Oklahoma Sooners Football Recruiting / How Many Commits for the Class of 2015?

The Sooners currently have 16 verbal commits and have made numerous recent offers. With this always comes the inevitable question of how many players will find themselves a part of the class of 2015. While that's always tricky because any number of things can effect the total amount of players that will be on scholarship for next season. The NCAA allows for 85 scholarships (no partials) for a college football team. The Sooners currently have 84 players on scholarship. After this season the Sooners will loses 18 seniors who will exhaust their eligibility. These players are

Aaron Ripowski
Blake Bell
Tony Feo
Tyler Evans
Dionte Savage
Adam Shead
Tyrus Thompson
Daryl Williams
Rashod Favors
Chuka Ndulue
Torrea Peterson
Geneo Grissom
Aaron Franklin
Caleb Gastellum
Julian Wilson
Quentin Hayes
Jed Barnett
Michael Hunnicutt

So at 1st glance it would appear that the Sooners only have 19 scholarships to give out for the class of 2015. With 16 commits that would mean only 3 additional recruits to get to the magic number of 85. This class however will easily have more than 3 additional commits. In fact I would guess that it would have at least 9-10 and maybe as many as 11 more commits.

So how can the Sooners get to a number of possibly 27. There are numerous ways

1. Underclassmen Declare for Draft

The Sooners could have 3 possible candidates for this

Jordan Phillips
Sterling Shepard
Zach Sanchez

Out of this list, the only player that I would put as even possible for this is Jordan Phillips. He has back problems, and if he gets a high enough draft grade, I could see him making the leap and earning money while his back still holds up.

2. Players transfer, are ruled ineligible, get kicked off team, or are forced to give up football for medical reason.

This is where the Sooners will likely make room for the additional 9-10 players. I will not name any names (because I have no inside sources), but look for several players to no longer be a part of the team as they transfer. The likely candidates are players who are rFreshman or rSophomores who have been passed up on the depth chart by younger players. I would look at players in the secondary, WR, RB, and DL for possible candidates. I could see 4-5 transfers before the start of next season.

Further you could see players not make grades, get in trouble with law, and have to give up football for medical reasons. In fact one of these happened just yesterday as WR Derrick Woods was removed from the team.

. @OU_CoachStoops indicates reserve WR Derrick Woods "has been removed from team indefinitely for violation of team rules."

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) December 2, 2014

3. Current Commits DeCommit and end up playing elsewhere.

When I first started following recruiting, it used to infuriate me when a player would decommit. Not anymore. I'm very thankful for players like Ryan Broyles and Zach Sanchez. Recruiting will almost inevitably produce several players who will decommit. Further, I believe that all coaches will encourage commits to visit and seek out other options should they find themselves on the verge of receiving commitments from higher ranked players.

The Bottomline

The Sooners must be at 85 scholarship players by the start of the 2015 season. It will happen one way or another.

Here is how I see the class of 2015 breaking down number wise

QB- 1

RB-1

TE- 1

WR- 2

OL- 7-8

DL- 5-6

LB- 3-4

S- 2-3

CB- 2-3

K- 1

So get ready for the fun and crazy ride that is recruiting as the National Signing Day is just over 2 months away!