Sooners lose Lake and gain Nelson: Jenks athlete Jarrett Lake orally committed to the Sooners in July and provided little evidence that his eligibility issues would prevent him from signing. Corey Nelson, one of the nation's top linebackers, reaffirmed his oral commitment to Texas A&M last week. But on signing day on Wednesday, it was Nelson who pledged a commitment to Oklahoma, while Lake looked elsewhere, landing at Arkansas. Tuesday evening, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables received an oral commitment from Nelson. (The Oklahoman)

Class Ranking:
Rivals.com - No. 7
Scout.com - No. 2
ESPN - No. 5




Brennan Clay a key recruiter: The Oklahoman

Love at first sight for Blake Bell, OU: The Oklahoman

OU signing day roundup: Bronson Irwin makes time for ceremony; Aaron Colvin signs with OU: The Oklahoman

Best in Class: OU signee Brennan Clay is from running back capital San Diego: The Oklahoman

Quarterback gives Sooners some options: Tulsa World

Ultimately, intangibles make the difference: The Norman Transcript

Entire class signed ready to go by noon: The Norman Transcript

Sooners bet their future on 28 recruits who were all playing high school football last fall: The Norman Transcript

Sherman still smiling after Aggies lose prized recruit: Houston Chronicle

OU's haul straight out of high schools: MuskogeePhoenix.com

Labels: Oklahoma Sooners, Recruiting

On Wednesday, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops announced OU football's recruiting class of 2010. The class, which ranks among the nations best according to Scout.com and ESPN, signed five 5-star prospects according to Scout.com, including Blake Bell, Brennan Clay, Justin McCay, Corey Nelson and Kenny Stills.

Stoops felt confident on Wednesday, saying he believes the Sooners have addressed the needs on both sides of the ball with this year's class of signees.

"I felt first, we met every one of our needs by position the way we needed to with the number of guys, the number of signees at each of those positions, and addressed some (needs), just with graduation and guys departing through the year. I felt we really got great talent at all those positions," Stoops said.

Class of 2010
BLAKE BELL
BRENNAN CLAY
AARON COLVIN
RASHOD FAVORS
ROY FINCH
AARON FRANKLIN
TREY FRANKS
GENEO GRISSOM
QUENTIN HAYES
JAMES HAYNES
AUSTIN HAYWOOD
ERIC HUMPHREY
BRONSON IRWIN
TONY JEFFERSON
JUSTIN MCCAY
SHELDON MCCLAIN
TREY MILLARD
COREY NELSON
CHUKA NDULUE
DANIEL NOBLE
TORREA PETERSON
JOE POWELL
ADAM SHEAD
KENNY STILLS (Note: Still waiting for NCAA approval)
TYRUS THOMPSON
DAMON WILLIAMS
DARYL WILLIAMS
JULIAN WILSON
AUSTIN WOODS

Labels: Oklahoma Sooners, Recruiting

Oklahoma hires Wiilie Martinez as secondary coach: Willie Martinez has been named the new defensive backs coach at Oklahoma. OU Head Coach Bob Stoops made the announcement today and the move is pending approval of the university's board of regents.

As part of the move, assistant head coach Bobby Jack Wright, who has been on the Sooner staff since 1999, will move from the secondary to coaching OU's defensive ends. He previously coached the defensive ends from 1999-2004 when the program produced five All-Big 12 players at the position.

Martinez was defensive backs coach at Georgia from 2000-09, and was the defensive coordinator from 2005-09.

"Willie is an outstanding coach and someone with a tremendous background in our profession," Stoops said. "His experience is very impressive and he will contribute a lot of very good things to our program. And not only is he fine secondary coach, he's a good recruiter with ties in Florida and a number of other places."

Stoops said past visits with Georgia's staff familiarized him with Martinez.

"Our staffs had been together exchanging ideas and I was impressed with Willie," Stoops said. "In those meetings you not only get a feel for how well someone knows the game, but their ability to communicate and interact with other people, and Willie was a guy that represented himself and his school very well."

The admiration is mutual from Martinez.

"Bob has won so many games and so many championships there that I am just very humbled to be part of that staff," Martinez said. "I was there in 1985 with Miami so I've experienced it myself. I love history and tradition and I go back to my childhood and that Oklahoma name was just always the tops. And it still is thanks to what Bob and his staff have done.

"I've known Bob back to his K-State days and I've known all of those guys on the defensive side of the ball. It's an outstanding group of men and that's what makes this such an attractive job."

The big-play potential and the responsibility of the secondary are the aspects of secondary coaching that most appeal to Martinez.

"We're the last line of defense and you've got to have a good group of athletes who can handle that pressure," he said. "You're going to have a direct impact on every play. You have to have some swagger and the ability to shake off the bad play. I know that a game is almost always going to come down to who plays the best in the secondary and I like that."

Martinez doesn't mind either that the head coach, Stoops, has a background of coaching defensive backs.

"Bob's experience with defensive backs is something that I really like and I want him being around us in practice," he said. "His input is invaluable, but his presence also is a sign to our players that there is a good emphasis on our position."

Before going to Georgia, Martinez served three years as secondary coach and one as assistant head coach at Central Michigan.

During his nine years at UGA, he was part of a staff that led Georgia to 90 victories, two SEC championships, three SEC Eastern Division titles, seven bowl victories, and six top ten finishes in the final national polls including No. 2 in 2007 and No. 3 in 2002. (SoonerSports.com)

Related:
OU Hires Martinez as Defensive Assistant

Labels: Defense, Oklahoma Sooners

Sooners hire former Georgia coordinator Martinez: Former Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez will fill the vacant assistant coaching spot at OU, Tom Dienhart of Rivals.com is reporting. Martinez, who was fired by Georgia coach Mark Richt in December after the Bulldog defense struggled in back-to-back seasons, reportedly was hired over the weekend to be Jim Harbaugh's defensive backs coach at Stanford. But Dienhart is now saying, according to a Stanford source, that Martinez is taking the assistant's job at OU, which came open when former Sooner defensive ends coach Chris Wilson left to become the co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach at Mississippi State. (The Oklahoman)

Labels: Coaching, Defense, Oklahoma Sooners

5-star prospect picks Texas over OU: The defensive end prospect from West High School in Plano, Texas, and the son of former Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills defensive end Jim Jeffcoat, chose Texas over Oklahoma and Houston Friday during an announcement ceremony from his high school gymnasium. At the start of the ceremony, with his father seated to his left and his mother to his right, Jeffcoat put on a burnt orange Texas hat, then took questions from the press. "I felt most comfortable at Texas," he said. "But I definitely felt comfortable at Houston, and I definitely felt comfortable at Oklahoma." (Tulsa World)

Previous Post:
5-Star Prospect Considering OU

Labels: Oklahoma Sooners, Recruiting

5-star DE Jeffcoats considering OU, Texas and Houston: The nation's No. 2 prospect Jackson Jeffcoat (Plano, Texas/West) is down to three schools after dropping Arizona State from consideration. The 6-foot-4, 233-pound five-star defensive end will decide between Texas, Oklahoma and Houston in the coming days, but an announcement time has not been set as of Tuesday night.
Jeffcoat made his final official visit last weekend to Oklahoma, which was followed by an in-home visit by Sooners coaches Bob Stoops, Jackie Shipp, Brent Venables and Josh Heuple on Monday night. (ESPN.com)

Labels: Oklahoma Sooners, Recruiting

Texas' prospect Eddrick Loften opts for Tennessee: Eddrick Loften, a safety from Irving, Texas, who was once orally committed to Oklahoma, pledged to the Volunteers over the weekend. "I like (new Tennessee coach Derek) Dooley a lot," Loften told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "He's a cool guy … a real straightforward kind of guy. He wants to really change the program and turn it around, and he wants guys like me to help him do it. "I really liked what he was talking about." The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Loften committed to OU last February, but he decommitted in December as Loften and OU mutually parted ways. (The Oklahoman)

Related Pages:
Oklahoma Football Recruiting

Labels: Oklahoma Sooners, Recruiting

Wilson in-consideration for ECU job: Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson had an interesting day Wednesday. In the morning, the Internet was ablaze that Wilson was virtually first in line for the head coaching vacancy at Louisiana Tech. By midday, word had gotten around that Tech was indeed planning on announcing its new coach. Early in the afternoon, Wilson replied to a text message query that it wasn't him. Then, Louisiana Tech hired Arizona assistant Sonny Dykes. Then, for Wilson, it started all over again with East Carolina. Wilson didn't respond to another inquiry Wednesday night about his apparent candidacy for the ECU post, but the Daily Reflector, a newspaper in Greenville, N.C., that covers East Carolina sports, identified Wilson as one of four prime candidates for the job from which Middle Tennessee coach Rick Stockstill withdrew his name on Tuesday. A North Carolina television station also reported that Wilson would interview either Wednesday night or Thursday. (Tulsa World)

Heupel interviews for Minnesota job? Tulsa World is also reporting... A source also confirmed that OU quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel flew to St. Paul on Wednesday to interview for the offensive coordinator job at Minnesota. Heupel didn't reply to a text message. (Tulsa World)

Labels: Coaching, Josh Heupel, Kevin Wilson, Oklahoma Sooners