Lacolton Bester was UTEP bound before detouring to OU
Published: 8/29/2012 7:43 AM
Last Modified: 8/29/2012 7:43 AM
This will do for irony this week – Lacolton Bester was going to be a UTEP Miner before the Oklahoma Sooners paid him a visit.
It was last May. Kameel Jackson, Jaz Reynolds and Trey Franks had all been suspended. Receivers coach Jay Norvell was scrambling to come up with a late pickup. Bester happened to be available down at East Mississippi Community College.
"We got a little bit lucky," Norvell said. "We tracked down about three guys, and he was a guy who could make his grades and get out. He was a late qualifier. He wasn't qualified or wasn't prepared to graduate during Signing Day (the previous February). He had to go to school this summer. So some people backed off of him. The kid kind of fell through the cracks."
UTEP coach Mike Price finds a lot of players that way. He figured he might have his latest steal… until Norvell swooped in.
"It was exciting for me to see someone come talk to me with an Oklahoma shirt on," Bester said after practice Tuesday night. "Where I'm from, we'd watch those games on TV. We always had plans for a big school like that and getting a chance. It was a great thing."
Bester signed with OU and spent the next several weeks tying together his academic situation. He arrived in Norman at the end of July and used August's preseason camp to secure a place on the two-deep. He's listed right behind starting freshman Trey Metoyer.
"He's great in the open field – screen plays and quick passes to him," Sooners quarterback Landry Jones said. "He's strong to the catch. It's something that we're going to try to get to. He makes a lot of good moves and plays pretty physical."
When Bester informed UTEP coaches he was headed to Norman, he said they told him: "Well, we'll see you Sept. 1."
Indeed they will.
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
