Tag: 2023 four-star linebacker

4-Star Linebacker Lewis Carter signs with the Oklahoma Sooners

Lewis Carter makes his commitment official, signing with the Oklahoma Sooners in the early signing period.

The early signing period is underway, and the Oklahoma Sooners are beginning to put pen to paper with their [autotag]2023 recruiting class[/autotag].

After adding Jaren Kanak, Kobie McKinzie, and Kip Lewis in the 2022 recruiting class, the Oklahoma Sooners are adding three more linebackers in the 2023 class. In addition to Samuel Omosigho and Phil Picciotti, the Sooners received a commitment from Top247 four-star linebacker [autotag]Lewis Carter[/autotag]. Carter made that commitment official in the early signing period with a national letter of intent for the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Tampa, Fla. native committed to the Oklahoma Sooners back on July 16 with 31 Power Five offers, including Auburn, Clemson, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, LSU, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and USC.

Carter is the No. 157 prospect in the 247Sports database and is the No. 12 linebacker in the country. He ranks as the No. 38 player in the state of Florida.

An Under Armour All-American, Carter led Tampa Catholic with 9.8 tackles per game and added four sacks and two interceptions in 2022.

A two-way player, Carter plays with speed from the MIKE linebacker position and is a physical player at the point of attack. Carter moves well in pursuit and does a good job diagnosing the play and reacting. He was dynamic as a running back for Tampa Catholic as well, running for 75.5 yards per game and totaling 15 touchdowns on offense.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, and comment on this story below. Join the conversation today. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.

Uber-athletic 4-star linebacker Samuel Omosigho signs with Oklahoma

Oklahoma earns signature of uber-athletic four-star linebacker Samuel Omosigho.

The early signing period is underway, and the Oklahoma Sooners are beginning to put pen to paper with their [autotag]2023 recruiting class[/autotag].

If there’s a short list for the best athlete in Oklahoma’s 2023 recruiting class, four-star linebacker Samuel Omosigho is firmly on the list. The Oklahoma Sooners will be head over heels that they no longer have to worry about anyone coming to poach him away. Omosigho signed his national letter of during the early signing period.

Omosigho fits the mold as a modern-day hybrid linebacker of the future. At 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, he can run well and is expected to be an asset in coverage.

Omosigho is the No. 67 overall player, the No. 10 player in Texas, and the No. 93 overall prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings. Samuel Omosigho can do it all.

He could have played Power Five football at receiver, as he had multiple offers to do that as well. Instead, he chose to play for the Sooners over the Florida Gators and Auburn Tigers. Brandon Hall and Ted Roof led the way in his recruitment.

Omosigho has also been very vocal in his efforts to recruit other targets on Oklahoma’s radar to wear the crimson & cream.

He was selected as an All-American Bowl participant during his senior year and was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year in as a junior Texas District 8-5A. He also earned unanimous first-team all-district honors at outside linebacker.

With his signature, Omosigho is locked in and will turn his attention to next season where he may end up in a similar situation as current Sooner, Jaren Kanak. Kanak hasn’t quite settled into a position yet, but he saw time early due to depth issues at LB. Kanak’s natural talent helped him get on the field, and the same could be said about Omosigho, provided he adds some much-needed weight.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.

Four-star prospect Tausili Akana includes Oklahoma in his top 10

2023 four-star prospect Tausili Akana includes the Oklahoma Sooners in his top 10.

Armed with a top five recruiting class in the 2023 cycle, the Oklahoma Sooenrs already have a fantastic group of prospects pledged to arrive in Norman next year. And there’s a strong possibility that that group could get even better along the way.

One of their top remaining targets in the 2023 recruiting class, [autotag]Tausili Akana[/autotag] narrowed his top 10 schools on Tuesday and included the Oklahoma Sooners. Akana is a top 100 player in the 247Sports Composite, ranks as the No. 12 edge rusher in the nation, and is the top player in the state of Utah.

It’s top 10 is filled with a who’s who on the recruiting trail inclduing Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, and Texas. It won’t be an easy commitment to get for the Sooners, but we’ve seen them go head-to-head with the top schools and win some of these battles.

Akana is a four-star linebacker that has the size and versatility to play along the edge. He displays good power to set the edge in the running game and good speed and agility to work around offensive tackles on the pass rush. He’s got good speed in pursuit, and his length allows him to wrap up ball carriers with ease.

According to 247Sports, Venables is leading the charge for Akana, signifying just how important this recruitment is to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Here’s a look at Akana’s top 10 and where they currently rank in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings.

Lucky number 7: Sooners score seventh commitment in July as Lewis Carter pledges to Oklahoma

As the Sooners continue to stay scalding hot in July, landing yet another commitment. This time from four-star LB Lewis Carter.

Don’t let the lede deceive you. The Oklahoma Sooners are far from lucky this month. This type of recruiting success takes planning, hard work, and maybe just a little luck.

Nonetheless, the Sooners are as hot as an  mid-July summer day on the recruiting trail. They landed their seventh commitment in July, when 2023 linebacker Lewis Carter pledged to Oklahoma Saturday afternoon.

Carter, a four-star linebacker out of the Tampa area, chose Oklahoma over Auburn, UNC, Clemson, Florida, Miami, and UCF.

He’s smaller in build for a linebacker and maybe has long-term potential as a sub-package linebacker that plays in the box as a strong safety on other downs. He’s very athletic and that quality is the first thing that jumps out to you when watching his film.

After a fast and furious morning of predictions yesterday, Carter wasted no time locking in his future home.

With Carter’s commitment, Oklahoma is fine No. 10 nationally for recruiting in the 2023 class.

His pledge potentially closes up shop for linebacker recruiting for 2023 barring a very surprising commitment.

Carter’s recruitment was pretty swift as the Sooners only offered the Florida linebacker in May. He visited officially the weekend of June 10th, and about five weeks later he is now a member of the Sooners “CHO23N” class. Carter was offered by Venables when the first-year Sooners head coach was still the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Clemson, so the relationship was well established before the Sooners’ offer came in.

The Floridian joins four-star Samuel Omosigho, three-star Phil Picciotti, and three-star Kaleb Spencer as new linebackers to be coached by Ted Roof and Brent Venables. Carter’s commitment gives Oklahoma sixteen commitments in total.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

Oklahoma looks like the trending choice for four-star LB Lewis Carter out of Tampa, Florida

Momentum is starting to pick up significantly in Oklahoma’s favor for four-star linebacker Lewis Carter out of Tampa, Florida.

Oklahoma has become an absolute machine in July and by all accounts, it’s not slowing down this month in the slightest.

After starting the month ranked somewhere in the 40s nationally in team recruiting rankings for the class of 2023, Oklahoma has taken a gigantic Superman-sequel leap into the top 15 of college football recruiting and the best part is: The month of July has more commits to come.

One of the players whom the Sooners are closing in on is four-star athlete Lewis Carter.

Carter, a projected linebacker out of Tampa, Florida, fits the modern off-ball linebacker mold of today. He’s not some hulking 6-foot-3 behemoth but a little undersized with speed to burn and some pop behind his pads. He has the ability to play in space, which is where today’s games are being decided. At six feet tall and playing somewhere around 200 pounds it’s possible the Sooners could move him to safety but it looks like he’ll get a shot as a linebacker out of high school.

The Under Armour All-American boasts over 40 confirmed offers but the Auburn Tigers, North Carolina Tarheels, Clemson Tigers and the Sooners seem to be standing out the most.

Less than 24 hours after Oklahoma landed their 15th commitment of the 2023 class, cryptic “lock” emojis flooded social media from former Sooner great Rufus Alexander and director of recruiting J.R. Sandlin on Friday morning. Those were followed by Carter posting this tweet.

To cap it all off, multiple 247Sports crystal ball and On3 predictions were dropped from Oklahoma and Auburn insiders, raising the idea that Carter’s recruitment could be winding down and Oklahoma looks to be the favorite.

With that said, a Carter commitment would be another major pickup as Brent Venables continues to remake the defensive roster in his image. One that more closely resembles the elite defenses he built while at Clemson.

Lewis Carter’s Recruiting Profile

Crystal Ball

Film

HUDL

Oklahoma lands 9th commitment of 2023 cycle in four-star LB Samuel Omosigho

The Oklahoma Sooners have landed another recruit for the class of 2023 in four-star LB Samuel Omosigho chose Oklahoma over Florida.

After an anxiety-filled last few weeks, Oklahoma fans can take a deep sigh of relief. The sky isn’t falling and some of the nation’s best athletes want to play football at the University of Oklahoma. That rings true for four-star linebacker Samuel Omosigho who chose the Sooners over the Florida Gators at a ceremony on Thursday afternoon.

Omosigho had been a hard OU lean for a while now but after taking officials to both with the Gators getting the last visit, it seemed all but locked up that he would be donning the Crimson & Cream come fall of 2023. Omosigho spent time with the Oklahoma insiders at 247Sports to discuss why OU won out in the end and had this to say:

“On my first visit on the fifth of March, they swept me off my feet with the spiritual aspect, the mental aspect, the athletic aspect,” he told 247Sports. “And with Oklahoma being Oklahoma — how good their program is, and a new head coach that has been successful at his [previous] program coming into this new program, making it his own — it’s different.

“Me and my family, we’re truly a faith-based family. And Coach Venables, what he talks about a lot and preaches a lot is being a faith-based football team. And me and my family put one and two together, and [OU] was the school that was fit for me. Every single time with Coach Venables is like a motivational speech. He continues to pour out his wisdom and his great advice to us; when my mom heard his speech and heard him talk, she was so impressed. And she felt like this was home.”

Omosigho brings athleticism and tremendous upside for a player whose best days still seem very much ahead. Head coach Brent Venables, defensive coordinator, linebackers coach Ted Roof, and even safeties coach Brandon Hall all chipped in during the recruitment.

He’ll be a linebacker certainly but it sounds like he’ll be cross-trained to be able to play all three linebacker positions which should speak volumes to the caliber of athlete he is. If that doesn’t, consider he had multiple Power 5 offers to play WR as well.

With Omosigho’s commitment the Sooners inch a little bit higher in the team recruiting rankings. Omosigho’s commitment is on the last day in June but it ultimately could be the start of a massive July for the program. Omosigho could be the opener for possibly four or five other commits as the calendar flips over to July.

[listicle id=35808]

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

2023 LB prospect Samuel Omosigho announces commitment date

Four-star linebacker Samuel Omosigho announces a top two of Florida and Oklahoma while setting his decision date for June 30th.

July could be Oklahoma’s most fruitful month for their efforts in the 2023 recruiting class. Multiple OU targets have announced their decision dates and trimmed their lists.

A particular linebacker prospect out of the state of Texas is firmly within Oklahoma’s reach and all that stands between OU and a commitment from four-star linebacker Samuel Omosigho is the Florida Gators. Omosigho plans to make his decision known to the world on Thursday.

Omosigho is a rangy athlete that plays both ways for his high school team. While his stars may not reflect it, he’s is an elite athlete who could be a late bloomer turned star if he spends multiple years in a college strength and conditioning program.

At 6-foot-1 and just under 210 pounds, Omosigho has the horizontal quickness to match up in coverage, has the strength and power to rush the QB, and can shed blocks and make plays in the running game.

With his commitment set for Thursday, Omosigho could become the second defensive player in as many months to join the Sooners 2023 class. Their last defensive commitment came from safety Kaleb Spencer out of Virginia in May.

Brandon Hall and linebackers’ coach Ted Roof have fought tooth and nail for Omosigho, who has had multiple unofficial visits with Oklahoma before he even stepped foot on campus for his official.

Stay tuned to Sooners Wire as we plan to cover his commitment on Thursday as well.

[listicle id=35808]

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

2023 LB target Troy Bowles includes Oklahoma in his top 8 schools

Oklahoma Sooners land inside the top 8 for 2023 four-star linebacker Troy Bowles out of Florida.

The focus of Oklahoma recruiting changed on Dec. 5, 2021, when the Oklahoma Sooners hired Brent Venable to be head coach. Having spent a decade in the Southeast, Oklahoma’s new head coach has had the Sooners wading into SEC and ACC territory regularly.

One of the first offers the Sooners made in the Venables era came four days after he was hired. It went to 2023 four-star linebacker Troy Bowles. Bowles had been a recruit Venables pursued during his time at Clemson.

A top 100 player in the 2023 recruiting cycle, Bowles released his top eight schools and included the Oklahoma Sooners, largely because of his connection to Brent Venables. He shared with Hayes Fawcett of On3 Recruiting, “Coach Venables and I have a very good relationship, and he’s always been honest with me,” Bowles said. “I have a lot of respect for him, and the fans are crazy. I love it.”

Bowles, the son of Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles, included Rutgers, Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, Auburn, Georgia and Florida along with the Sooners in his top eight.

Currently, On3 gives the edge in the recruiting battle to the Ohio State Buckeyes while the only crystal ball predictions issued have Bowles going to Georgia. The Sooners may be a long shot here, but never count out Venables. With an official visit coming on June 3, Oklahoma could make enough of an impression to gain ground.

Bowles is an athletic player who shows good speed and pursuit ability. Lined up as a weak side linebacker, he’s able to walk down and play on the edge as well as drop into coverage.

Andrew Ivins of 247Sports had this to say about Troy Bowles.

One of the more complete three-down linebacker prospects to come out of Florida recently given his ability to not only take on blocks and blitz, but also cover tight ends and running backs. Has done nothing but produce since he was a freshman at one of the Sunshine State’s more tradition-rich high school programs totaling over 250 tackles, 12 sacks and 5 interceptions his first three years on varsity. Intelligent player that has a good feel for what’s going on around him, which isn’t surprising given the fact that his father is an NFL defensive coordinator. A face-up tackler with good leg drive that doesn’t let many slip ball carriers out of his hands. Featured primarily as a stand-up edge player early on in his prep career, which in turn taught him how to win with a chop or a simple dip of the shoulder. Comfortable in zone coverage and is quick to anticipate throws. More than capable of making a difference outside of the hashes given his initial burst and will exert plenty of energy over the course of four quarters. Will need to cut down on the few mistakes he makes and keep mastering his craft, but should be viewed as one of the top ‘backers in the class of 2023. Traits and pro-like mentality suggests that he can emerge as a trusted contributor for a Top 25 program and eventually an impact player. NFL upside. – Ivins, 247Sports

Troy Bowles’ Recruiting Profile

Crystal Ball

Film

Hudl

Oklahoma Sooners in top 4, receives predictions for 2023 LB Phil Picciotti

The Oklahoma Sooners made the top 4 for 2023 4-star linebacker Phil Picciotti, and receive On3 and Crystal Ball predictions to land his commitment.

A few weeks out from their biggest recruiting event of the year, the Oklahoma Sooners have made some positive headway with several 2023 prospects over the last week. They landed a commitment from versatile 2023 three-star prospect Kaleb Spencer. The Sooners received recruiting projections for tight end Reid Mikeska, a former Clemson commit, and wide receiver Anthony Evans.

One of the many prospects planning to attend Oklahoma’s ChampU BBQ is Phil Picciotti, a linebacker out of Pennsylvania. Picciotti, who was offered and had an unofficial visit under the previous coaching staff has kept the Oklahoma Sooners on his radar despite the change in leadership and included OU in his top four schools.

Oklahoma joins Nebraska, Auburn, and Michigan as the final four schools in consideration for Picciotti’s commitment.

A four-star prospect according to Rivals, National Recruiting Analyst Andrew Friedman had this to say about the linebacker prospect, ranking the Sooners second behind Nebraska in the recruiting battle.

The Sooners have done a good job getting into the thick of the race for Picciotti. When he visited Norman a few weeks back he got a chance to bond with the coaching staff and those relationships have carried Oklahoma thus far. Picciotti is also very impressed by the track record Brent Venables has with linebackers who have a similar skill set. Oklahoma is set to host Picciotti for an official visit June 3rd-5th. – Friedman, Rivals

Since releasing his top four schools, OUInsider’s Parker Thune has issued a crystal ball projection and Ryan Snyder issued an On3 Prediction in favor of the Oklahoma Sooners landing Picciotti.

Phil Picciotti’s Recruiting Profile

Crystal Ball

Film

Hudl