Stoops: OU Recruiting with Strength

2007 Class Bios & Highlights | 2007 OU Signing Day Central

NORMAN | The University of Oklahoma announced the addition of 20 new players today, the first day of the football letter of intent signing period.

Due to a small senior class, Oklahoma had fewer scholarships to offer this season, but Sooner head coach Bob Stoops said he was pleased with range of the class, which addressed at least eight different positions. The OU coach also likes the athletic ability of this group.

“Once again we met all our needs and addressed them in a very good way,” Stoops said. “This is a very balanced class. We hit our numbers perfectly. We weren't able to sign a bigger class due to our numbers limitations this year, but we feel great about the quality. We signed some excellent players.”

Of the 20 players signed, five are offensive linemen. Three are linebackers while another three are defensive ends and three are receivers. Two each are listed at defensive back and athlete. One each was signed at quarterback and kicker.

“We were thin in the offensive line so we signed more players there,” said Stoops. “We will need to continue addressing those positions in the next few years. We feel better about it now, but we're not where we want to be.”

Oklahoma was the state that produced the most new Sooners with seven. Texas was next with six. Three are from Louisiana with one each from Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Missouri.

“We signed players from all over the country again,” Stoops said. “This speaks to our ability to recruit nationally and to do so with strength.”

Eighteen of the 20 players hail from the high school ranks. The only exceptions are junior college transfers Phil Loadholt, an offensive lineman, and Michael Reed, a linebacker.

Loadholt and Reed are two of the five incoming players that already are attending classes at OU. The other three are high school products Austin Box, a linebacker; Kody Cooke, and offensive lineman; and Keith Nichol, a quarterback.

“Phil and Michael are big, strong players that we hope can make an impact in here right away,” Stoops said. “With Keith, it was important that we get a quarterback of his caliber so we have been excited to have him join us, and we like Austin and Kody a lot too.

“We hope all of them can contribute early in their careers. We don't go into this wanting to redshirt anyone.”

Opening Comments:
“I am really excited to sign another excellent class this year at Oklahoma. I am really pleased with our assistant coaches with the way they have worked and hustled until the end. I am really excited about the quality of these players.

“This is a class that is very well-rounded, offensively and defensively, with the number of players in the key positions that we needed to address and the overall balance of the group. This year we were limited in numbers because of very few seniors. Those numbers changed a little bit as we were going through because Adrian Peterson decided to declare for the NFL.

“We had three guys that will be put on medical scholarships because of their inability to overcome injuries. In those cases, we really hit our number perfectly.

“Again, we are really excited about the quality of these players. We covered some key areas that we needed to address, with our offensive line first. Although we added these five, we are still going to be thin. It will still give us only 13 scholarship guys with the big class graduating in the coming year. We are still down somewhat there, but to sign five there will really boost this class.”

On quarterback Keith Nichol:
“At quarterback, we signed a really excellent player in Keith Nichol. We are really excited about the athleticism he has to run, throw and to win. He was a championship quarterback in his state and was a three-time state player of the year. He is really an excellent player.

“He is a guy that can compete for the starting spot, just like the other guys will. It is always helpful when they are here to go through winter and to be here for spring practices. All of those guys, nobody has game experience at this level to be on their side. They will have great competition, and we will work it in the right ways.

“Watching him work out and lift and run a little bit, as well as visiting with Coach Schmitt a little bit on how is work ethic has been, and he has done a great job.”

On Ryan Broyles:
“Finishing here on the last day with Ryan Broyles was exciting. You want a local guy to stay around. Fortunately, he saw the opportunity here to be solid and good. We are excited to have Ryan here, locally, to be with us. We see using him as a receiver and believe he will be a good one for us.

“We like his allusiveness and his speed and the way he runs. You see a lot of highlights of him of what he does with the football, and he does a great job. In the end, him playing offense doesn't have to be the case, but that is how we see it. We see him being a guy that can make something happen with the ball. That is where we are going to look first.”

On if Ryan Broyles is able to play on either side of the ball:
“Sure, it is very easy for him. When you watch him, he makes plays on both sides of the ball that are equally as impressive.”

On the receiver position:
“We signed some speed at receivers. Several of those guys are legitimate track speed. The quality of those guys is really special.

“Tyler Stradford had excellent track times, along with Corey Wilson. Corey, in fact, we think is better than his older brother, Travis (Wilson, former OU receiver and current player with the Cleveland Browns). You guys tell Travis that.”

On the offensive line positions:
“Jason Hannan is an inside guy that we feel is a fabulous center. Alex Williams and Donald Stephenson can probably play inside or outside and we love guys like that that can do both. They have really good range and are long guys. Same with Kody (Cooke). They are all guys that have good height with long reach. We will see what fits them.

“Phil Loadholt is incredibly athletic. My barometer is a great one. Coach Schmitt is incredibly excited about the way he is working. He has come in with a great mind-set to be better and improve, and he is doing that. He has a lot of physical abilities to go along with that kind of an attitude, and we hope that continues and believe it will. He is very light on his feet and has great range.”

On the linebacker position:
“We signed some great linebackers. Getting Travis Lewis in the last few days was big because we graduated two guys this year and are graduating two more next year. I was talking to Coach (Brent) Venables the other day, saying that we were going to be pretty thin at linebacker.

"Linebackers and backs make up the biggest part of your special teams. To get Travis late was really big to go along with Mike Reed who is already on campus. They come in with Austin Box who is already on campus. We addressed our needs there.

“Austin is doing a great job working here already. He is so athletic that I think that it will be easy for him. He is a big guy that can really run. He is really sharp in what he does. Austin loves to work and I think that he is going to grow into it. He is already a big guy and already out-growing those defensive back positions.

“Austin is going to be a fast linebacker like we are used to having like Rufus Alexander and Roy Williams who played up front for us most of the time. It is going to be fun for us because we have been watching Austin in our camp for four or five years. I remember him as a young guy. I kept saying to my brother, Mike (Stoops), Look at this guy.' It is fun to see him after so many years here with us.

“Mike Reed is a very physical, powerful guy. If you look at him, he is put together at about 255 and moves well. He is very explosive, strong and a great player.”

On the secondary position:
“Defensively, getting Londell Taylor late was exciting. His highlight tape goes on for about an hour offensively, defensively and returning. We are really excited about the athlete that he is. You talk to everyone what a great basketball player he was, and I think he was MVP of that district. The guy can make a lot of plays and has great size and strength. We feel that we will find the best position for him.

“We got several others, like defensive back Desmond Jackson and Jamell Fleming. We signed Sam Proctor who was a quarterback and took his team to the state championship game. He is 6-1 and 205 pounds, he has great ability to run and be an athlete. He is a guy that can really help us in the secondary because of the athlete that he is.

“You look at Sam, offensively, he is a major factor in leading his team to the state championship game. He knows that he is not a true quarterback, but as you watch him make plays he will make people miss him. He will pass people, through people, and just a physical guy that really moves well. He throws an interception and you see him destroy somebody tackling them. You don't see many quarterbacks do that.”

On the defensive end position:
“At defensive end, we signed David Anderson here, locally. He has great size, great range and ability to change direction. He reminded us a lot of Larry Birdine. Fortunately, we were able to get David towards the end.

“Frank Alexander came into today. When you graduate four defensively, we are going to be somewhat thin and we have two more graduating next year. It also helps to get Jonte Bumpus who is also a local Oklahoma guy who is going to help us in that area.”

On kicker Jimmy Stevens:
“We got a kicker in Jimmy Stevens who we really like. With Garrett Hartley coming into his senior year, it gives us time to work with Jimmy through the year and get him ready. We really like his consistency and the way he has played through his high school career and hoping for that same consistency here.”

On the new players already on campus:
“We are excited to have five guys here that are already working in Kody Cooke, Phil Loadholt, Austin Box, Mike Reed and Keith Nichol. They are all in with (strength and conditioning Coach Jerry) Schmitt, who is always my barometer. He loves the way they are all working.”

“Keith Nichol has already gained 12 pounds working in the weight room and running. Phil Loadholt went from 350 pounds to 360, and lost body fat. We are really excited about the way he is working. Kody Cooke is doing well. Coach Schmitt is very pleased with Austin Box and Mike Reed and the progress they are making already on campus.”

On if any of this year's commitments can compete to play right away:
“We expect them all to. Anymore, with our limited numbers, we get them all ready to play. Obviously, the offensive line is a thin position for us. We lose Chris Messner, so that will be important. It is important that Keith (Nichol) competes at the quarterback position. We have the mindset of getting them all ready to play. If they can all play and make us better, then they are going to play.”

On New Orleans natives Tyler Stradford and Alex Williams and their struggles dealing with Hurricane Katrina:
“They have had a difficult time family-wise. They are really neat guys that have done well academically. When you get a chance to be around them, they are fun and pleasant guys. Even though with their circumstances, they haven't allowed themselves to be down. They really fit in well on their visits. They loved it and fit in well with our players. They are really good players.

“Tyler has exceptional speed and has legitimate track times. Big Bill,' which is Alex Williams' nickname, has great range and can move. We think he can do really well.”

On the low number of players OU was able to sign this year:
“There is nothing you can do about the rules, we have to stop. We hit it just where we wanted to. In the end, we had a very small senior class this year. That is going to happen from time-to-time.”

On if he believes there should be an early signing period for recruits:
“Sometimes where it has been shot down too early, is when people want there to be one before the season. I wouldn't be in favor for that either. But one that coincides with junior colleges around December 20th seems to make sense. We have five guys on campus that didn't sign anything. There are some guys that didn't get to sign anything because they have already enrolled and are here. It makes sense with more guys coming out of high school early.

“Also, some coaches want to outwork you through the fall to change his mind. My feeling is that if you haven't (changed the player's mind) by December 20, then you probably not going to. That gives kids the entire fall to visit games. It gives them the end of November and three weeks in December to have official visits. Guys can still get three of four visits to decide what he wants to do. If the guys decided to, let him sign on December 20. If he is in the playoffs and can't then there is no rush and you don't have to.

“If you find out that a guy commits and he signs December 20, then he is really committed. If he doesn't then you know he is probably not really committed. Then you know you have more work to do.

“I think that it could save everybody. And kids that really know what they want to do can be done with it and move on. Some of them can enroll, some of them don't want to be bothered at school. It allows more freedom for our coaches to be on campus with our guys to make sure attending to class problems or discipline issues. It would let them be around our players more often. We would save a ton of expenses as well.”

On recruits not being highly recruited and why OU feels they will do well:
“There are always several. Guys like Londell Taylor and David Anderson are excellent players. They have a great frame and great ability when you watch them run and change direction when making plays. I haven't heard a lot of people talking about them, but when we evaluated them we liked what we saw. We have always gone on that.

“I think that Dan Cody, Teddy Lehman and Mark Bradley were all two-star guys. I don't think Quentin (Griffin) even had a star. But we liked what we saw with the way we played. Same thing with Josh Heupel. As great a player as he was, I think that we were the only Division I-A team to offer him. We are thorough in watching our tape and estimate how big and good they can be. I feel that there will be a bunch of these guys that will really do well.”

On not signing a running back in this year's recruiting class:
“It will be a premium next year. We have Allen (Patrick) back. People got to see him this year, along with some of our other guys, so it wasn't attractive to some (recruits). It will be a major priority to sign some next year.”

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