Oklahoma Sooners Recruiting | Dipping Into SEC Territory

Before the close of the season, the Oklahoma Sooners were staring directly at a slump in recruiting. Former Head Coach, Barry Switzer went on record criticizing a program near and dear to his heart by saying,

They're going to have to recruit better players than they have. They haven't had very good recruiting the past few seasons; they haven't possessed the physicality that some other teams have like the SEC has. Obviously, that's where [Stoops] needs to tremendously improve.

However, with a convincing win in the Sugar Bowl over "the best team in the nation," the tides have changed drastically. Now, with National Signing Day just around the corner, Bob Stoops and Co. are out to prove Barry Switzer wrong. Not only has Oklahoma recruited in-state talent while continuing their pipeline out to California, the Sooners are now extending an arm into SEC territory. Could it be that the rest of college football has not only caught up with the Southeastern Conference, but surpassed them and recruits are taking notice?

Currently, the coaching staff has received 19 verbal commitments as well as two letters of intent for the 2014 class from 8 different states. Here is a breakdown of the aforementioned incoming class by state (keep in mind, things can always change before National Signing Day). Four of those states just so happen to be SEC dominated territories...

Alabama

Dwayne Orro - DE

Arizona

Mark Andrews - WR
Natrell Curtis - OL

California

Devante Bond - LB
Issac Ijalana - TE
Curtis Bolton - LB
Joe Mixon - RB
Dallis Todd - WR

Louisiana

Joseph Paul - OL

Mississippi

Tito Windham - DB

Ohio

Alex Dalton - OL

Oklahoma

Justice Hansen - QB
Jeffery Mead - WR
Carson Meier - TE

Texas

Jonathan Alvarez - OL
Tay Evans - LB
Dimitri Flowers - ATH
Brandon Glenn - DE
Marcus Green - DB
Vontre McQuinnie - DB
Samaje Perine - RB

*Oklahoma finds their 2014 recruiting class ranked 17th in the nation according to Rivals.com and 18th according to ESPN pending the decisions of big name prospects who are still undecided at this point of their recruitment process.