Oklahoma football: Spring Game about more than 2018

The main event of the Oklahoma football weekend, the annual Spring Game, was a relative non-event compared to all the excitement generated around it.

For the record, the White team, with former Oklahoma star and NFL All-Pro Adrian Peterson serving as honorary head coach, defeated the Red team of fellow OU All-American and NFL All-Pro offensive lineman Trent Williams,10-9 on a cold, blustery spring Saturday afternoon in Norman.

And the only reason the score got that high was because the game was forced into overtime after the two teams played to a 3-3 deadlock over two quarters. Both teams scored touchdowns in the extra session, but Team Peterson stopped Team Williams on a two-point try to secure the victory.

While the game itself drew 53,101 fans to Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium to watch what amounted to a semi-controlled intrasquad scrimmage, it was somewhat overshadowed by other events and football-related developments that occurred around it.

The statue of Bob Stoops was dedicated on Saturday morning ahead of the game in a ceremony attended by guests, dignitaries, former Sooner players and coaches, and OU officials. The statue was also on display for invited guests at a celebration the night before.

Although there was much to report about and cover by the media over a busy athletic weekend on the Oklahoma campus, the quote of the weekend may belong to Stoops’ wife, Carol. Asked by Bob to say a few words during the Friday night celebration, the coach’s wife had this to say, as reported by the Tulsa World:

"“There is no statue if not for you (referring to the former players in attendance)… It happens to look like Bobby, but it’s you.”"

The other big news of the weekend was on the football recruiting front, where the Sooners made a giant splash.

Head coach Lincoln Riley had said recently that he wants to make a big deal of the annual Spring Game, adding some new and different activities not only to attract more fans but also as an added boost to recruiting efforts. And his plans paid off in a big way in his first Spring Game weekend as head coach.

Oklahoma gained commitments from six recruits over the weekend: four on Friday, one Saturday and another on Sunday. And word is there is yet another commitment expected to be announced very soon.

This could well be one the biggest recruiting weekends in program history, in terms of both quality as well as quantity, and certainly represents a gold mine for the second-year Oklahoma head coach.

There were as many as 20 recruits on hand for this year’s Spring Game, which is something Riley and his coaching staff want to take full advantage of every spring.

On Friday, two five-star wide receivers, Arjei Henderson and Theo Wease, verbally committed to play at Oklahoma. This was the second time Henderson and Wease have committed to OU. Both committed to the Sooners in February 2017, but asked to be released from that commitment two months later to reopen their recruiting. Now, they appear to be back and in the fold for the long haul.

Friday was also a red-letter day for commitments from four-star safety Jamal Morris and 2020 running back Jaylan Knighton.

Three-star defensive back Derek Green committed on Saturday, and 24 hours later, on Sunday, the Sooners learned that Notre Dame defensive end Jay Hayes was headed to Norman as a graduate transfer.

The six, and soon-to-be seven, new additions to the OU 2019 recruiting class vaulted the Sooners into the No. 1 spot in the class rankings for 2019, according to Rivals.com.

Oh, and did we mention that Trace Adkins was also on hand Saturday to entertain Sooner fans. The country western star appeared in concert in the north end zone prior to the game.

An eventful, possibly historic, weekend for sure for University of Oklahoma sports. You can also chalk up wins for both the OU softball and baseball teams to cap off a fun weekend.

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