Brent Venables is picking up steam and he’s picking it up fast. The new Sooners head coach made immediate offers the Monday after he signed his contract with the Oklahoma Sooners and sent one to 2022 defensive tackle Alton Tarber out of Deerfield Beach, Florida.
Tarber announced his commitment to Oklahoma in a post via his Twitter page. His recruitment moved along very fast due to Venables’ connection with Tarber while the defensive coordinator at Clemson and Tarber camping at Clemson.
1000%committed🔴⚪️ #BoomerSooner pic.twitter.com/0p39YdKmYu
— Dr3am.chas3r (@TarberIv) December 14, 2021
Tarber had been committed to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets since August and seemed fairly set in his recruitment. Venables sent out an offer upon his first full day as Oklahoma’s head coach and things sped up in a hurry. New Sooners’ defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis visited Tarber in Florida and that led to Tarber taking an official visit to Oklahoma where it seems things went well.
Days after his visit he de-committed from Georgia Tech and completed the flip to Oklahoma by announcing his commitment.
Tarber isn’t highly recruited but he’s a mountain of a young man. Standing at 6-foot-2 and hovering around 300 pounds as a high school senior.
The Sooners certainly are deviating from the previous regime’s player scouting. While the previous regime was quick to shy away from the hefty interior linemen in exchange for speed, Brent Venables is embracing them as he always has.
Tarber likely projects as a true nose tackle or space-eater in the interior to take on blocks in the run game in order to open lanes for linebackers to run free thru gaps and make plays. He fills a role as the Sooners will lose a few bodies on the interior over the next few years.
This isn’t a flashy highly ranked recruit but it’s one where the Sooners coaching staff is going all-in on trusting their eyes and hoping what they saw can be shaped into a dominant interior monster on their new-look defense. Tarber’s commitment brings Oklahoma to number 10 on 247Sports composite team rankings for this 2022 cycle.
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