Oklahoma Sooners Football Recruiting: Sooners make the cut for C.J. Smith

Four-star 2018 safety C.J. Smith decommitted from the Florida Gators last week, and he’s now seriously considering the Oklahoma Sooners. On Saturday, the West Palm Beach product released his top five.

This is certainly some welcome news for the Sooners, who have had some unfortunate luck recruiting 2018 safeties. Tulsa Union safety Patrick hopped on board back in February and has proven to be a fantastic recruiter, but OU has come up short with a number of other prospects at the position over the past few months. Owasso safety and current Ohio State commit Josh Proctor is still being pursued by the Sooners, but OU obviously needs to have other potential options out there if they’re unable to flip him or Jaiden Woodbey. The Sooners seem to be pushing especially hard for safeties since news broke about Will Sunderland, having offered four-star Atlanta-area safety Trey Dean last week.

Even if one of the two Buckeye commits decided to flip, Smith would be a fantastic future option at safety for the Sooners if things start to trend in their direction. Standing at 6-2, he has the size and length that is coveted by college coaches and NFL GMs alike. When also factoring in his ball skills and athleticism, he’s an incredibly intriguing prospect who obviously has loads of upside.

There’s a reason Smith has been pursued by some of the nation’s best programs, including Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State and Tennessee. The Louisville Cardinals seem like the frontrunners at the moment, but there’s still plenty of time for that to change.

According to Brandon Drumm of The Football Brainiacs, Smith has set up an official visit for the weekend of Oklahoma’s Oct. 7 game vs. Iowa State. OU’s facility renovations and young, enthusiastic recruiters give OU a puncher’s chance to land pretty much any visiting prospect, and hopefully they make quite an impression on the south Florida native this fall.