Oklahoma Football Recruiting 2016: Breaking Down the New Class
By Sixto Ortiz
The 2016 recruiting season is now in the books, and as of Wednesday evening on National Signing Day, the Oklahoma football recruiting class totaled 19 prospects.
Here’s a look at the Sooners’ 2016 class, broken down by offense and defense.
Sooner Recruiting 2016 – Offense
Offensively, Oklahoma brought in significant help for the offensive line and the wide receiver corps, and rounded out the offensive help with a quarterback and running back.
Notable additions to the offensive line include four-star prospect Erik Swenson, a former Michigan commit who switched to Oklahoma, and Johncarlo Valentin, a 6-5, 337-pound, four-star prospect from Philadelphia, Pa. Swenson and Valentin add plenty of size to the Oklahoma offensive line and should see playing time sooner rather than later. Overall, Oklahoma’s 2016 offensive line averaged a hefty 320 pounds (for a point of reference, the Caroline Panthers’ offensive line averages 313 pounds).
The Sooners looked to Texas and Louisiana for their wide-receiver needs, including four-star wideout Mikel Jones from Patterson, La., athlete Adrian Hardy from Houston, and former Mississippi State commit Zach Farrar, from Southlake, Texas. All of the wideouts are over six feet, and while only Farrar weighs in at over 200 pounds, the other guys will certainly bulk up in Oklahoma’s rigorous training regimen. Add in Penn State transfer Geno Lewis, and Oklahoma certainly added quality and depth to its wide-receiver corps with this class.
Four-star quarterback Austin Kendall from Waxhaw, N.C., and running back Abdul Adams, also from North Carolina, round out the offensive additions. Early enrollee Kendall has Sooner coaches especially excited. During his press conference introducing the new signing class, head coach Bob Stoops said he “really believes in the talent” of Austin Kendall. He also praised Abdul Adams’ big play ability and how well he fits into the offense.
Sooner Recruiting 2016 – Defense
One of the main story lines for Sooner recruiting in 2016 was the dire need at linebacker, truly exacerbated when Dominique Alexander (rightly or wrongly) decided to declare for the NFL draft and forego his senior season. Right now, the only linebackers on the Oklahoma roster with any significant playing experience are seniors Jordan Evans and Frank Shannon.
Thankfully, Oklahoma addressed the linebacking needs in a big way: Oklahoma captured commitments from linebacker prospects Kapri Doucet and Emmanuel Beal (two-star prospects from Scranton, Pa., but the crown jewels are five-star California product Caleb Kelly (who officially signed his letter of intent around 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday) and four-star defensive end Mark Jackson, who flipped from Texas A&M and is expected to play the outside linebacker position.
If Bryce Youngquist, a four-star linebacking prospect from California, signs with Oklahoma, as expected, this may turn out to be a special class for linebackers. Youngquist recently announced he would not be signing his letter of intent on Wednesday, but remains committed to Oklahoma.
Defensive coaches are also excited about California defensive back Jordan Parker and Kansas four-star defensive end Amani Bledsoe, from Lawrence, Kan. Rounding out the defensive haul for Oklahoma are linebacker Jon-Michael Terry and defensive backs Chanse Sylvie and Parnell Motley.
Sooner Recruiting 2016 – Overall
According to Rivals.com, Oklahoma’s 2016 class ranked 25th nationally and fourth among Big 12 schools. TCU, Baylor, and Texas finished ahead of the Sooners. While this final result may have Sooner fans scratching their heads wondering where the momentum from a College Football Playoff appearance went, it should be pointed out that Oklahoma did gain the services of ex-Aggie quarterback Kyler Murray during this recruiting season.
Even though Murray’s transfer does not factor into the final recruiting rankings, it is significant (and will be more so if Murray lives up to his immense upside). And there is also the addition of former Penn State wide receiver Lewis, who will be able to play immediately for the Sooners.
On the downside, Oklahoma did lose out to Texas on a potentially significant addition to the defensive line, namely defensive tackle Chris Daniels. Daniels was committed to Oklahoma as late as December, but then de-committed and ultimately signed with the Longhorns.
At the end of the day, the success or failure of this class will be determined in the years to come. Today was the first chapter in a book that remains to be written over the next few years.
Stoops was pleased with OU’s 2016 recruiting class and said at the team’s Wednesday press conference that “we really are meeting our needs everywhere. Looking at my offensive and defensive master sheet, we’re right on target where we need to be.”