Tag: oklahoma sooners

Sooners legend Blake Griffin officially announces retirement

Blake Griffin, a generational athlete and former Oklahoma Sooner announced his retirement after a 14-year NBA career.

An Oklahoma basketball legend called it a career on Tuesday. Sooners basketball legend Blake Griffin announced his retirement in a post he shared via social media on Tuesday morning.

Griffin ended his NBA career after 14 years. The bulk of his career came as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers after he was drafted in 2009 as the first overall pick. He also spent time with the Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, and Boston Celtics.

Griffin retired as a six-time NBA All-Star, three-time All-NBA Second Team, two-time All-NBA Third Team, and the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2009.

 

As a high schooler from Oklahoma City, Griffin won multiple state championships. He signed with the Sooners and went on to earn selections on the Big 12 All-Rookie Team and to the first-team All-Big 12 after posting 14.7 points and 9.1 rebounds and ranking ninth in scoring, fourth in rebounding, and third in field goal percentage in the Big 12 Conference.

Instead of bolting for the impending NBA Draft, he stayed for one more year. He cemented his status as an Oklahoma basketball legend. During his sophomore season, he became the first player in Big 12 history to record back-to-back games of at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. He dropped 40 points and 23 rebounds against Texas Tech, becoming the only player in Big 12 history and the third player in the history of the University of Oklahoma men’s basketball program to record at least 40 points and 20 rebounds in a game, joining [autotag]Wayman Tisdale[/autotag] and [autotag]Alvan Adams[/autotag].

He led Oklahoma to a regional final that saw them lose to eventual national champion UNC. That year, Griffin averaged 22.7 points, 14.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game during the regular season and earned All-American first team honors. He also swept every major player of the year award. He’s the only Sooner to win the Naismith Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Adolph Rupp Trophy, John Wooden Award, and the Associated Press Player of the Year in the same season.

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All in the Family: Sooners land commitment from 4-star DB Maliek Hawkins

Oklahoma Sooners earn commitment from four-star cornerback Maliek Hawkins.

The Oklahoma Sooners like to keep it in the family. Last year, the Sooners added the Dasan and Daeh McCullough. This year, the roster will feature Peyton and Eli Bowen. Next year, joining the Bowens, the Sooners will have the Hawkins brothers after Maliek Hawkins committed to the Sooners 2025 recruiting class.

The four-star cornerback, according to Rivals and On3’s Industry Rankings committed to Oklahoma on Wednesday.

Hawkins’ is the younger brother of Sooners freshman quarterback [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag].

The younger Hawkins is a talented athlete who will earn his keep on defense. There, he can showcase his elite athleticism and versatility to play multiple spots in the secondary. He’s got great size for the position at 6-foot-1 and displays great change of direction ability, necessary when covering wide receivers in the open field. But he isn’t simply an athlete, Maliek Hawkins is aggressive at the point of attack, bringing a physicality on the outside.

 

From the moment the Sooners were interested in Michael, they became similarly interested in Maliek. From there, the rest took care of itself. It helps that their father, Mike, also played for the Sooners under Brent Venables and Bob Stoops.

In a nutshell, this recruitment was likely to end only one way.  Predictions had been flowing in for Oklahoma to land Maliek Hawkins since last March, which isn’t a coincidence. That’s when Michael committed to Oklahoma. Oklahoma earned Maliek’s commitment over the Texas Longhorns, Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

With Hawkins in the class, Oklahoma has its second commitment in the secondary, joining three-star safety [autotag]Marcus Wimberly[/autotag].  Hawkins gives Oklahoma its 12th commit of the 2025 class, currently ranked 6th in the country per 247Sports.

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Duke softball comes in No. 3 in USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll

The Blue Devils swept North Carolina to extend its winning streak to eight games over the weekend, and Duke now trails just two Big 12 powerhouses in the USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll.

The Duke softball team has a 33-3 record through nine weeks this season, and their eight straight wins have them No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll.

The Blue Devils swept Virginia Tech, who previously hadn’t lost a conference game, and North Carolina over the past two weekends. Duke outscored UNC 20-5 over the three-game series, and sophomore pitcher Cassidy Curd was named ACC Pitcher of the Week after she struck out 12 Tar Heels in five shutout innings on Saturday.

The Blue Devils now trail just Oklahoma and Texas in the Coaches Poll. The Sooners, who have won the past three national championships and beat Duke in the season opener, are 35-3, but the 31-6 Longhorns handed them two straight losses over the weekend to take the rivalry series.

Texas’ two wins over Oklahoma actually boosted Duke up to first in the Softball America rankings released on Monday, the first time in school history that the Blue Devils have ever summited a national ranking.

Duke softball makes program history rising to No. 1 in latest Softball America poll

Duke Softball is the new No. 1 team in the country.

After a crazy weekend in softball that saw the sport’s premier team, Oklahoma, lose a tough series to its fiercest rival, Softball America has a new number-one squad, and it resides in Durham, North Carolina.

That’s correct; the Duke Blue Devils are the No. 1 softball team in the country, according to Softball America’s latest poll.

Duke’s ascension to number one marks the first time this season that a team other than Oklahoma has topped SA’s poll. It also marks the first time in Duke softball’s short history that it has been ranked as a number one team.

Duke entered last week as the No. 2 team, and after beating UNC-Charlotte 6-1 in a midweek matchup and sweeping their Tobacco Road rivals, UNC, Duke is now the nation’s top team.

Oklahoma has an early season win over Duke, but things have changed for both programs since that game.

Duke is joined by Virginia Tech (16), Florida State (20), Virginia (24), and Clemson (25) as the ACC accounts for 20% of the poll.

Duke returns to action this week when it travels to Greenville, N.C., for a non-conference matchup with East Carolina. The first pitch is slated for 5 p.m. at Max R. Joyner Family Stadium.

Texas softball wins series over No. 1 Oklahoma

After Oklahoma won the first of a three-game series 5-2 on Friday, the Longhorns registered consecutive 2-1 victories.

The No. 1-ranked Oklahoma Sooners have been the gold standard of college softball in recent seasons. At least for a weekend, the No. 5 Texas Longhorns had something to say about that.

After Oklahoma won the first of a three-game series 5-2 on Friday, the Longhorns registered consecutive 2-1 victories on Saturday and Sunday in Austin.

The Longhorns improved to 31-6 (11-4 Big 12), while the Sooners dropped to 35-3 (13-2 Big 12). Saturday’s win for Texas saw an end to Oklahoma’s 40-game Big 12 Conference winning streak.

“We probably did what most people thought was impossible and that’s to beat Oklahoma two days in a row,” said Longhorns head coach Mike White.

White pointed to the team’s pitching and defense as reasons for the victory.

In the circle, Texas’ Citlaly Gutierrez pitched an efficient game Saturday, giving up one run on six hits while striking out two batters, throwing 94 pitches. Texas got a combined effort from Teagan Kavan and Estelle Czech on Sunday as Katie Stewart’s 2-run home run proved to be the difference in Texas getting the series victory.

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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Kicking, special teams became a problem for OU in 2024; Sooners banking on competition to pay off

Special teams wasn’t special for the Oklahoma Sooners last year but here’s hoping competition and a coaching change can turn it around.

The Sooners struggles on special teams went beyond the kicking situation in 2023. The return game didn’t provide much and was at times a detriment to the team.

Head coach Brent Venables had to find a new special teams coordinator after Jay Nunez left for the same position at Alabama. But that might have been a blessing in disguise.

According to ESPN’s overall efficiency rankings for 2023, Oklahoma’s special teams—placekicking, punting, punt return, kickoff coverage, and kickoff return—ranked No. 127 last year.

That’s not good enough, especially for a team that, while much improved, needed to be perfect in other aspects of the game. Heading to the SEC, there’s less margin for error as Oklahoma’s talent won’t be enough to win games. They’ll need every bit of a competitive advantage. That could come by way of special teams.

So Venables went out and hired former San Diego State special teams coordinator Doug Deakin as a special teams analyst.

Why Deakin?

In each of the last three seasons, the Aztecs finished in the top 10 in ESPN’s special teams efficiency rating. In 2022, the Aztecs ranked No. 2, and last year, they were No. 9. While he’s an analyst and won’t be on the field during game days, Deakin will coordinate this unit with the rest of the on-field staff to create a better and more positively impactful special teams unit for the Sooners. And he comes to Oklahoma with some work to do on the kicking and return game front.

Oklahoma’s field goal kicking wasn’t as good as it needed to be for the Sooners in 2023. Sure, it wasn’t horrible, but by the end of the season, trotting out Zach Schmit genuinely felt like a coin flip, even from distances inside the 40-yard line.

The Sooners’ kicker made less than 75% of his kicks for the second straight season. Schmitt missed six kicks in 2022 and six in 2023. Schmit was just 6 of 11 on attempts from beyond 30 yards. He had a miss in Oklahoma’s three-point loss to Oklahoma State that turned out to be a killer.

So, where do the fixes lie? Well, competition and better schemes are the plan.

OU secured a commitment from Florida State transfer kicker Tyler Keltner this winter.

Keltner is a redshirt senior who spent the first four seasons of his college career at East Tennessee State. He made 56 of 74 field-goal attempts and earned two All-SoCon second-team selections. He then spent this past season at Florida State, where he appeared in one game and converted on his only attempt.

He and Liam Evans, a 2024 commit, will add fresh legs and competition to that room. Evans was ranked the number seven kicker in the nation, according to Kohl’s Kicking Camp.

The punt return game can be better too. After [autotag]Gavin Freeman[/autotag]’s return for a touchdown against Arkansas State, the return game never seemed to click. Freeman muffed multiple punts in crucial moments that flipped the momentum in games. He also had just 122 punt return yards on the season, including that 82 yard return against Arkansas State.

The competition for punt return duties will be much more open than last year. Freeman will have a shot, but [autotag]Deion Burks[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaquaize Pettaway[/autotag] could push for opportunities. On kick return, Jalil Farooq will likely continue to lead the way for the Sooners, but Oklahoma will push him with competition as well.

According to the ESPN efficiency marker, Deakin’s special teams units at his previous school ranked in the top 10 nationally for three straight years.

If there’s a positive outlook on the return game, it’s the emergence of punter Luke Elzinga. Though it took time for the Sooners to settle on who their punter would be last year, once they went with Elzinga, they never turned back. His efficiency, power, and ability to drop the ball inside the 20 allowed Brent Venables to play the field position game more.

As the Sooners move to the SEC, they’ll see their competition improve week in and week out. They can’t afford to be average in any phase of the game and special teams is an area that has to be a winning phase for them in 2024.

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5-star OT Michael Fasusi announces top seven schools, features Oklahoma

Michael Fasusi made a splace on Monday, sharing the top seven schools in his recruitment.

Much like the defensive line was the coveted position group of the [autotag]2024 recruiting class[/autotag], the same could be said about the offensive line in 2025.

No position is more necessary for Oklahoma on the recruiting trail than the 2025 offensive line class, and the Sooners’ efforts have reflected that.

One of their top targets, Michael Fasusi, is narrowing down his recruitment, and announced his top seven that features the Sooners.

Oklahoma was featured alongside Oregon, Texas A&M, Missouri, USC, Georgia, and the Texas Longhorns.

Unsurprisingly, the two extensive SEC programs in Texas are in on Fasusi. UGA is one of the country’s best programs, and Oklahoma has some of the best offensive line development.

 

Fasusi has been in OU’s sights for a while, as they offered him on January 18, 2023. The Sooners have been in the race for a while and will likely remain in contention throughout his recruitment.

The Sooners’ most significant competition will come from Texas and Texas A&M. Tom Loy, national recruiting analyst for 247Sports, has a crystal ball in for Fasusi to land with Texas. Texas recruiting insider Hank South also has one for Texas.

Oklahoma is set to host Fasusi for an official visit on June 14. he also has officials scheduled with Texas A&M and Texas.

This is a recruitment that will go up until he signs his national letter of intent. While the Sooners may be trailing at the moment, a lot can change over the course of a recruitment.

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Duke softball up to second in Softball America rankings

After a sweep of Virginia Tech to take firm control of the ACC, the Blue Devils trail only Oklahoma in the Softball America rankings.

Duke rose to claim the spot as the second-best softball team in the country, according to Softball America’s newest Top 25 released on Monday.

The Blue Devils are 29-3 on the season and 10-2 against ACC opponents after a sweep of Virginia Tech this weekend. The Hokies entered the series as the last ACC team unbeaten in conference play, but the Blue Devils outscored them by a combined 13 runs, including a 14-5 win to open the series.

Duke has only lost twice since the season opener against Oklahoma. The Sooners, who have won the last three national titles, remain atop Softball America’s Top 25 with a 34-1 record so far this season.

Georgia, Oklahoma State, and Tennessee round out the top five. Texas, Stanford, LSU, Washington, and Florida finished in order from sixth through 10th.

Duke’s season keeps going against Charlotte on Wednesday before a three-game series against North Carolina beginning on Friday.

Sooners 2026 QB target Dereon Coleman set for an unofficial visit to Norman

QB prospect Dereon Coleman set for unofficial visit to Norman.

Oklahoma’s top quarterback target for the class of 2026 is four-star prospect [autotag]Dereon Coleman[/autotag]. The talented signal-caller will be making an unofficial visit to Norman.

In a post on his social media page, Coleman announced he would visit April 11 and 12.

This is significant as the Sooners have already received multiple predictions in favor of Coleman to land with Oklahoma. So, getting him in the building should truly only add to the lead that Oklahoma may already have.

 

Oklahoma has plenty of quarterback depth on the roster right now. [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] takes over as the starter in 2024 and will likely hold the job through at least the 2025 season. Following Arnold, [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag] and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] will have the first crack at the starting job and current commit [autotag]Kevin Sperry[/autotag] is expected to join the roster next spring.

Coleman seems to be the Sooners’ number one focus at the position for 2026. He grew up an OU fan, so in many ways, this may be the perfect fit.

Aside from Oklahoma, Coleman is being recruited heavily by Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and USF.

As it stands, Oklahoma has just one commit in the [autotag]2026 recruiting class[/autotag]: four-star running back [autotag]Jonathon Hatton[/autotag].

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