Sooners strike recruiting gold in California
Published: 12/19/2009 9:13 AM
Last Modified: 12/19/2009 9:13 AM
Late Friday, while many of us were tucking ourselves in bed after an exhausting night of shopping, San Diego-area stars Tony Jefferson and Kenny Stills Jr. committed to play football for Oklahoma. Some quick thoughts...
* When did OU softball coach Patty Gasso take over as football recruiting coordinator?
Gasso, who built a national power by tapping into California's bottomless pool of softball talent, must be opening some doors. How else to explain the fact that the Sooners now have commitments from Jefferson, Stills and prized San Diego running back Brennan Clay, despite having little-to-no California presence in their program recently.
You'd have to go back 4-5 years to find the last batch of Golden State Sooners, outside of Joey Halzle. And that group -- Lance Mitchell, Donte Nicholson, Chijioke Onyenegecha -- was picked up along the JUCO route.
* You pour as much effort into recruiting as you do anything else.
Jefferson, a touted safety from Eastlake Chula Vista, told SoonerScoop.com: "I was still committed to UCLA. I wasn't even taking trips, and he still hit me up and never gave up or anything."
"He" is OU secondary coach Bobby Jack Wright.
"He sent me an e-mail saying, 'Tony, we need you. Take a trip out here to OU,'" Jefferson told the Scoop. "For some reason, that just touched me."
Jefferson took that trip. "It felt like home," he told the San Diego Union Tribune.
UCLA fans won't appreciate Wright's doggedness, but OU's will.
* Those same Sooner fans might want to hold their breath until next Feb. 3
That's when Jefferson, Stills and Clay make it official on National Signing Day. Jefferson originally committed to Stanford before switching to UCLA and then to OU. USC's Pete Carroll visited his home last week, according to SoonerScoop.
Jefferson brushed off the Trojans' visit as no big deal. But if there's one thing that's certain about the recruiting game, it's that nothing is certain.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
