This is the third DT member of the 2011 class we've profiled for you and important because the DT spot was a position of frustration at times for the OU defense in 2010. Clearly that fact was not lost on the coaches as they have three kids who redshirted in 2010 as well as Wade, Marquise Anderson, and Jordan Phillips in 2011. The thing that stood out to me about Wade was that his measurables (6'4" 293, no slouch mind you) weren't anything that really lept off the page, but the kid looks like a freaking beast on film! Just watching some of those highlights, it's hard not to imagine him swallowing multiple blockers once Jackie Shipp gets his hands on him.
He has an outstanding bull rush, but could stand to improve on his lower body strength (which will be no problem in a D-1 S&C program). Then you see at about the 45 second mark, the kid move laterally down the line like someone half his size and just wow. Very similar to fellow classmate, Jordan Phillips, just abnormally athletic for a kid his size. DT is widely considered as one of, if not the most, difficult spots to recruit and this kid looks to be a good one. Above average on technique, which is a huge plus because most kids his size just rely on overpowering everyone they line up against. Wade appears to be much more advanced in that respect and for that reason could realistically see the field in 2011. It's not a strong possibility, but if OU were to suffer an injury or two at the DT spot Wade could be ready waiting in wings.
As I said above, Wade is listed at 6'4" 293 is a four star recruit and the #15 overall DT in the country per Rivals. Wade turned down offers from Baylor, Houston, and Texas A&M. I always include the other schools mainly because I just think it's interesting to see who OU beat out for these kids. To that point, you'll see that Wade didn't have a ton of offers and that was directly due to the fact that OU was in on him so early. He committed to OU on 2/20/10, so very shortly after signing day nearly a year ago. This happens a lot with OU kids, as the coaches don't just rely on the recruiting services or state lines to dictate who they do and do not recruit. This looks to be another one of those kids where the OU coaches were in on him before most other schools and could potentially found another solid contributor where other schools would have never looked in the first place or at a minimum, looked too late.