Oklahoma football: Sooners gain 4-star 2021 DE commitment
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football recruiting got more good news on Saturday with the commitment of four-star defensive end Kelvin Gilliam.
Gilliam’s pledge to the Sooners brings the 2021 class to 14. The push to bring in top defensive talent is underscored in this OU class, which now numbers 10 defensive players.
The highly recruited defensive end made his announcement Saturday night on CBSHQ. He joins his high school teammate, defensive back Damond Harmon, in committing to the Sooners. Both are from Highland Springs, Virginia. Harmon committed to OU on Aug. 1.
Rivals lists the 6-foot, 4-inch, 260-pound Gilliam as the 104th player nationally and the No. 9 player in the 2021 class at his position. He is the third player from the Washington, D.C.-Virginia area to commit to the Sooners for 2021, and QB Caleb Williams and Harmon, the two others from that area, had a lot to do with Gilliam choosing OU over the nearly 40 other scholarship offers he received.
Gilliam had narrowed his recruitment choices to three teams (Oklahoma, Penn State and South Carolina), but he told Brian Dohn of 247Sports that “once Oklahoma offered it was always the Sooners and the rest of the other teams.
“They (OU) just took their recruitment to the next level,” Gilliam said. “They put me on the phone with guys who were already in the program. Guys like Ronnie Perkins and Jalen Redmond, guys like that, who I would be around when I get there. They took their interest in me to a whole other level.”
The addition of Gilliam advanced Oklahoma two spots in the Rivals 2021 class rankings to No. 14, and they should climb into the top 10 in the next couple of months if they are successful in reeling in several other top targets who are high on everyone’s radar.