of the team, bad breaks set in early.

Kelly injured his hamstring after a handful of practices. He spent most of the preseason on the sidelines. He missed a lot of practice and development time.

“It slowed me down a whole lot,” Kelly said. “Confidence level, everything just slowed down. You’re on top doing everything real good when you first come in. All of a sudden you get knocked down the by injury.”

Kelly recovered well enough to play in the of OU’s first five games, but he knew he was falling behind.

“In high school, you can miss three or four weeks and still come out and be better than everybody because you’re just a better athlete,” Kelly said. “In college, everyday you miss gives someone else a chance to get that much better. I think I’ve gotten back to the level I was at. But I always think if I hadn’t gotten hurt, what level would I be at?”

It’s a scary thought, considering what he was able to do in the fourth quarter last Saturday against Kansas.

OU was without senior wideout Travis Wilson and with Kansas blitzing on nearly every play, the Sooners needed someone to make a big play.