Oklahoma football: Sooner nation reacts to the shocking news regarding DJ Hicks
Oklahoma football was the clear leader for the services of five-star DL DJ Hicks, who stunned many in the industry when on Wednesday he chose Texas A&M on live TV.
Hicks had been silently committed to Oklahoma for a few months and even did a commitment interview with 247Sports OUinsider Brandon Drumm just a few days prior.
According to people in the industry, Hicks also had confirmed to Oklahoma earlier in the day that he was still locked in and planned to be a Sooner. His family had custom-made shirts to celebrate the occasion, but at around 3 pm CT, something had changed. And then the announcement came half an hour later, and he was heading to #HickstoCstat. Sooner nation and Twitter erupted in disbelief, some handled it better than others.
So which was the bigger loss of the last 5 days, K State or DJ Hicks?
— Chase Donahue (@ChaseDonahue18) September 28, 2022
It sucked to lose DJ Hicks, but I am ready for Bates and BV to find that high 3 star or low 4 star DT who can be developed into an All-American and possible All-Pro. Aaron Donald was a 3 star and he is all-pro.
— Kevin Myers (@OUblinkerbro) September 29, 2022
With David Hicks, Oklahoma would have won conference championships and competed for national championships.
— Douglas Miles (@douglasmilesCRG) September 28, 2022
Without David Hicks, Oklahoma will win conference championships and compete for national championships. #Sooners
5-star DL David Hicks commits to Texas A&M over Oklahoma, others. In the NIL era, Texas A&M, Miami and Louisville seem to lead the nation in late come-from-behind/surprise commitments. Make of that what you will.
— Andrew Nemec (@AndrewNemec) September 28, 2022
David Hicks shocks everyone and chooses #Gigem.
— Brandon Drumm (@Bdrumm_Rivals) September 28, 2022
This thing got crazy as it got down to the wire. A&M pulled off a stunner.
This was not just on the Oklahoma side, whether you were a neutral national recruiting guy, an OU insider, or an A&M insider. This was not something that anyone saw coming.
Oklahoma football appeared to have a pretty sizable advantage going into the final day. This goes to show that you can never give up on a recruit and keep grinding. You simply never know what might happen.
Whatever the reason, OU must now refocus their search for a big-body guy to play inside. Fortunately, the Sooners already have some studs on the defensive front committed in Colton Vasek, Derrick Leblanc, and PJ Adebawore. There are a few targets out there Oklahoma is still looking at. Oklahoma will be just fine, even though that was a pretty somber moment yesterday.