First of all, I’m extremely happy with this class.  

There’s no point comparing it with anyone else’s class.   Especially that of Florida or Texas.   What matters is if we met the needs of the future with the best talent we could get.  I think we did as well as could be expected under the circumstances.  UT dominated Texas, and, with their recent string of success over OU, who is really surprised?  We responded perfectly by picking up on a number of in-state sleepers and stealing a handful of skill players from out of state.  I think this is an absolutely outstanding class on its own merits.  

Let’s take a closer look.

QB:

We got one of the best QB’s in the nation in Blake Bell.  What’s more is that his weakness is merely a lack of technical development due to the fact he’s only played the position for two years.  He’s got more potential for growth into his position than any other recruit on this list, or any recruit in America for that matter.  As long as Josh Heupel is coaching QB’s, we’re in great shape here.

RB:

Outstanding haul.  Brennan Clay and Roy Finch are all-purpose playmakers with speed to burn.  Both are extremely dangerous catching the ball out of the backfield, and OU absolutely needs this aspect of the offense to be successful.  To see what happens to our offense without it, re-watch the 2008 MNC game against Florida.  Florida’s defense was more easily able to key in on Chris Brown because he wasn’t going to make anyone miss.   One or both of these two will see the field early on in the kick return game.  Clay is understandably the more heralded of the two, but I think Roy Finch is the most underrrated recruit in the class.  His stats could’ve easily been double what they were, but he was so dominant that they usually had him shut it down after a half.  His size was the big issue (he’s 5′7″, 180), but his acceleration is unreal.  Most RB’s need about 8-10 yards to really put it in gear.  Finch needs about 5.

WR:

Again, a fantastic class.  We’ve got a guy who can contribute right away, and another who has the potential to be an All-America, NFL prototype WR, and several guys who could be the next Juaquin Iglesias.  Earlier this year, I posted an article flat out advocating that we stop recruiting Kenny Stills.  I don’t think my reaction was unreasonable based on the comments he made about only wanting to be at USC, but after watching his tape, I’m supremely glad he’ll be a Sooner.  He’s not as physical as the coaches like, but he’s fast, he runs great routes, and he may have the single best set of hands of any 2010 receiver.  Justin McCay ties with Blake Bell for the “most upside” award.  He started the year being projected as an OLB by everyone but Jay Norvell.  By the end of Army AA practices, Scout had him as a 5* WR right behind Stills.  Keep an eye on Joe Powell and Sheldon McClain.  McClain was an ESPN 150 recruit who was moving up fast before he tore his ACL in September, and Powell was solid this year for Skyline.  Hell, we have him to thank for helping bring LB Corey Nelson over from A&M.

TE/FB:

For the 2nd year in a row, OU found the best player in the state that wasn’t widely known and got him on campus.  Last year, it was Ronnell Lewis. You know him as this guy:

This year, it’s Austin Heywood.  He went from unranked when the year began to being a consensus top 10 TE nationally by signing day.  Grades have been an issue here, but reports out of Southmoore indicate that he started actually putting in effort in classes once he got the OU offer he was hoping for.  OU coaches expect him to be on campus this fall.  The last TE that was this impressive in Oklahoma was a kid named Jermaine Gresham.  Trey Millard is a hell of an athlete in his own right, but he’s going to be a faster Brody Eldridge with exponentially better hands at H-back/FB/TE.  The Heywood/Millard combination has the potential to be as lethal out of the jumbo package as the Gresham/Eldridge combo was in 2008.

OL:

Even with this being the best OL class in the country according to Scout.com, we didn’t fill the void of getting a Juco OT to step in and give us immediate PT.  The guys we did get are very solid though.  The most important thing is that two of these guys are already on campus working out with the team, and we really need the depth.  Bronson Irwin comes in projected as a G, Austin Woods is coming in at the position in the most dire straits: center.

DL:

In a year that wasn’t particularly great for top-shelf elite DT’s, OU at least got a number of good ones.  Torrea Peterson is the most intriguing prospect as his senior year game film doesn’t seem to justify his offer list (includes USC before Carroll split, Texas, and a host of other high D1 teams), but his performance in O-D bowl practices and game snaps made him look as good as anyone out there.  Peterson reportedly squats 500 and benches over 400, so being physical and overpowering is obviously his game.  If Shipp can get him to commit heart and soul to conditioning and practices, he’ll end up an All-America.  Eric Humphrey was a sleeper who ended up getting offers from pretty much the entire Big 12 south.  He’s an athletic 3-technique DT who makes his living on speed and technique instead of raw power and size like Peterson.  Daniel Noble was the first player to commit to OU, and he arrives without a great deal of fanfare.  He strikes me as the Adrian Taylor type: strong and reliable in holding up at the point of attack, but he won’t generate pressure on his own.

At DE, we actually did a fair job despite losing Jeffcoat to UT.  Geneo Grissom projects as a strongside DE who has room to grow to at least 6′5″, 255 lbs while retaining his outstanding speed and lateral pursuit.  Think Jeffcoat minus the super-advanced technical skill.  Chuka Ndulue is a great DE who relies too much on his size and athletic ability, and he’s going to need at least two years as a backup learning the technical skills necessary to disengage from better OTs.

The good news is that we don’t need any of the DE’s to step in 2010 or 2011.  The bad news is that we need at least one of the DT’s to step up next year.

LB:

This was a good, but unimpressive class as of February 2nd.  Aaron Franklin was pretty much it.  By noon the next day, the class took a very serious step up.  Corey Nelson signed his LOI with OU, and we got a pair of elite OLB recruits.  Rashod Favors can be good, but he’s got a long road of rehab ahead of him.

DB:

Again, we absolutely met needs here, and the talent we’re bringing in is outstanding.  Aaron Colvin is the CB coaches are absolutely most thrilled about picking up, and Stoops said in his most recent presser that Colvin may be the most underrated recruit if it’s not Trey Millard.  Colvin shut down all comers in camps and games this year, and I think his ranking is unreflective of his talent.  If he was playing in Texas 5A, he’d be a high 4 star.  Trey Franks is pure speed.  This is the guy you put at boundary corner to lock down deep routes on passing downs.

Tony Jefferson is the best pure athlete in the country bar none, and he’s going to be an outstanding addition at S.  Quentin Hayes is another solid athlete who projects as a safety for us.

The overarching themes for recruiting 201o’s class were 1) getting talent despite UT’s dominance in Texas and 2) finding raw athletes instead of position specific players.  UT’s recent success is paying obvious dividends.  OU could win more than its fair share of battles for Texas recruits when we were beating Texas year in and year out.  That’s not the case anymore, and recruiting has followed suit accordingly.  We went national and did well in California.  We got the three only recruits in Kansas that were worth having, and we picked a number of guys that the coaches consider to be sleepers out of Oklahoma.  It’s worth a mention that a wide majority of OU’s major award winners (Heismans, Outland, etc.) are native Oklahomans.

However, the most obvious trend is the fact that no less than half of 2010’s recruits could legitimately be put in the “athlete” category and play multiple positions.  After this years’ wave of injuries, I think we can all agree what an asset it will be to have guys able and experienced in a number of positions.

We met the major needs, and we got great talent.  Now it’s on to player development and actually keeping OL on campus.  Good luck to us all.

Via oklahoma.scout.com, here’s the official final list ordered by position:

Pos	Nat’l Rank	Nat’l Rating	Name School, Hometown	Video	HT/ WT/ 40	Commit Date	Signed LOI?	Commit School
QB	4		Blake Bell (Bishop Carroll Catholic HS) Wichita, KS		6-6/215	04/03/2009		Oklahoma
RB	6		Brennan Clay (Scripps Ranch HS) San Diego, CA		5-11/187/4.45	06/05/2009		Oklahoma
RB	20		Roy Finch (Niceville Senior HS) Niceville, FL		5-7/180/4.50	06/26/2009		Oklahoma
WR	9		Kenny Stills (La Costa Canyon HS) Encinitas, CA		6-1/175/4.36	12/18/2009		Oklahoma
WR	10		Justin McCay (Bishop Miege HS) Shawnee Mission, KS		6-3.5/200	08/11/2009		Oklahoma
WR	33		Joseph Powell (Skyline HS) Dallas, TX		6-0/175/4.50	03/04/2009		Oklahoma
WR	88		Sheldon McClain (Steele HS) Cibolo, TX		6-2.5/180/4.55	05/12/2009		Oklahoma
WR	106		Julian Wilson (Southmoore HS) Moore, OK		6-3/180/4.48	07/07/2009		Oklahoma
TE	7		Austin Haywood (Southmoore HS) Moore, OK		6-5/240	11/02/2009		Oklahoma
OT	18		Tyrus Thompson (Pflugerville HS) Pflugerville, TX		6-5/290/5.20	02/21/2009		Oklahoma
OT	19		Daryl Williams (Lake Dallas HS) Lake Dallas, TX		6-5/270/5.10	10/11/2009		Oklahoma
OG	3		Bronson Irwin (Mustang HS) Mustang, OK		6-5/315	03/12/2009		Oklahoma
OG	7		Adam Shead (Cedar Hill HS) Cedar Hill, TX		6-4/320/5.20	05/12/2009		Oklahoma
C	5		Austin Woods (Rockwall-Heath HS) Rockwall, TX		6-5/295/5.20	07/01/2009		Oklahoma
DT	20		Eric Humphrey (Parish Episcopal School) Dallas, TX		6-4/275	01/06/2010		Oklahoma
DT	24		Daniel Noble (Marcus HS) Flower Mound, TX		6-4/275/5.00	01/29/2009		Oklahoma
DT	27		Torrea Peterson (East Central HS) San Antonio, TX		6-4/295/4.90	06/25/2009		Oklahoma
DT	46		Damon Williams (Nimitz HS) Irving, TX		6-3/287/5.40	01/05/2010		Oklahoma
DE	27		Geneo Grissom (Hutchinson HS) Hutchinson, KS		6-4/225	01/20/2010		Oklahoma
DE	55		Chuka Ndulue (Jesuit College Prep School) Dallas, TX		6-3/240	05/22/2009		Oklahoma
OLB	4		Corey Nelson (Skyline HS) Dallas, TX		6-1/200/4.58	02/03/2010		Oklahoma
OLB	8		Tony Jefferson (Eastlake HS) Chula Vista, CA		6-0/210/4.60	12/18/2009		Oklahoma
OLB	13		Aaron Franklin (Marshall HS) Marshall, TX		6-1/205/4.55	08/07/2009		Oklahoma
OLB	38		Rashod Favors (Dunbar HS) Fort Worth, TX		6-1/225/4.50	08/31/2009		Oklahoma
MLB	19		Trey Millard (Rock Bridge Sr. HS) Columbia, MO		6-2/245	08/24/2009		Oklahoma
S	38		Quentin Hayes (Lancaster HS) Lancaster, TX		6-1/175	04/14/2009		Oklahoma
CB	24		James Haynes (West Orange-Stark HS) Orange, TX		6-1/185/4.55	07/22/2009		Oklahoma
CB	29		Aaron Colvin (Owasso HS) Owasso, OK		5-11/175	07/26/2009		Oklahoma
CB	64		Trey Franks (West Orange-Stark HS) Orange, TX		5-9/165/4.50	07/22/2009		Oklahoma