2006 Signing Class 

2006 Signing Class

In what has become a rite of the late winter, Oklahoma has signed another football recruiting class considered by many to rank among the elite nationally. It has become the norm in Bob Stoops’ seven seasons with the Sooners. The 2006 class was unveiled by Stoops Wednesday, the first day of the two-month national letter of intent signing period.

“Typical of our recent classes, this one is well-balanced,” Stoops said.

“These players are a talented and strong group. Skill-wise, you see a lot of athletic ability and multi-sport success. They’ve been successful across the board and set records in a number of sports.

“I also really like the character and academic accountability in this class. It reminds me a lot of last year’s class in that way. Every year we are seeing players pay more attention to the academic side of things and they’re coming to college more prepared. The biggest majority of our players are that way.”

The 2006 signing class includes 28 prospects at nine different positions. The Sooners addressed a number of needs, but none more than in the offensive line where seven players were signed.

“We felt we needed to bolster our team along the offensive line because we had the fewest number of scholarship players returning at those positions,” Stoops said. “We feel like we met our needs. We recruit the kind of players that we feel can play early in their careers and we hope we have some in this class that can do that.”

OU inked four defensive backs, three players at defensive end, running back and linebacker and two each at quarterback, wide receiver, tight end and defensive tackle.

All but three of the signees came from the high school ranks. The three exceptions were junior college transfers Chris Patterson, Sherrone Moore and Brandon Walker. Moore is already enrolled at OU and Walker has three years of eligibility remaining rather than the customary two among most junior college recruits.

Four of the signees are already on campus. Moore and fellow junior college transfer Joey Halzle, a quarterback, enrolled at OU during the semester break as did high school prospects Chad Roark and Quinton Carter.

Once again, the OU class reflect geographic diversity although the states of Texas (10) and Oklahoma (nine) combined to provide 19 of the signees for Oklahoma.

“Texas, with its great football tradition and population base, will always be a big factor in our recruiting efforts,” Stoops said, “but Oklahoma has great football tradition too and we are always anxious to have players from our state on our roster when they match the needs of the program.”

The Sooners signed two players whose hometowns are in Illinois and Nevada and one each from California, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan and Virginia.

“With the success of our program and the media attention we have received we feel we can attract players from all over the country and our recent classes reinforce that idea,” Stoops said.

With the 2006 signing day complete, Oklahoma now turns its attention to spring practice. Those workouts, which are open to the public, begin March 20. The spring game is slated for April 8, although the starting time is yet to be determined.

OU was 8-4 last season while playing the nation’s most difficult schedule, and capped the campaign with a 17-14 victory over No. 6 Oregon in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.

The 2006 team will feature 26 players who started at least one game last season.