Norman, Okla. ? In high school, Malcolm Kelly made being a playmaker simple. Just run past the defender, go deep and catch the ball.

With a 6-foot-4 frame and a 38-inch vertical leap, that’s about as complicated as his routes needed to be to have success.

During his junior and senior seasons at Longview High School in Texas, he caught 56 passes for 1,464 yards – an average of 26.1 yards per catch – and 15 touchdowns and was an all-state selection both years.

Since arriving at Oklahoma, the big plays didn’t come so easily.

He made his first start of the season at UCLA and made one catch for eight yards. And that was his only catch through five games for the Sooners (3-3, 2-1 Big 12).

Then, on one drive Saturday against Kansas University, it all came together for the freshman from Longview, Texas.

He caught a 40-yard pass from Rhett Bomar for the Sooners’ longest reception of the season, then finished the drive with a 25-yard touchdown catch.

It wasn’t exactly the perfect route, but it still went for his first career TD.

Balance maintained

“I had slipped and I almost went out of bounds, but I looked down and stayed in bounds. I was tumbling over and I just looked up in the air and he had threw the ball up,” Kelly said. “He told me after the play, ‘I thought you were falling, but I figured you would get back up,”‘ That’s why he threw it.”

Those spectacular plays are the exact reason why Kelly is on campus in Norman.

Offensive coordinator Chuck Long said the Sooners’ coaching staff expected Kelly to be the first to contribute from a group of freshman receivers that also includes Eric Huggins, Manuel Johnson and Juaquin Iglesias.

“We had a lot of confidence in Malcolm making those plays … ,” Long said. “We feel that Malcolm is going to be a big-play guy from here on out his entire career.”

Kelly connected with Bomar even before the two arrived at Oklahoma.

Kelly listened

During his junior year of high school, Kelly said Bomar and his father encouraged Kelly to go to Oklahoma and to arrive early. He listened.

Before running through 7-on-7 drills in the summer, Kelly and Bomar – a redshirt freshman who was a year ahead of Kelly in high school – would spend extra time on their own practicing their routes.

It paid off early in fall practice, when Kelly impressed coaches.

But then a hamstring injury sidelined Kelly, and his progress stopped.

“Everything just slows down a whole lot. You’re on top doing real good when you first come in, and then all of a sudden you’re getting knocked down by the injury,” Kelly said. ” … I always think if I wouldn’t have gotten hurt, where would I be at right now?”