Oklahoma football: Sooners add a second 4-star defensive player on Signing Day
By Chip Rouse
On a day when little was expected to happen on the Oklahoma football recruiting scene, the Sooners ended up reeling in two new defensive additions to their 2020 class.
Earlier in the day on February National Signing Day, Oklahoma announced the signing of four-star defensive end Reggie Grimes, from Brentwood, Tennessee, who chose the Sooners over a number of other big-time national programs like Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU and Tennessee.
It ended up that was only half of the good news to come Oklahoma’s way on what was once the only National Signing Day on the college football calendar but has since become a second, later signing date following the early signing period in December.
Head coach Lincoln Riley also announced the signing of four-star defensive back Joshua Eaton, out of Houston area. The Sooners beat out SEC schools Georgia and LSU and Texas out of the Big 12 along with some 30 other scholarship offers in closing the deal on Eaton.
The news wasn’t all positive for the Crimson and Cream, though, on February National Signing Day. The Sooners had an outside shot at a highly recruited five-star defensive lineman, Alfred Collins, but he ended up signing elsewhere. It was one thing to lose out on Collins, who would have been the top-rated recruit in OU’s 2020 class, but to lose him to the Sooners’ biggest rival, the Texas Longhorns, made it even harder to take.
Oklahoma ended National Signing Day with a 23-member 2020 class. The class is made up of 10 defensive players, 10 offensive players and three athletes. The geographic breakdown includes 12 members in the class from the Lone Star State, two from Oklahoma and one each from eight other states and Washington, D.C.
So while Oklahoma lost a key recruit to Texas in the late national signing period, the Sooners also took one away.
The Sooners rank No. 10 in the current ESPN Recruiting Class rankings, making it three straight years Lincoln Riley and his staff have celebrated a top-10 national class. Oklahoma’s 2020 class is second in the Big 12, one spot back of Texas, according to the ESPN rankings.