Tag: Kani Walker

Sooners land their third transfer defensive back commit in two days; Trey Morrison is coming from UNC to Oklahoma

After spending multiple years in Chapel Hill, Trey Morrison will spend the rest of his college career donning Crimson and Cream.

The Sooners have gone 3-for-3 when it comes to landing transfer portal defensive backs who visited the Sooners this winter.

Since Sunday, the Sooners have shored up their defensive backfield depth with veterans who have a great deal of collegiate playing experience. C.J. Coldon of Wyoming started the sequence with a commitment Sunday evening. Freshman Kani Walker of Louisville kept it rolling Monday afternoon. Trey Morrison of UNC completed the transfer trifecta with his commitment Monday evening.

Morrison was on our list of three transfer defensive backs we thought the Sooners should pursue in the portal:

“Trey Morrison is probably the opposite of (Eric) Reed in the sense that Morrison has played a lot of snaps at the college level. Morrison appeared in 11 games as a true freshman for the North Carolina Tar Heels, starting 10, at nickel back in 2019. That season, he totaled 46 tackles, two sacks, 5.5 TFL and four pass breakups.

In 2020, he started all 12 games at defensive back and was All-ACC honorable mention. He produced 39 total tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, three pass breakups and one interception. While physically he’s not the biggest player, he’s productive and he’s very experienced.

Over four seasons, Morrison has played in 44 games in college. He gives the Sooners a veteran presence and more position versatility as they look to retool and rest their secondary going into the 2022 season.”

His valuable game experience mixed with his productivity was likely the easiest sell for Jay Valai and the rest of this defensive staff. The Sooners needed experience but why get experience if it doesn’t come with proven results? Morrison has both. Though not the biggest guy, he’s scrappy and willing to mix it up.

Morrison also has been coached by former NFL cornerback turned UNC cornerbacks coach in Dre Bly, so he’s had some very solid coaching over his time. He brings a wealth of knowledge he could pass on to his new OU teammates as well.

If one had to take a guess, Morrison is immediately thrust into a battle with Justin Broiles and Billy Bowman (should he remain at nickel) for the nickel position in Brent Venables and Ted Roof’s defense. He could very well be a starter come fall due to his versatility.

With Morrison on campus, the Sooners look noticeably less thin in their defensive backfield while adding seasoned collegiate players Morrison and Coldon to replace Delarrin Turner-Yell and Pat Fields. Walker, in essence, replaces Latrell McCutchin, considering both were freshmen last year.

Barring something crazy, it is unlikely more defensive backs will be added via the portal unless it happens after spring ball. Instead, the Sooners will look to add one final piece to their 2022 defensive back unit as they look to full-court press the number one player in the state of Oklahoma in cornerback commit Gentry Williams and ultimately land his signature sometime in February.

Jay Valai and Brandon Hall deserve their flowers for landing all three commits this weekend. Oklahoma needed all three and the new staff members in charge of the Sooners’ secondary got every single one. The grind never stops as they now turn full attention to Gentry Williams with a full defensive staff visit soon and then winter/spring ball and recruiting for 2023 and 2024 to worry about next. The fun’s only just beginning.

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Louisville transfer cornerback Kani Walker chooses the Oklahoma Sooners

Kani Walker, a former cornerback at the University of Louisville commits to Oklahoma.

The good news from the portal continues to roll in as the Sooners land themselves yet another defensive back from the transfer portal. Kani Walker, a defensive back who played his freshman season at Louisville, has committed to Oklahoma.

Out of high school, Walker was viewed as a three-star cornerback from Georgia, according to 247Sports. He played in five games for the Cardinals and only recorded one tackle. He only played 15 snaps, and just four coverage snaps on defense for the Cardinals.

For Oklahoma, this decision, coupled with the decision of Wyoming transfer C.J. Coldon brings some excellent news to the defensive side of the ball, considering all of the defensive players that have either declared for the NFL draft or transferred elsewhere.

It’s significant that Jay Valai and Brandon Hall, the two men tasked with coaching the cornerbacks and safeties, could sell Walker and Coldon on Oklahoma. They’ve only been in Norman a few weeks.

Walker joins a cornerback room featuring D.J. Graham, Woodi Washington, Joshua Eaton, Jaden Davis, C.J. Coldon, and Kendall Dennis.

Walker will be enrolling for the spring semester and figures to be part of a cornerback competition. With a new defensive staff and scheme, the slate’s wiped clean and everyone will have a shot at playing time.

Valai and Hall will continue their defensive back search as they look to go 3-for-3 in defensive back transfer targets by landing UNC transfer Trey Morrison next.

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What can the Oklahoma Sooners expect from new cornerbacks and co-defensive coordinator Jay Valai?

Now official, what can the Oklahoma Sooners expect to get from new cornerbacks coach and co-defensive coordinator Jay Valai?

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With one final hire following the final game of the year in which the Georgia Bulldogs beat the Alabam Crimson Tide to become national champions, the Oklahoma Sooners have filled all of their major on-field coaching positions. It took them a bit of time but Brent Venables has his first full staff of coaches as he looks to guide Oklahoma for the long haul.

The final piece was finding a cornerbacks coach and the Oklahoma Sooners officially named Jay Valai cornerbacks coach and co-defensive coordinator. Initially reported back on Jan. 3, the Sooners bring in the former Alabama Crimson Tide assistant with ties to the state of Texas.

Valai will be coaching the cornerbacks and will be the passing game coordinator on defense for the Sooners. Valai takes over for Roy Manning, who now coaches outside linebackers at USC.

The Valai hiring brings a true cornerback with collegiate and NFL experience to lead the unit in Norman. Valai played his high school ball in the Midcities area of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and was a former All-Big Ten defensive back at Wisconsin. He’s coached at both the collegiate and NFL levels since joining the profession in 2016.

With his success at the collegiate and NFL level, he brings a similar dynamic that running backs coach DeMarco Murray brings to the table. A former player turned coach, who can tell his recruits and players what it takes to get to the NFL level. For the Sooners’ his presence could mean some major strides and changes being made to a talented but smaller unit and a unit with a few guys who just scratched the surface of how talented and productive they can be at a major program.

Now that he’s officially hired, he’ll be entering a room that recently lost one of its more talented youngsters to the transfer portal in Latrell McCutchin. McCutchin is someone Valai knows well since he was part of the Texas staff that recruited the former Sooner out of high school. Woodi Washington, DJ Graham, Joshua Eaton, Jaden Davis, Billy Bowman, and Justin Broiles remain, providing the Sooners with some talent and experience for Valai to work with.

On the 2022 recruiting trail, Gentry Williams should be priority number one. Williams has remained steadfast with his commitment to Oklahoma waiting to see who the next cornerbacks coach would be. Valai has to secure that commitment before he worries about any other potential 2022 recruits. Elsewhere, four-star CB Jahlil Florence had Oklahoma in his sights for a visit but due to personal reasons no longer plans to take visits anywhere. Can Valai make up lost ground there or will Florence ultimately stay with Oregon where he was previously committed?

Valai has some work to do to bring in some more bodies to the Sooners’ cornerback room via the transfer portal and the 2022 recruiting class.

Before the official announcement of his hire, we compiled a list of some defensive backs that the Sooners should target via the transfer portal.

On top of the names listed there, with Valai on board, the Sooners can also look to the transfer portal for immediate 2022 help from someone like Louisville transfer Kani Walker, a freshmen cornerback who just announced an offer from Oklahoma.

 

Once he wraps up the grind to secure more players for the 2022 roster, Valai’s biggest obstacle is getting his new room bought in. Again, the Sooners have talent but maximizing this talent and turning them into a unit to be feared was something the previous coach simply couldn’t do.

All told, the Sooners have a lot of questions that need to be answered for this position group and its new position coach heading into 2022. Between transfer decisions, recruiting decisions, and getting settled in, the Sooners new cornerbacks coach has his work cut out for him. He’ll be pushed and stressed early and often. Only time will tell how he adapts.

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