Tag: Oklahoma recruiting

Oklahoma 2024 target David Stone earns 5-star status in latest 247Sports update

Oklahoma target David Stone moved into the top 5 in 247Sports latest update, earning five-star status ahead of trip to Norman for Bedlam. From @john9williams

Oklahoma’s search for their next great interior defensive lineman rolls on. This weekend for Bedlam, they’ll have the opportunity to host multiple five-star talents over the next two recruiting classes; [autotag]David Hicks[/autotag] in 2023 and [autotag]David Stone[/autotag] in 2024.

In the latest update of the 247Sports ranking for the 2024 class, [autotag]David Stone[/autotag] earned five-star status and jumped into the top five in the nation. He was already considered a five-star player in the composite ranking. As the 2024 cycle takes the reigns from 2023, it’s only a matter of time before he picks up five-star status across the board.

Stone, a native of Del City, Okla., moved to Bradenton, Fla. to play for powerhouse IMG Academy and his profile has only risen since. While Oklahoma was the early leader for the elite defensive tackle, Michigan State, Miami, Texas A&M, and Auburn have emerged in the race for his commitment.

Stone is a new-age point-of-attack player who can create plenty of push up the middle and offer value as an interior pass rusher. He had a bit of a coming-out party in September against Phenix City (Ala.) Central, totaling eight tackles and three quarterback hurries. Stone, who checks in at roughly 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, wins not only with leverage and heavy hands, but also an elite get-off. – Cooper Petagna, 247Sports

Stone moved into the top five of the Top247 recruiting rankings in the latest update and is the No. 2 defensive line prospect in the class.

David Stone’s Recruiting Profile

Projections

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Oklahoma Sooners receive Rivals Futurecast for 2023 3-star DT Ashton Sanders

After issuing an offer on Monday, the Oklahoma Sooners received a Rivals Futurecast from SoonerScoop’s Josh McCuistion for 2023 DL Ashton Sanders.

The Oklahoma Sooners are back in the defensive line game, looking to secure another piece for their 2023 recruiting class.

After submitting an offer to 2023 three-star defensive lineman Ashton Sanders on Halloween, the Sooners appear to be trending in a positive direction with Sanders. SoonerScoop.com’s Josh McCuistion, who covers recruiting for Rivals, issued a futurecast predicting the Sooners to land a commitment from the California native.

Once committed to the California Golden Bears, Sanders backed off that pledge in August and reopened his recruitment. He holds offers from Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Kansas, Washington, and Maryland, in addition to the recent offer from Oklahoma.

Sanders projects to play interior defensive line at the college level. He’s a load on the interior, standing 6-foot-1 and weighing over 300 pounds. The three-star prospect has the size to bully interior offensive linemen and the athleticism to beat them with quickness as well. Sanders is strong at the point of attack and displays great effort in pursuit. He does a great job working to get off blocks and plays with really good leverage.

For Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, Calif. Sanders plays up and down the defensive line in three and four-man fronts. He also plays tight end, tackle, and guard on the offensive side.

For the Sooners, he probably best projects as a zero or 1-technique nose tackle in Brent Venables’ defense, but he has the athleticism to play defensive end in three-man alignments as well.

After missing out on blue-chip prospects David Hicks and Jordan Renaud, Ashton Sanders would be a great addition to the Sooners’ 2023 recruiting class. He’s got the size and tools to be a disruptive player and has a ton of upside at the collegiate level.

Ashton Sanders’ Recruiting Profile

Projections

Film

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Oklahoma Sooners offer 2024 4-star CB Jalyn Crawford out of Georgia

The Oklahoma Sooners extended an offer to 2024 4-star cornerback Jalyn Crawford.

In the middle of their bye week, the Oklahoma Sooners put in some work on the recruiting trail offering four-star cornerback Jalyn Crawford out of Georgia.

Crawford marks the 14th corner they’ve offered in the 2024 recruiting class. The Lilburn, Ga. product is the No. 129 player in the 247Sports Composite and the No. 13 cornerback in the nation.

Standing six feet tall, Crawford has the length to compete on the outside. He shows a competitive nature, fighting for the ball at the catch point and plays through the receiver’s hands. He looks to have the requisite technique to play in both press and off-man coverages and on either side of the field.

Oklahoma’s 2024 recruiting class is baren at this time, but as we’ve seen with the 2023 recruiting class, don’t expect many commitments to come prior to the Summer before their senior year.

Crawford holds notable offers from LSU, Michigan, Texas A&M, and Florida State and will likely add several more as he approaches his junior year. The LSU Tigers look to have the early inside track, according to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, but it’s still early in the process.

Jalyn Crawford’s Recruiting Profile

Film

Hudl

Texas Football: Could Anthony Hill and Colton Vasek be on flip watch?

Anthony Hill Jr. and Colton Vasek are worth monitoring closely after recent events.

The Texas Longhorns had a great Saturday, and a great Saturday could spill over into a great week. Continue reading “Texas Football: Could Anthony Hill and Colton Vasek be on flip watch?”

Brent Venables on the verge of landing OU’s first top-5 recruiting class since 2010

Brent Venables has a chance to do something that hasn’t been done in more than a decade. Finish with a top-5 recruiting class.

Recruiting is something the Oklahoma Sooners have done very well since Lincoln Riley took over for Bob Stoops in 2017. In the five recruiting cycles Riley was head coach, the Sooners had four top-10 classes with an average 247Sports composite score of 270.77.

After bringing the 2022 class back to eighth in the country following Riley’s departure, Brent Venables is well on his way to getting the Sooners their first top-five recruiting class since 2010.

That class had 30 commits, the highest being safety Tony Jefferson, who is currently with the Baltimore Ravens. Wide receiver Kenny Stills was also in that class.

Bob Stoops had quite the year.

With Oklahoma Football reasserting itself on the recruiting landscape, let’s take a look back at the last five recruiting cycles. All the rankings are taken from 247Sports.com.

Top prospects in the Sooner State and where they’re headed in 2023

Where are the top Oklahoma prospects in the 2023 class headed?

The state of Oklahoma has some top-notch talent in the class of 2023. The Oklahoma Sooners have a commitment from 2022 Oklahoma Player of the Year Erik McCarty and are trending in a positive direction for the No. 2 player in the state, [autotag]Jacobe Johnson[/autotag].

They made serious plays for others in the top five of 247Sports top prospects in the state, but for one reason or another, those players decided to try their hand with another Power Five program.

Bai Jobe, the No. 1 player in the state, committed to Michigan State after spending his middle and high school years living in Norman. Oklahoma’s No. 3 player, Luke Hasz, decommitted from the Oklahoma Sooners after Lincoln Riley left for USC and hooked up with Sam Pittman and Arkansas to play his college ball. Dylan Hasz, his brother and the No. 17 player in the state in the 247Sports composite rankings is also going to Arkansas.

Athlete Micah Tease, a Tulsa native, also opted to head east with Hasz to play for the Razorbacks. Cole Adams, one of the top wide receivers in the state, opted to play for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Oklahoma State currently has the most commitments from in-state prospects with DL Jaedon Foreman and OL JaKobe Sanders pledge to play for Mike Gundy and the Cowboys. However, if and when the Sooners get a commitment from Jacobe Johnson, Oklahoma will have the edge with the higher rated in-state prospects.

The only two uncommited prospects in the top 18 in the state of Oklahoma, wide receiver Morgan Pearson and running back Rickey Hunt, don’t have offers from the Sooners. Pearson has an offer from Oklahoma State and both have offers from Iowa State.

Though we’re still months away from the early signing period or national signing day, here’s a look at where the top prospects in Oklahoma are headed, according to 247Sports.

Relax about the Oklahoma Sooners 2023 recruiting class

Recruiting classes aren’t made in June. Have no fear, Sooners fans. There’s a lot of time left.

I’ve seen a lot of chatter about how Oklahoma’s wheels are falling off because they currently sit 35th in 247 Sports’ 2023 Recruiting Rankings while the Longhorns are 3rd.

Let’s get this out of the way: these rankings mean absolutely nothing in June. As we saw last year after Lincoln Riley left, recruiting classes can change very quickly. After that, the 2022 class looked unsalvageable. Brent Venables and co. brought it back to eighth in the country.

The Sooners are in very good hands. Take a breath.

After Samuel Omosigho’s commitment, OU has nine commits for the 2023 cycle. That number will go up. Does anyone really think that Purdue and Boston College are going to have a better recruiting class than OU at the end of the 2023 cycle? They won’t. Just be patient.

Florida and Oregon are both below the Sooners at the moment. As are Ole Miss, Michigan and Texas A&M. The very same A&M that had the number one recruiting class for 2022. These rankings mean absolutely nothing right now.

I can’t find the tweet (they probably deleted it) but remember a few years ago when Fox Sports Knoxville tweeted about how the Sooners had a bad recruitment ranking?

How did that end up?

July is going to be a huge month for Oklahoma Football. It seems like everytime I open Twitter the Sooners are in the top three for a big-name high school recruit. The players will come. Let the coaches do their jobs and recruit the players.

I will revisit this in a month. Mark my words: the Sooners will be much higher than 35th by the end of July.

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Oklahoma makes 2021 four-star receiver J. Michael Sturdivant’s top four

Oklahoma is in 2021 WR J. Michael Sturdivant’s top four schools.

Oklahoma is still in the running for four-star receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, according to his list of top fours schools released on Twitter Saturday.

The 6-foot-3, 182-pound product out of Flower Mound, Texas has 23 Division I offers in total. He’s the 59th-ranked receiver in the 2021 class according to Rivals.com.

California, LSU, and UCLA round out the rest of his list. Duke, Stanford and TCU were in Sturdivant’s final seven, but were cut.

Sturdivant’s high school teammate and quarterback Garrett Nussmeier committed to LSU in early May.

Oklahoma currently has the No. 26 class in 2021 per Rivals, and recently added one of the top receivers in the class in Mario Williams. Four-star WR Cody Jackson, who is the 35th ranked WR in the class, is also committed to the Sooners. Offensive linemen Cullen Montgomery is the only other offensive commit out of Oklahoma’s seven commitments so far.

Is Notre Dame About to Lose a Commitment to Oklahoma?

David Abiara announced his commitment to Notre Dame at the end of March but it’s not looking good that he will actually end up at Notre Dame

In what is a truly a unique off-season and time to be recruiting, Notre Dame may be again feeling the effects.

In the last couple of months Notre Dame has seen wide receiver Deion Colzie de-commit from the 2021 class and just a couple weeks back the Irish lost out on big-time running back Will Shipley, likely largely because his was unable to get back to campus to make an official visit.

Now it appears another de-commitment in the 2021 class may be coming.

Four-star defensive end David Abiara committed to Notre Dame on March 27.  The Mansfield, Texas product has still been pursued by Oklahoma since then the 247Sports staff is all over him flipping his commitment to the Sooners.

Three lead experts at 247Sports: Brandon Drumm, Steve Wiltfong and Tom Loy have all switched their predictions for Abiara from Notre Dame to Oklahoma.

Friends, Abiara might not have made it official yet but I’m having trouble believing all three of those recruiting experts are changing their predictions unless they’ve got some inside information, very possibly from the source himself.

So long story short – I’d get ready to hear news of that de-commitment sooner rather than later.

As it stands now Notre Dame currently has 10 commitments in the 2021 class, counting Abiara.  He’s one of two defensive ends in the class as Jason Onye of Rhode Island is the other.

2021 Recruiting: Nation’s Top Wide Receiver Makes College Choice

Mario Williams, Jr. is regarded as the best prospect in Florida in 2021 and the nation’s best wide receiver. What school did he commit to?

Mario Williams, Jr., ESPN’s top rated receiver in the 2021 recruiting class and their 16th ranked player overall has made his college decision and will be headed to help one of the nation’s great annual offenses.

The 5-10 Williams announced Friday that he’ll play his college football at Oklahoma, the school he chose over Georgia, Florida, LSU and Alabama.  The top-ranked 2021 prospect from Florida may only be 5-10 and 165 pounds but is expected to fit perfectly in Oklahoma’s wide open, pass happy offense.

Williams joins Cody Jackson, a four-star receiver and ESPN’s 121st ranked prospect in the 2021 recruiting class.  The Sooners now have five commitments ranked in the ESPN300.

Currently Notre Dame stands with a class regarded by most as a top ten group in all of college football.  They have just one wide receiver commitment however, Lorenzo Styles, Jr. who is ranked as the 243rd overall player by ESPN.