Oklahoma FB recruiting: Sooners add a third 4-star offensive lineman to 2018 class
By Chip Rouse
The 2018 Oklahoma FB recruiting class is heavy in defensive backs and wide receivers, and you can now add offensive linemen to that grouping.
On Saturday, the Sooners picked up the commitment of four-star offensive lineman Darrell Simpson, OU’s 17th commitment to its 2018 class. The day was doubly special for Simpson. He made the commitment on his birthday.
It came down to Oklahoma and TCU in Simpson’s decision process on where he would be headed to play college football a year from now. At 6-foot, 7-inches and 310 pounds, Simpson is the third massive four-star offensive line prospect to commit to the Sooners for 2018.
JUCO transfer Tramonda Mooore, who is 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds, and local prospect, Brey Walker, a 6-foot, 6-inch, 320 pound recruit out of nearby Moore, Okla., previously had verbally committed to the Sooners in the 2018 class.
Rivals.com rates Simpson as the 125th player overall in the 2018 national recruiting class, and the No. 11 player at his position.
Oklahoma is believed by many college football experts to have the best offensive line in the country headed into the 2017 season, and with the three O-line commitments the Sooners have so far in their 2018 class, they appear to be stocking up to keep it that way for the foreseeable future.
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Lincoln Riley and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh reportedly have been following Simpson since he was in the ninth grade.
The Sooners ended up with the big road-grader offensive tackle Simpson, but there were other schools also hot on his trail. He narrowed it down to between the Sooners and TCU, but he also had offers from Ohio State, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Michigan,Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.
Obviously Simpson is a big commitment for Oklahoma and head coach Riley.
Rivals ranks the OU 2018 recruiting class No. 10 nationally. Among the Sooner 2018 verbal commitments this far are four defensive backs, three wide receivers and the same number of offensive linemen, two defensive ends, two running backs, a defensive tackle, an athlete and a quarterback. Nine are rated as four stars; eight are three-star prospects.
The Oklahoma 2018 class further breaks down into 10 offensive players and seven on defense.