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Oklahoma's 2011 football recruiting class is 17 players strong! The group is highlighted by five star recruits Trey Metoyer and Brandon Williams and ranked by Rivals as the nation's 13th best class. That's not to say that National Signing Day didn't bring about some drama and last minute shuffling as one Oklahoma recruit chose West Texas over Norman and two other switched their commitments at the last minute and become Sooners.
Oklahoma's 2011 Recruiting Class And Rivals Ranking
Name
Pos
Ht/Wt
Stars
Rank
Marquis Anderson
DT
6-3/280
12
Dylan Dismuke
OL
6-6/292
22
Derek Farniok
OL
6-9/319
76
Nathan Hughes
DE
6-6/263
22
Kameel Jackson
WR
6-0/198
34
Nila Kasitati
OL
6-4/280
50
P.L. Lindley
LB
6-2/225
34
Trey Metoyer
WR
6-2/198
2
Bennett Okotcha
DB
6-0/175
64
Jordan Phillips
DT
6-6/290
4
Franklin Shannon
LB
6-2/210
37
Max Stevenson
TE
6-6/240
12
Dan Tapko
TE
6-4/220
25
Kendal Thompson
QB
6-2/180
21
Jordan Wade
DT
6-4/293
15
Brandon Williams
RB
6-1/188
3
Danzel Williams
ATH
5-9/190
18
Word broke late Tuesday that Coppell, TX defensive back Bennett Okotcha would switch his commitment from Notre Dame to Oklahoma. That was confirmed at 9:42 Wednesday morning when Okotcha's letter of intent was faxed to the OU football offices.
Okotcha helped lead his team to the Texas 5A semifinals (1 point loss to Trinity) by recording 37 tackles and 2 interceptions. Rivals has him as the 98th best prospect in the state of Texas and 64th best cornerback prospect in the nation. He's listed as 6-0/175 and runs a 4.4/40. In addition to Notre Dame and Oklahoma he received scholarship offers from Baylor, Minnesota, Wake Forest and Wisconsin. He was recruited to Oklahoma by Brent Vanables and Willie Martinez.
Then came the news that defensive end Cooper Washington would decommit from Oklahoma and sign instead with Texas Tech. Washington was ranked as the nation's 16th best defensive end prospect but the Sooners already had a signed letter from four-star defensive end prospect Nathan Hughes of Klein, Texas as of 7:05 am.
With last week's switch of Brandon Carter to TCU and then Wednesday's switch of Cooper to Texas Tech the Sooners were still down one player with the addition of Okotcha. That's where the 1:19 pm fax came up huge. That fax made it official that Euless, TX tight end Nila Kasitati would be switching his commitment from Baylor and signing with the Sooners.
Kasitati is a 6-4/280 lbs blocking tight end. He's yet another Texas Top 100 prospect (#77) landed by the Sooners and the 50th best tight end prospect in the nation according to Rivals. He was recruited by interestingly enough by Brent Venables who was able to persuade him to come to Oklahoma over Baylor, Duke, Oklahoma State, SMU, Tulsa and Utah.
"We feel it is obvious by the way people have respected our class with all the different rankings, to know that there are only 17 players and it's still regarded as one of the better ones in the country. I think again it speaks of the quality of players. I feel we've met all our needs with big guys on o-line, d-line, speed positions, receivers, a defensive back, running backs. You know all those guys and then you got the linebackers and tight ends, those guys in the middle. They're all our style of players. So anyways, it's just a quality class, like usual. You know we've got players from five or six different states and a large portion down through Texas, which is always, being so close, is always excellent to go recruit down there." - Bob Stoops
Without last minutes swapping and midnight hour recruiting National Signing Day wouldn't have the appeal and luster it has. Let's be honest, this is what we wanted. Without stuff like this we wouldn't have guys like Ryan Broyles and Corey Nelson on the roster. When all was said and done the Sooners had swapped two three-star players with two three-star players and the class remained every bit as solid as it was before Brandon Carter ever thought of switching to TCU. It just made finalizing the class that much more fun!
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