National signing day never passes without surprises. In this case, the surprise comes the day after the first day of the regular signing period for prospective Division 1 football players.
Early Thursday morning, elite defensive line recruit Lebbeus Overton announced he would reclassify from the class of 2023 and join the 2022 class, thus making him officially able to sign and play in the fall.
The announcement creates a massive ripple in the college football world and the recruitment is already narrowed per an article by recruiting aficionado Steve Wiltfong. Five schools are in the running for Overton and he plans to use his official visits to those five: Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas A&M, Ohio State and Oregon.
Oklahoma’s ties to Overton run deep. Like DNA deep. Overton’s father was a former Oklahoma Sooner from 1991-1994 as an offensive lineman. He started four seasons, graduated and returned to OU for a master’s degree. He is the athletic director at Kennesaw State University.
Lebbeus doesn’t play along the offensive line, but he’s dominant in the trenches on the defensive side of the ball. Oh, and he’s a star on his high school basketball team. He was a significant contributor on a Milton High School team that won a state championship at the 7A level in Georgia and finished seventh nationally per MaxPreps in 2021.
When announcing why he was still considering Oklahoma, Milton said this: “Coach Venables going there you can tell they’re trying to switch the program to more a defensive one. He played a main role of being in my top five.” It’s hardly surprising considering how many recruits in recent weeks have echoed some variation of the same sentiments that Venables character and personality stands out above all else.
Oklahoma offered Overton under the Riley regime and Calvin Thibodeaux led the recruiting efforts. While that was going on, the Clemson Tigers were very much in the mix, led by a few familiar names that wear Crimson and Cream now. Venables and defensive tackles coach Todd Bates were the leads of his recruitment when both were at Clemson, and you can imagine both will be using that relationship now that both are at Oklahoma.
Bates and Venables are no strangers to landing elite defensive line talent. They tag-teamed the recruitment of defensive tackle Bryan Bresee, 2019’s No. 1 recruit who signed and plays with Clemson. Bates also helped land three other top 100 defensive tackles in the last few years while at Clemson.
The Sooners have a shot here, but it will not be easy. The field is full of some massive major destinations for an elite defender.
Ohio State is Ohio State, puts players in the league at an outstanding rate and is a national contender almost yearly. Texas A&M’s recruiting for the 2022 class is historic and is already filled with five-star defensive line talent thanks to quite possibly college football’s best recruiter, Elijah Robinson. Oregon has Dan Lanning, who was the defensive coordinator at Georgia before being hired by the Ducks as their head coach. The familiarity means something as Overton mentioned. The same can be said about Georgia, which is the hometown school, fresh off a national title, and loses quite a few interior defenders such as Jordan Davis and Travon Walker to the NFL.
A&M is the trending pick right now. With a decision not likely anytime in the next month, this is a major story to watch over the college football offseason.
The Sooners should empty the tank and go all-in for Overton. They had a five-star defensive lineman, Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, who was another Sooners legacy. But Lincoln Riley’s exit and Calvin Thibodeaux heading to work at SMU after not being retained by Venables sealed the Sooners’ fate.
They have a shot at another legacy recruit and have nothing stopping them from going all in and applying the full-court press. Only Overton and Josh Conerly remain as Sooners’ targets for the class of 2022. Landing the two would be massive, but landing Overton seems more attainable due to a few factors the Sooners have in their favor.
This is a situation we’ll monitor over the next few months or so. Stay tuned to Sooners Wire for more information as it comes out.
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