When the Sooners’ 2012 season turned into a scoring fiesta – from the West Virginia game on – there was one thing very evident: the defensive line was the most significant weak spot.
Just overall, the defense looked shabby.
“As the year went on, I felt like our defense started to deteriorate,” Assistant Coach Mike Stoops said on Wednesday, when asked about the greatest needs met by the 2013 recruiting class.
So, when Santa delivered this year’s recruiting gifts, ala National Signing Day on Wednesday, we all opened the crimson and cream packages hoping and praying Bro’ Mike, Coach Bob and the rest of his staff had spent the last 32 days (since Johnny Football) scouring the hinterlands to find big guys who could pass rush and tackle.
Looks like they did just that.
Out of the first 22 signees on Wednesday, seven of them are defensive linemen. Two are linebackers.
Big, mean-looking guys.
As for the secondary, which has been depleted by graduation and early departure to the NFL (by Tony Jefferson, for example), the OU coaches also signed four defensive backs.
Now, I’m not going to say that my post-Cotton Bowl fiasco column written here (“Defensive weakness evident in bowl loss; time to make some changes‘, January 6) had anything to do with the emphasis on recruiting defensive players (I say, clearing my throat).
Truthfully, it was obvious to all that the recent decline in Oklahoma performance on the field the last two or three years has been on defense. That’s why Brent Venables is gone and Mike Stoops is back.
And that’s why Oklahoma signed national letters of intent with these guys:
Quincy Russell. DL. Trinity Valley CC. 6-4 315 pounds. This is the Mount Rushmore of the class. This guy could make a huge difference, given the D-line has been pushed around by offenses the last few years. Well, try moving this guy. The fact he’s a JUCO also helps – he’s been in the trenches. Heck, he IS the trench.
D.J. Ward. DE. Southmoore HS. 6-2 245 pounds. He missed out on his senior year in high school. He has yet to qualify academically, but he’s on campus working out already. He looks like the guy you don’t want to meet in an alley. I won’t say anything more about him. He scares me.
Dominique Alexander. Tulsa Booker T. LB 6-2 195 pounds. Anybody from Booker T is somebody not to mess with. The fact his first name reminds you of a porn movie probably should not be mentioned around him.
Kerrick Huggins. Dallas Skyline. DL 6-3 289. We like him the best because he flashed the upside down dead Longhorn sign at his letter signing ceremony. Awesome, dude. And, in Dallas too! (That’s Huggies’ picture above).
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo. Houston Alief Taylor H.S. DE 6-3 220 pounds. With a name like this you just know he will some day play in the NFL. Or become a rap star and shorten it to just “O-O”.
Jordan Evans. Norman North. LB. 6-3 210. This is former OU great Scott Evans’ kid. It’s genetic, man. He also returned four kickoff returns and two punt returns for touchdowns at North. Stoops said he may do it again at OU.
Was he serious? I don’t know. Probably not. But if your linebacker is going to be returning kickoffs that’s pretty dang cool.
Most of these guys are three star recruits. Not that much to brag about there. This class might be lucky to finish ranked No. 20 in the country by those experts at Rivals.com. (Don’t worry, they’re putting Texas’ class lower – which is shocking, considering how over-rated their recruiting classes always are).
“I think it’s comparable to a lot of classes we’ve had over the last 13 or 14 years and that’s been good,” Coach Bob Stoops said.
Sheesh, we hope they’re better than that! Some of the classes in recent years haven’t been so hot – or, just couldn’t stay healthy.
But no matter. Oklahoma needed defensive players, especially in the front seven. And they got those bodies.
Now, let’s see what the coaches can do with them.
There are some pretty nice offensive players too, especially a quarterback who might play baseball and a running back who is touted as Mr. Stud, but we’ll talk about them some other time.
Which brings to mind….now that the recruits are signed, are changes in the coaching staff on the horizon? We think so.
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