Oklahoma Sooners Football Recruiting: Baylor commit Delarrin Turner-Yell visiting Norman for ChampU BBQ

The Oklahoma Sooners will have dozens of prospects from the 2018, 2019 and 2020 classes in town for the ChampU BBQ on Saturday, including the majority of the programs’s 2018 commits. The event has become an annual tradition, and I’d expect that to keep being the case for years to come. It provides a great opportunity for current commits to recruit other prospects, and the results speak for themselves.

One somewhat surprising attendee this year is Hempstead, Texas, product and current Baylor commit Delarrian Turner-Yell. Turner-Yell pledged to the Bears back in April, but shortly thereafter he made it known to all that his recruitment was still open. On Friday, he revealed via Twitter that he would be one of the attendees at this weekend’s big recruiting event.

Turner-Yell’s recruitment seems pretty relevant when considering the announcements from Ohio State commits Josh Proctor and Jaiden Woodbey. Following a weekend in Columbus, both safety prospects announced this week that they would be shutting down their recruitment. I don’t expect OU to be done pushing for Proctor, but it’s obviously in OU’s best interest to look around at other safety options. Making the top five for Florida safety CJ Smith was obviously a positive development, but the Sooners certainly aren’t putting all of their eggs in one basket.

Although he may be a bit on the small side at the moment (listed at 5-10 and 157), Turner-Yell is about as physical as they come at the safety position. If he can put on a bunch of weight (I think we all trust Schmitty in this area), he’s someone who could really help a defense out in the run game. His closing speed is tremendous and his tackling form is fantastic.

Turner-Yell picked up offers from OU, Baylor, Nebraska, Iowa and Utah back in February, and I’d expect his recruitment to ramp up again this fall. I don’t know if OU will be able to make him flip while at the BBQ, but getting him to attend is a victory in and of itself. I’m sure current Oklahoma commit Patrick Fields will be in his ear all weekend, which could end up shifting things in Oklahoma’s direction.

Even if nothing happens immediately with Turner-Yell, the BBQ should yield some positive results on the recruiting trail. Hopefully some googly eyes will be popping up on the Twitter timeline in the coming days.