Spring game helps recruiting
NORMAN — A little after 2 p.m., the first set of eyeballs popped up on Lincoln Riley’s Twitter account.
Or, more accurately, six sets of eyeballs.
Less than two hours later, seven sets.
The growing number of eyeballs represent the growing haul of commitments the Sooners have brought in during the biggest recruiting weekend in quite awhile.
Less than two hours after Riley’s seventh set of eyeballs, Notre Dame defensive end Jay Hayes announced he would join the Sooners as a graduate transfer.
The other recruit represented by Riley’s Sunday eyes had yet to make his decision public as of Sunday night, but when that announcement is made it’ll just add to what was already a major recruiting victory over the spring game weekend.
For all the talk about the Trace Adkins concert and whether OU’s payoff was worth it, and if Saturday’s chilly weather would dampen what the Sooners hoped would be a festive atmosphere, the weekend was no doubt a success.
The purpose of Riley making the spring game a bigger event was always focused around recruiting.
This season, for the first time, juniors could use the spring before their senior seasons to take official visits.
So while the spring game has always been used as a recruiting tool, this year its importance was amped up.
That led Riley to come up with creative ways to make the atmosphere surrounding the game as close to game-like as possible. That led to a split-squad that competed for a meal, it led to Adkins being brought in for a pregame concert from the north end zone and contests involving field-goal kicking and racing wide receiver Marquise Brown.
The festivities hadn’t even started when the first commitment of the weekend came down Friday afternoon when fivestar receiver Arjei Henderson committed to the Sooners for the second
time. Less than an hour later, another five-star receiver jumped back on board when Theo Wease, who was also earlier committed to Oklahoma before pulling back to reevaluate, again committed to the Sooners.
Friday’s avalanche continued with safety Jamal Morris and 2020 running back Jaylan Knighton.
The momentum continued with defensive tackle Derek Green committing Saturday after the spring game.
“I think Coach Riley and the coaches have done a great job bringing in talent,” quarterback Kyler Murray said Saturday. “He’s doing a good job. You are obviously trying to get the best in here. You have to get the best to be the best. For us, it’s just trying to grow on what we’ve got here. We have a good base. Just trying to keep adding guys who want to win.”
Even with all the recruiting success he’d already had to that point, Riley was quick to point out after Saturday’s game that he wanted next year’s spring game to be even bigger, especially pointing out that he hoped it would turn into a major recruiting weekend for other sports on campus, not just football.
“It can get as big as we want it to get,” Riley said. “Those will be discussions that we’ll have. I don’t see why this can’t really grow and be something positive for everybody.”