OU football recruiting: Sooners ink 17 on early National Signing Day

OU football recruiting for the class of 2018 has been going on for months, and on Wednesday Oklahoma locked down 17 of the 20 of the verbal commitments it had received as part of the new early signing period in college football.

The three verbal commitments that remain unsigned are Tavion Thomas, a four-star running back, and wide receiver Treveon Johnson and defensive back Jordan Austin, both rated as three-stars. The early signing period, initiated this year for the first time, extends until Friday, so it is still possible that these three prospects could formalize their commitment by the end of the week, making it 20 for 20 heading into the final recruiting push for 2018 in January.

The good news is that head coach Lincoln Riley and his staff received signed National Letters of Intent on Wednesday from 12 of their 13 four-star commitments, including top recruits OT Brey Walker, DE Ron Tatum III, DE Ronnie Perkins and RB T.J. Pledger. Walker is No. 61 on the ESPN 300, Tatum is 77, Perkins 98 and Pledger 99.

With 85 percent of their verbal commitments in the fold and a top-10 recruiting ranking coming into the early signing period, it strongly appears that the Sooners will have a second consecutive top-10 class and the first for head coach Lincoln Riley, who assumed the job in early June last season.

Oklahoma currently ranks seventh in both the ESPN and the Rivals.com 2018 class rankings.

There is mixed opinion about instituting the early signing period. Some coaches like it and many do not, especially those who are busy preparing teams for the College Football Playoff, which this season includes Oklahoma, and other postseason bowls.

Riley has not publicly expressed an opinion on the matter one way or the other, but he did say he really likes the 2018 signing class.

"“It’s a really strong group…a great foundation of players from all over the country,” Riley said in a news release posted on the school’s athletic website. “We hit a lot of the targets and needs that we had, and we’re excited about getting a lot of these guys in here mid-term.”"

Of the 17 signees in the Oklahoma 2018 recruiting class, seven are offensive players, nine play defense and one player (Jaquayln Crawford) is designated as an athlete.

By position, the class so far breaks down as four defensive backs, three defensive ends, three offensive linemen, two wide receivers and one each at quarterback, running back, linebacker, defensive lineman and athlete.