Oklahoma Sooners Football Recruiting: Midwest City DE Jalen Redmond commits to OU

Wow, what a day for recruiting.

The ChampU BBQ hosted by the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday has yielded a third commit, this time from Midwest City (OK) DE Jalen Redmond. Oklahoma had been considered the heavy favorite for Redmond for quite some time, but the local product has decided to close the deal.

Redmond, who is listed as a three-star recruit in the 247Composite rankings but is rated as a four-star recruit by some services, also holds offers from Arizona State, Georgia, Nebraska and Notre Dame. Nebraska seemed to be Oklahoma’s main challenger in his recruitment, but it appears that the Sooners have bested their old rivals in this battle. Ole Miss was also a strong contender at one point, but Hugh Freeze’s scandal likely closed the door there.

At 6-4 and over 230 pounds, Redmond has the physical traits to be an elite pass rusher at OU. He’s quick enough to get by defenders and could eventually be strong enough to overpower them as well. He also has an outstanding nose for the ball, which leads one to believe that he could also potentially find a home as an outside linebacker (or a DE/OLB hybrid).

With Redmond’s commitment, the Sooners now have further established recruiting dominance in the state of Oklahoma. Casey Thompson and Josh Proctor are committed to out-of-state schools, but the Sooners have commits from prized recruits Brey Walker, Ron Tatum, Patrick Fields, Jordan Kelly and now Redmond within the Sooner State. It’s always great to get a good share of players from Texas as well as California and Florida, but the in-state guys have been some of the biggest stars for OU in the past. Jalen Redmond certainly has the potential to add his name to the list.

Redmond is Oklahoma’s 16th commit of the 2018 class.