Yesterday was not a good day to be an OU fan. If you need an explanation as to why, simply scroll down the front page here and you'll get a pretty good sense of why. The day after, what some OU fans and basically every local writer have referred to as 'Black Monday', has started to trend a little more positive.
According to a report from Brandon Huffman, of Fox Sports and Scout.com, Fresno (Ca.) safety Hatari Byrd has become the 12th member of the Sooners 2013 class after pledging his verbal commitment Tuesday afternoon. Once again, the Sooners have gone back into the state of California and continue to establish their presence out on the west coast.
Byrd is a tough, very physical safety who routinely plays close to the line for his high school team. Unlike many other high school players who are asked to play that role, Byrd is not a liability in coverage and has shown the ability to turn his hips and run with receivers and tight ends. Shows good feet and the ability to take solid angles to the football and when he meets the ball carrier he does so with physical force. Similar to a lot of the more talented high school players, he can often rely on his size, strength, and athleticism as opposed to quality technique but that certainly is not a problem unique to him alone. At his size (6'1" 190 lbs), he could project as that hybrid LB/S role Stoops & Co. have always been so fond of in the OU defense.
Byrd recently stated that he had a top two of Oklahoma and UCLA and also according to Huffman's report, he still plans on taking official visits to Notre Dame and UCLA. So this could be another one, much like the drama OU fans just went through with Greg Bryant, that the Sooners have to sweat out for some time. Byrd does have an official visit currently scheduled to Norman for the weekend of the Notre Dame game.
Byrd also holds offers from Arizona State, Cal, Georgia, Illinois, Notre Dame, UCLA, and of course Oklahoma among others.
Welcome to Sooner Nation Hatari!