Most Important People #18 – Hubert Anyiam

I would have ranked him higher but after reading and re-reading through all the guys OSU is lining up at WR I’m not sure that it’s totally vital to this team’s success that Anyiam perform at his zenith.

Who he is: When Dez got Tressel-ed in ’09 Anyiam stepped up to the tune of 42-515-3 including a nasty 10-119-1 performance against Mizzou at home. He tailed off at the end of that year, of course a lot of that probably had to do with the fact that Zac’s shoulder was like the homeless man’s McGahee’s knee the second half of the season, but whatever.

What he does: Anyiam struggled last year with injuries and then struggled to get involved in the middle of the season with Blackmon and Cooper deeply established as the best 1-2 punch in the state (yes, I’m looking at you, Mr. Stills).

And that Blackmon/Cooper combo is kind of the point here, isn’t it? Are teams going to play with eight defensive backs? If they aren’t (and I’m assuming they aren’t) then your third, fourth, and fifth guys are going to get more looks than Jennifer Aniston at a World of Warcraft tournament.

Where he fits in: You could have slipped any number of people into this spot, I chose Anyiam because there’s a precedent. He is the third or fourth receiver depending on your feelings about Tracy Moore and Michael Harrison, both of whom are more hype than production to this point.

I choose to believe Anyiam is going to be Weeden’s #3 option which is kind of scary when you think about the fact that people like Harrison, Moore, Isaiah Anderson, Justin Horton, and freshmen Josh Stewart and David Glidden are going to be the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth options. And we haven’t even gotten to Joseph Randle catching swing passes.

I wonder if Weeden sits on his back porch at night and wonders what he did to deserve this.

The media keeps writing that OU and Arkansas have the best receiving groups in the country but for my money there’s not a deeper, more talented group than this one.

Why he matters: He can take some of the heat off of Blackmon and give Weeden carte blanche on Big 12 secondaries. He also takes pressure off of Moore and Harrison to make big plays and lets them just choose their spots.

Say what you want about that ’09 team (and I know we talked it up hard after the Georgia game) but this team’s depth makes that one seem like Bob Simmons was still in charge. On that squad you basically had Dez and pray somebody else gets open. Contrast that with the fact that you’re running through four progressions before you even think about guys like Randle and Moore and I think something special may be brewing.

This post is part of our series on the 20 most important people to a 2011 Oklahoma State title run. Check the full list out here.