After inking five on national signing day, Oklahoma is squarely inside the top 10 team recruiting rankings. In fact, OU’s 2022 signing class is ranked No. 8 nationally in each of the team rankings provided by 247Sports, Rivals and On3.
New defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis helped the Sooners surge by adding three national signing day flips. On3’s Jeremy Crabtree listed Chavis as one of his top 10 recruiters for the 2022 class.
Many were writing off Oklahoma’s 2022 class as doomed after Lincoln Riley took off for USC. But thanks to Miguel Chavis’ efforts, the Sooners were one of the big winners on Signing Day.
On Signing Day, OU and Chavis landed a flurry that included four-star defensive linemen Gracen Halton and R Mason Thomas and four-star EDGE Kevonte Henry.
What was even more impressive about the signings is that all three were committed to other schools, and Chavis had to convince them that Norman was the better place.
Those wins — along with adding players at positions of need — cement his spot on this rundown of the top recruiters. – Jeremy Crabtree, On3.
Halton had been committed to Oregon, Thomas to Iowa State and Henry to Michigan. According to On3’s consensus rankings, Halton is the nation’s No. 253 player nationally and the No. 29 defensive lineman. On3 rates Thomas as the country’s No. 140 player overall and the No. 17 EDGE, while Henry is listed by On3 as the No. 176 player nationally and the No. 19 EDGE.
“Jay and Miguel both, boy, they’re both so unique. Tons of energy. Lots of life. They’re wise beyond their years. They bring so much to the table when it comes from relationships to football acumen, just really advanced when it comes to the ability to teach and also to be able to articulate football 101, to be able to more than hold their own in the staff room. And then, their ability to connect with players is really, really special,” Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables said on national signing day of Chavis and cornerbacks coach Jay Valai.
Chavis spent five years with Venables at Clemson. During that time, it became clear to Venables that Chavis was prepared to step into a role like this at Oklahoma.
“We hit it off immediately. He’s a former player and I sat in the staff room with him every day. He coached a camp with us. He had some opportunities to coach because of COVID and some things like that as well over the last few years. Just you know when you know. You know it when you see it and you know it when you don’t,” Venables said.
The Sooners are already reaping the national signing day rewards of giving Chavis his first full-time on-field assistant coaching role.
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