Oklahoma Sooners

For all the star ratings and target boards, recruiting can simply be a matter of timing, and the timing couldn’t have worked out better for Oklahoma and junior college running back Damien Williams (San Diego/Arizona Western College).

Williams became yet another California native to sign with Oklahoma, sending in his national letter of intent to the Sooners on Wednesday.

Williams was set, committed to Arizona State until the Sun Devils underwent coaching changes. OU was set at running back, had good depth at the spot until Jermie Calhoun and Jonathon Miller left the team in the middle of the season.

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Southern Cal has won the seemingly wide open recruiting battle for Under Armour All-American athlete Nelson Agholor (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley). The 6-foot-1, 180-pound talent selected USC over Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame and Oklahoma on Wednesday on ESPN.

Auburn, South Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, Texas, Alabama, Miami-FL, Oregon, TCU and Tennessee also offered the nation’s No. 47-rated prospect in the ESPNU 150.

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Courtney Gardner (Reno, Nev./Serra College) looks like a pretty good consolation gift.

After Oklahoma lost out on Dorial Green-Beckham (Springfield, Mo./Hillcrest), Gardner faxed his letter of intent to Norman on Wednesday morning. One of the top junior college receivers in the class, Gardner should have an immediate impact with the Sooners.

What it means for OU’s class: Landing Gardner is huge for the Sooners. He has the talent to become one of Landry Jones go-to targets in 2012 thanks to his size and playmaking ability. He’s one of the reasons the Sooners could be considered one of the teams who finished strong on Signing Day.

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Add one more wide receiver to Oklahoma's incredible 2012 class. Junior college product Courtney Gardner (Reno, Nev./Sierra College) did as expected and switched his commitment from Arkansas to OU on Wednesday, signing with the Sooners around 10:30 a.m. CT.

Gardner had been committed to the Razorbacks since December, but OU wide receivers coach Jay Norvell made a huge impression on Gardner in the last month. A great official visit to Norman, Okla., last weekend sealed the deal.

Gardner tried to keep it quiet, but fellow commit Zack Sanchez (Keller, Texas/Central) let the cat out of the bag Monday in a radio interview by saying Gardner had committed to OU, too.

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Dorial Green-Beckham’s decision is a blow for Oklahoma but not an unexpected one. The elite receiver prospect from Springfield, Mo./Hillcrest. announced he was going to Missouri over Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Green-Beckham is the No. 3 player on the ESPNU150 and No. 1 receiver in the nation.

What it means for the class: The Sooners should be fine without Green-Beckham. Commitments Durron Neal (St.Louis/DeSmet), Sterling Shepard (Oklahoma City, Okla./Heritage Hall) and Derrick Woods (Inglewood, Calif./Inglewood) have plenty of talent and spring enrollee Trey Metoyer, one of the top receivers in the Class of 2011 who spent one year in prep school, could be a difference-maker. In addition, junior college receiver Courtney Gardner could announce for the Sooners later today.

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As expected, the Sooners missed out on San Antonio, Texas, cornerback Colin Blake, who faxed in his letter of intent to Florida State. Blake was rated the No. 30 cornerback in the country by ESPNU and the No. 90 overall player from the state of Texas. Blake became a hot name for the Sooners in December when he took an official visit on Dec. 16. But Blake followed that up with visits to Florida State and TCU, and speculation was that Blake ultimately decided between the Seminoles and Horned Frogs.

What it means for the class and where he fits in: Even though the Sooners missed out on Blake and had De'Vante Harris and Kevin Peterson, they feel solid about their cornerback class. OU got Baylor commit Zack Sanchez to flip and sign with the Sooners (he already sent in his letter of intent). OU is also hoping for good news from Florida cornerback Gary Simon, who is expected to sign any moment now.

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Two out of three ain’t bad. Heading into the final weekend before national signing day, the goal for Oklahoma had to be to land two defensive backs out of the three the Sooners were targeting the most.

The first commit came Monday when three-star cornerback Zack Sanchez (Keller, Texas/Central) switched from Baylor to OU. And the second came Wednesday morning when three-star athlete Gary Simon (St. Petersburg, Fla./Gibbs) announced he was signing with the Sooners.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Three-star cornerback Gary Simon (St. Petersburg, Fla./Gibbs) was blown away by his visit to Oklahoma and decided to sign his letter of intent with the Sooners during a ceremony at the school Wednesday.

The 6-foot-1, 177-pound athlete chose Oklahoma over Arkansas and Iowa State. He plans to play cornerback for the Sooners.

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High three-star cornerback Colin Blake (San Antonio, Texas/Brandeis) has signed a letter of intent with Florida State.

Blake took official visits to Oklahoma (Dec. 16) and TCU (Jan. 20) as well as FSU (Jan. 13). He also had offers from Arizona, Baylor, California, Michigan State, Missouri, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

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It was better late than never for three-star defensive end Michael Onuoha (Edmond Okla./Santa Fe) as he verbally committed to Oklahoma on Tuesday night.

Onuoha was scheduled to announce Tuesday morning between the Sooners and Missouri but decided earlier in the afternoon that he might wait until Wednesday’s signing ceremony. But he couldn’t wait any more as Onuoha tweeted “#BOOMER SOONER!!” on Tuesday night, ending the drama.

“It was just a gut feeling I had,” Onuoha said. “I thought about it for so long. I prayed about it. I wanted to make sure I was making the right decision and what was the best spot for me.”

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Before the Sooners' 31-14 win over Iowa in the Insight Bowl, Jake Trotter and Brandon Chatmon analyzed each Oklahoma position group. Now, the SoonerNation staff is giving each position a grade for its performance in 2011.

Grade: C+
Ninety-five percent of the time, the “Sharks” played an “A” game. But the five percent they didn’t proved to be calamitous. Replacing cornerback Jamell Fleming will be a challenge. He was OU’s best defensive back all season, despite missing two games due to minor knee surgery.
- Jake Trotter

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A lot of recruits have questions for Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops when he comes in for his in-home visit. OU center commit Ty Darlington (Apopka, Fla./Apopka) was no different, but he didn’t have any football-related questions.

“Everything, when it comes to football, is going fine,” Darlington said. “I don’t have any questions. I know what I need to do.”

For Darlington, it was about clarifying what academic scholarships he could qualify for. And with Darlington’s GPA, that’s not an easy question to answer. Darlington said last semester was one of his most difficult but he once again got straight A’s, keeping his streak intact dating back to fourth grade. Darlington has a 4.9 GPA.

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