Sooners land trio of signing day surprises despite staff uncertainty
Lincoln Riley performed his own bit of Sooner magic Wednesday.
Without a permanent defensive coordinator in place and with the future of several defensive staff members in limbo, Riley — and that presumably unstable staff — landed a trio of previously uncommitted defensive prospects.
“We’ve been totally upfront and I think they’re confident in any direction that we decide to take,” Riley said.
First came the live televised commitment of four-star defensive back Jeremiah Criddell. His announcement sent Riley into a joyful fit of fist pumps. Criddell, a former Oregon commit from Santa Ana, California, is the 12th-ranked safety in the country, according to the 247Sports composite.
“It was one for the book,” Riley said of Criddell’s commitment. “One of those guys that kind of had his choice to go wherever he wanted to go. Huge target for us. Safety was certainly a position we wanted to continue to address in this class.”
That news came at 9:20 a.m. — an auspicious start for the Sooners on the first day of college football’s early signing period.
One signing day surprise wasn’t enough.
The Sooners landed four-star defensive lineman Marcus Stripling at 2:55 p.m., 40 minutes before Riley walked off the
practice field for his signing day news conference. Stripling, from Houston, is a top-250 national prospect.
“We’ve got a few more still out there,” Riley said as he gushed about his class. “We’ll have a few more surprises.”
One of those came at 4:13 p.m.
“It’s official,” 3-star safety Ty DeArman tweeted. The Arlington, Texas, native had just flipped from Arizona State to Oklahoma on signing day.
The Sooners ended the day with three more defensive players than they began it with.
Oklahoma had the nation’s No. 8 recruiting class at sunrise. By sunset, the 22-member class ranked sixth.
“I think it just shows the confidence these guys have in this program and where we’re going,” Riley said.
“And I think they understand the big-picture vision here — that even though we’re having a ton of success on the field right now, there’s not a sense of satisfaction.” Oklahoma’s top-four signees are all offensive players, but the late additions of Criddell and Stripling showed unexpected momentum for an OU defense that hunkered in the basement of the Big 12 this season. The Sooners ranked 108th nationally in total defense, allowing 448 yards per game.
Seven four-star defensive prospects signed with OU on Wednesday following a 2018 class that also featured seven four-star defenders.
Now it’s a matter of translating stars to stops.
“This is getting ready to get better and our people feel that,” Riley said. “Our recruits feel that, they see it and they want to come and be a part of it.”