| 07 January 2010
Recruiting Update 1/7:
OU has just received verbals from two Dallas area DTs
Eric Humphrey 6-4, 275, 4.8 Dallas, TX Parish Episcopal
Damon Williams 6-5, 320, 5.1 Irving, TX Nimitz HS
These two huge DTs pickups put OU at 28 verbals (5 midterm- Stills, Jefferson, Irwin Woods, McClain), so just two verbal slots left. Before going into some detail on what the two DTs bring to the Sooner class let's recap OU's current verbals by position
- QB (1): Blake Bell 6-6, 230, 4.7
- RB (2): Brennan Clay 6-0, 190, 4.45 Roy Finch 5-8, 180, 4.45
- WR (5): Justin McCay 6-3, 204, 4.5 Kenny Stills 6-1, 180, 4.35 Sheldon McClain 6-3, 185, 4.5 Joe Powell 6-0, 185, 4.5 Trey Franks 5-9, 185, 4.3
- TE/FB (2): Austin Haywood 6-5, 245, 4.7 Trey Millard, 6-3, 250, 4.7
- OL (5): Austin Woods 6-4, 290, 5.0 OC Adam Snead 6-4, 310, 5.2 OG Bronson Irwin 6-5, 310, 5.2 OG Darryl Williams 6-5, 280, 5.0 OT Tyrus Thompson 6-6, 310, 5.1 OT
- DT (4): Daniel Noble 6-4, 280, 4.9 Torrea Peterson 6-4, 290, 4.9 Damon Williams 6-5, 320, 5.1 Eric Humphrey 6-4, 275, 4.7
- DE (1) : Chuka Ndulue 6-4, 245, 4.7
- LB (3): Rashad Favors 6-2, 225, 4.5 Garrett Lake 6-2, 210, 4.5 Aaron Franklin 6-2, 210, 4.5
- CB (2): James Haynes 6-1, 185, 4.35 Aaron Colvin 6-0, 185, 4.5
- Safety (3): Tony Jefferson 6-0, 195, 4.5 Julian Wilson 6-1, 185, 4.35 Quentin Hayes 6-1, 185, 4.4
Damon Williams was the first verbal this week, Williams is kind of a transition in recruiting for OU in that he's much more of a 3-4 NG type prospect, a huge DT who will probably play at around 6-5, 315. Now, Williams does not have the kind of mobility of a Gerald McCoy, but is probably closer to a bigger Demarcus Granger. Just think how important a big run stuffing DT is against teams like Stanford, WVU, Alabama, or even Florida, not everyone in college football runs the spread. This kind of flexibility in personnel is exactly what Venables has been using lately. Williams had a great senior year with over 99 tackles and 5.5 sacks playing NG in 3-4 look (that tackle number is absurd considering scheme wise Williams should be occupying OL to free up LBs), in his Rivals video he's just eating up olineman, never off his feet and shows good pursuit at the line of scrimmage.
If Williams is the power for the DL, Humphrey is the speed. Humphrey had an awesome senior year where he went from unknown prospect to a 4 star sought after recruit. Humphrey added significant weight to his frame and went from a tweener prospect as a 245lb DT to blue chip 275lb DT. Humphrey has an amazing first step burst and overall pursuit speed. He had17 sacks as a senior and presents the kind of pass rush DT (Gerald McCoy) that has made the Sooner defense elite in the past. Although Humphrey has added additional weight, his frame is not maxed out at all, so he could add another 15lbs and keep his elite for his size speed. It's easy to see Williams and Humphrey lined up together in the Sooner 4-3 base defense, and Torrea Peterson's recent all star game shows a DT game where he could easily play with either Humphrey or Williams. Williams - Demarcus Granger, Humphrey - Gerald McCoy (Gerald was maybe 280 when enrolled at OU), Peterson - Adrian Taylor
