Oklahoma football: Five Sooner signees in Under Armour All-America Game
By Chip Rouse
The 2023 Oklahoma football season is officially in the books and program attention has now turned to all things 2024 and the Sooners inaugural season in the super conference known as the SEC.
The incumbent Sooner roster is now heavy into its offseason training. Meanwhile five members of Oklahoma's incoming recruiting class are participating on Wednesday in the 2024 Under Armour High School All-America game in Orlando, Florida.
The game will be televised on ESPN at 3 p.m. CT.
Five-star defensive line recruit David Stone headlines the Oklahoma group of five who have been selected for the game. The other incoming Sooners who will be taking part are tight end Davon Mitchell, offensive linemen Daniel Akinkunmi and Euguene Brooks and defensive back Jayden Hardy. All but Mitchell are on the squad designated as Team Ice. Mitchell is on the roster of Team Fire.
Happy New Year. Here’s a David Stone bull-rush on Clemson signee Elyjah Thurmon. pic.twitter.com/brcepLCukb
— Parker Thune (@ParkerThune) January 1, 2024
This is the 17th year for the Under Armour All-America Game, which is being played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. A number of current and former Oklahoma players have participated in the game over the years. Quarterback Jackson Arnold and defensive back Peyton Bowen played in the game a year ago, and their high school coach at Denton Guyer High School, Reed Heim, was one of the coaches. Heim is back again this year, coaching the defense for Team Fire.
Stone, the No. 2 defensive lineman in the 2024 class nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite, and Akinkunmi, who is from the NFL Academy in London, have been highly impressive in workouts and practices leading up to the game.
Akinkunmi even impressed Stone, who several observers reported was one of the biggest head-turners of all the players taking part in the game.
"We were up at, I think, 3 a.m.lifting," Stone told Jason Spor of Sooner Wire, an Oklahoma website affiliated with USA Today. "Me, him (Akinkunmi) and Von (Davon Mitchell) were all in the weight room, and I ended up calling JJ (Jayden Jackson, a fellow OU signee who is a teammate of Stone's at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida), and I was like, 'Hey man, this dude (Akinkunmi) is going to be special."