Oklahoma Sooners Football Recruiting | A Look Back at the Class (2011) that Disappeared

Recruiting is often hit and miss. Sometimes players suffer career ending injuries, never take to the mental and physical part of the college game, fail to make grades, and just don't live up to expectations. While attrition is a normal part of every class, the class of 2011 has become the class that has "disappeared." These players would be Juniors or rSophomores and if they had panned out would be integral parts of the Sooner football team.

That year the Sooners signed 17 players, and if you look at Rivals.com recruiting rankings the class included 2 5 stars, 7 4 stars, and 8 3 stars. On paper it was one of the highest rated and supposedly most talented class of Stoops tenure in Norman. Astonishingly, only 5 players (6 if you count Frank Shannon) are still apart of the team. Here is the full list of players who were apart of that class (those who apart of the team will be bolded).

(height and weight are what they were as they came into OU program)

Marquise Anderson 4* 6'3" 280lbs DT

Dylan Dismuke 4* 6'6" 290lbs. OT

Derek Farniok 3* 6'9" 320lbs. OT

Nathan Hughes 4* 6'6" 260lbs DE

Kameel Jackson 4* 6'0" 200lbs. WR

Nila Kasitati 3* 6'4" 280lbs OL

PL Lindley 3* 6'2" 225lbs. LB

Trey Metoyer 5* 6'2" 200lbs. WR

Bennett Okotcha 3* 6'0" 175 lbs. DB

Jordan Phillips 4* 6'6 290lbs. DT

Frank Shannon 3* 6'2" 210lbs. LB

Max Stevenson 4* 6'6" 240lbs.  TE

Dan Tapko 3* 6'4" 220lbs. TE

Kendall Thompson 3* 6'2" 180lbs. QB

Jordan Wade 4* 6'4"290lbs. DT

Brandon Williams 5* 6'1" 190lbs. RB

Danzel Williams 3* 5'9" 190lbs. ATH

This class was supposed to set the foundation for the Sooners. They should be starring at the college level, but in reality this class almost disappeared. When people talk about how OU must recruit better, this is the prime example. To miss on all these players destroys depth and forces players into action in subsequent classes before they are ready to play.

This truly was a class that "disappeared"