Tag: Oklahoma Sooners Football

Four-star cornerback Courtland Guillory sets commitment date

The Sooners are in a great spot in their recruitment of four-star cornerback Courtland Guillory who set his commitment date.

The spring game has become a key event for the Oklahoma Sooners in their recruiting pursuits. This past weekend, they hosted four-star cornerback [autotag]Courtland Guillory[/autotag] out of Klein Oak High School.

In the aftermath, several predictions came through favoring the Oklahoma Sooners in Gullory’s recruitment. On Sunday, four predictions from 247Sports and Rivals made Oklahoma the team to beat.

On Wednesday, Guillory announced he’d be making his commitment decision on Sunday, April 28.

The Sooners were included in Guillory’s top four alongside Texas, Texas A&M, and UCF.

He’s a physical cornerback who attacks the ball in the air and the ball carrier in the run game with equal aggressiveness. In his aggressive play style, Guillory plays sound football, taking good angles in pursuit in the running game and staying in phase when playing the ball in the air.

Oklahoma’s entire defensive staff was down in Texas, visiting with the Guillory as they tried to close on a blue-chip prospect for the [autotag]2025 recruiting class[/autotag].

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Former All-Big 12 linebacker, Norman native announces his retirement

On Sunday, Jordan Evans announced his retirement from the game of football after a six year pro career.

After a six-year professional career, five of which were spent in the [autotag]NFL[/autotag] and one in the [autotag]XFL[/autotag], former All-Big 12 linebacker for the Oklahoma Sooners, [autotag]Jordan Evans[/autotag] announced his retirement from the game of football.

Evans grew up in Norman, Oklahoma, and attended Norman North High School. He is the son of three-time All-Big 8 defensive tackle [autotag]Scott Evans[/autotag], who also played for the Sooners.

Evans had a standout career from 2013-2016 in Norman. He was second on the team in tackles in 2015 and led the Sooners in tackles in 2016. He was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 2016 and earned All-Big 12 second-team honors in 2015. He also led the team with four interceptions in his senior season.

I reached out to Evans, and he said Oklahoma helped make him who he is today.

“Playing at OU was a time I’ll never forget,” Evans said. “Inquired some of my most fondest memories. Met some of my closest friends. Was coached by great coaches and an icon in all of college sports (Bob Stoops). Playing for your hometown is not common, and being able to do that was one of my biggest blessings, and as I look back on it, I’m grateful for that opportunity. I owe a lot of my success and who I am to OU.”

Evans was drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 NFL draft and spent five seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. As for what’s next, Evans tells me he is getting his MBA but wants to start coaching.

Seeing that he developed from a three-star recruit to an all-conference performer to an NFL draft pick, I’m sure whatever he decides to do, he’ll be successful at it.

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‘So angry, so frustrated’: Caleb Williams describes how he felt in backup QB role at Oklahoma

Caleb Williams felt he should have been the starter at Oklahoma and finding out he wasn’t made him upset during his freshman season.

The 2021 Oklahoma Sooners’ football season needs an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary one day. It’s one of the wildest seasons in recent memory.

[autotag]Caleb Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Spencer Rattler[/autotag]’s quarterback battle was one of the biggest storylines of the season. For those who don’t remember, Williams was one of the top quarterback prospects coming out of high school. Rattler was the projected top pick ahead of the 2022 NFL draft.

In an interview with the Pivot Podcast, Williams said even with all of that, he felt he should have been the starter the whole season. “I told people before I went there that I was going to start, play and beat him out. I thought I beat him out in spring. He was projected No. 1 and all of that. So he started for six games, and so I prepared. I kept preparing, and Lincoln (Riley) told me to keep going.”

But when he wasn’t the starter, he admits he became “so angry, so frustrated” at the situation. Still, Williams would keep going as his coach encouraged and ultimately received his chance in the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma’s archrival.

Williams entered the game with the Sooners down 28-7. On fourth-and-1, he received the call for a designed quarterback run and broke free for a 66-yard touchdown. The rest is history.

“I watched and learned Tom Brady for Drew Bledsoe,” Williams said. “You prepare and prepare but when you get your moment, you never know how long it’s going to be and you never know what’s going to happen but when you get your moment, you don’t give it back. So, that was my mindset and plan.”

Credit to him because he did that. He earned his moment and he didn’t give it back. Now, the irony is the guy he was so angry and so frustrated with was the coach he followed to a new school. It was nothing the school did; it was something his coach did that made him feel that way.

Still, Sooner fans shouldn’t be mad at Williams. Williams came to Oklahoma because he wanted to be developed by Riley. He even admitted in the interview that Riley was the best when it comes to development. So, following Riley made all of the sense in the world.

Williams is about to be taken first overall in the 2024 NFL draft. His story is one of the great “what ifs?” in college football. He’s no doubt a great player and one of the best talents college football has seen this millennium, but the fact that he and Riley were never able to win a conference title leaves a little to be desired.

Still, as he heads to the NFL, Williams will continue to provide highlight-reel moments with his athleticism and passing ability.

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TCU DT Damonic Williams to visit Texas

Williams is set to visit Texas after Oklahoma on April 23.

TCU defensive tackle Damonic Williams is set to visit six schools. Texas is one of them.

Williams has a visit set for four teams beginning with the Oklahoma Sooners on April 20-21. Oklahoma has emerged as the early favorite for Williams and the fact that the lineman is opting to visit Norman for the team’s spring game is telling.

Next is Texas, who some believe to be the next highest priority for Williams. He’s set to be in Austin on April 23 and 24.

Colorado and LSU are next on Williams’ schedule of visits. Colorado’s inclusion speaks to the continued respect for head coach Deion Sanders and his staff after a poor showing in 2023. Williams will visit there on April 26 and 27 before going to Baton Rouge on April 30.

LSU and Texas likely need defensive tackle more than Oklahoma, but could be starting the recruitment trailing. Even so, expect the Tigers to do everything they can to bring top defensive line talent to repair their broken defense from a year ago.

Missouri and Oregon round out the list with expected visits.

Texas will look to make an impression and get into the race when Williams visits on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Oklahoma Sooners ranked as a top 5 college football program of all-time by Sports Illustrated

The Sooners are considered apart of the elite in college football. So much so they are ranked in the top 5 according to Sports Illustrated.

The Oklahoma Sooners have long been thought to be among the elite in college football. Where they rank exactly depends on who you ask, but nonetheless, they are a true “blue blood” of the sport.

Sports Illustrated created a list of the top 10 college football programs of all-time, and the Sooners came in at No. 3.

OU is also 1st all-time with 7 Heisman Trophy winners in addition to a record 50 conference championships, while posting the 3rd most weeks in the AP poll (898), and 4th most NFL Draft selections (414), and is 5th in win percentage and 6th in all-time wins and All-Americans. – James Parks

But even still, Oklahoma has been great historically. They’ve only had one down decade since the 1950s. Outside of that, they’ve been a team near the top just about every single season.
That doesn’t mean they aren’t susceptible to a bad season, but overall, they are a model of consistency within the sport. Now, we’ll see if they can get back to the top of the mountain.

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Tyler Guyton taken in the first round of Mel Kiper’s latest NFL Mock Draft

In his latest mock draft for ESPN, Mel Kiper projects Tyler Guyton to go in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

In the 2024 NFL Draft, the Oklahoma Sooners have a great chance to go back-to-back with first-round offensive tackles. Anton Harrison was taken late in the first by the Jacksonville Jaguars last year and [autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag] could hear his name called on day one this year.

The Sooners’ offensive tackle has been projected at the end of the first round of NFL mock drafts quite regularly. As draft day approaches, Guyton continues to get first-round buzz, this time from ESPN’s NFL draft guru, Mel Kiper.

In his latest two-round mock draft for ESPN (ESPN+), Kiper sent Guyton to the Dallas Cowboys.

This has to be a tackle, right? Tyron Smith is gone, and Tyler Smith, a first-round pick in 2022, has played extremely well at left guard. Would Dallas move Tyler Smith outside and take the risk that he’s only an above-average left tackle? If I was the general manager, I’d take Guyton, one of the most physically impressive players in this class. At 6-foot-7, 322 pounds, he moves like a tight end. He played mostly right tackle in college, but he could make the move to Dak Prescott’s blind side for the Cowboys. – Kiper, ESPN

The Dallas Cowboys have multiple needs along the offensive line, including offensive tackle. They could also opt to draft a center early. But taking Guyton would make a lot of sense given his upward trajectory. He’s still very young for the position but has developed at a rapid pace due to his plus athleticism and footwork.

If the Cowboys were to draft him, he’d have a bit of a transition on his hands moving over to left tackle. But as we saw in his short time in Norman, he’s got the athleticism to make it a smooth transition.

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Big 12 analyst: Oklahoma’s future scares me more than Texas’

The immediate future in the SEC might be brighter for Texas than Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns enter the SEC in 2024. Continue reading “Big 12 analyst: Oklahoma’s future scares me more than Texas’”

Sooners land commitment from three-star safety Marcus Wimberly

Oklahoma lands its 11th commit of the 2025 cycle with a pledge from safety Marcus Wimberly.

April has started with a boom for [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Sooners landed their 11th commit of the [autotag]2025 recruiting class[/autotag] when three-star safety [autotag]Marcus Wimberly[/autotag] announced his commitment to the Crimson & Cream on Saturday afternoon.

Wimberly, a native of Arkansas, was in town for Oklahoma’s “Heisman Hangout” weekend, which featured many guests from the 2025 and 2026 recruiting classes. Without much more information, it looks like that recruiting event has already paid dividends.

247Sports composite lists Wimberly No. 624 overall in the 2025 recruiting class. He is a top 50 safety nationally (No. 47) and a top-five player in the state of Arkansas.

Wimberly is a talented player with a nice blend of athleticism and instincts. Once he arrives on campus, he’ll be a safety in this defense.

In a previous interview with OUInsider at Rivals, Wimberly explained his priorities in his search.

“I’m gonna say the No. 1 thing is culture,” he said. “I want to go somewhere that I’m not only going to grow as a football player and an athlete, but I want to go somewhere that I’m going to grow as a human being to where I can be a great father, a great husband — and maybe one day, since God called me to it, a great youth pastor.”

Since Venables and Co. took over, Oklahoma has been known for its culture and plans for its players after football, an attribute that is central to winning recruits and their families. Wimberly had been trending in the Sooners’ direction for weeks as predictions rolled in for the Sooners to land him.

Wimberly is the fourth defensive prospect to pledge to the Sooners and the first defensive back in the Sooners’ class. He chose the Sooners over Michigan, Memphis, Tennessee, Arkansas and Wisconsin.

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247Sports ranks rivalry between Texas, OU among heated rivalries

Red River might be underrated on this list.

The Red River game is one of the best rivalries in sports.

Those on either side of the rivalry view the blue blood football matchup in the Cotton Bowl as a highlight of the year.  What makes the rivalry a spectacle is the passion each fanbase brings to the game.

247Sports’ Brad Crawford ranked the matchup among his top most heated rivalries in college sports. Crawford ranks it No. 5 on his list behind Ohio State vs. Michigan, Alabama vs. Auburn, Army vs. Navy and a basketball matchup between Duke and North Carolina.

Those who have sat on either side of the Cotton Bowl might view it as a more intense rivalry than three of the above four matchups. Outside of Michigan and Ohio State, there’s perhaps no more intense disdain than there is between the teams wearing burnt orange and crimson.

Red River could gain more acclaim as it heads to the SEC in 2024.

Flurry of predictions favor Sooners for 2025 4-star defensive lineman

After receiving a pair of predictions from On3 midday Tuesday, a flurry of projections came through favoring the Sooners for 2025 four-star defensive lineman Trent Wilson.

The writing may be on the wall for the Oklahoma Sooners in their pursuit of four-star defensive lineman [autotag]Trent Wilson[/autotag].

On Tuesday, the Sooners picked up a pair of On3 predictions from Steve Wiltfong and Chad Simmons. Then, later in the day and into Wednesday, the Sooners garnered five more predictions between On3 and Rivals.

Penn State publisher for On3, Sean Fitz, and Happy Valley Insider for Rivals ,Dylan Callaghan-Croley, each issued predictions in the last 16 hours favoring the Sooners. From a local lean, Parker Thune and Brandon Drumm of OUInsider and Rivals issued Rivals Futurecasts for the Sooners to land Wilson. Joining his Rivals colleagues, national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman also issued a Futurecast favoring Oklahoma.

Now, predictions aren’t commitments and commitments aren’t signatures, but it appears that the Sooners have created a ton of momentum in their recruitment of Trent Wilson.

Wilson is a game-changer up front. He’s got good size and pairs that with elite athleticism for the position. He has a quick first step, which allows him to gain leverage on the offensive lineman as he works to the backfield.

The Upper Marlboro, Md. native is a top 10 defensive line prospect in 2025, according to On3 and Rivals. He’s just outside the top 10, according to ESPN at No. 11. Nationally, he’s a top 150 player in the cycle.

Paired with a commitment from [autotag]Ka’Mori Moore[/autotag], the Sooners could potentially have another strong interior defensive line group coming to Norman in the [autotag]2025 recruiting class[/autotag] if they can land Wilson as well.

More: Sooners climbing SEC recruiting rankings after commitment from Tory Blaylock

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