How DL Signee Ashton Sanders Made Profound Changes to Put Himself at Oklahoma

Sanders dropped 80 pounds because "I didn’t want to go to college weighing 340,” and now begins his college career "really twitchy and explosive."

Oklahoma signee Ashton Sanders made up his mind when he was just a sophomore in high school. Greatness awaited, and he would meet it head on.

Eighty pounds lighter.

Sanders was a 350-pound defensive tackle his first year of varsity football at Cathedral High School in Los Angeles. By his junior year, he had dropped to 340 – but that wasn’t close to where he wanted to be.

“My main thing,” Sanders said, “was I didn’t want to go to college weighing 340 pounds.”

So Sanders cut sugar completely out of his diet. Now he’s around 275. When he moves, he moves with expediency, and he arrives with purpose.

What Sanders did – make a life-changing decision, maybe even a life-saving decision – at 17 years old is not common in high school football.

“I don’t think it’s common in America,” said OU defensive coordinator Ted Roof. “Look at our country. I think it’s very uncommon. To me, that’s what I think separates him … that’s why I have a lot of respect for him because he did make that decision because he wasn’t happy where he was. Instead of talking about it, he did something about it. That’s a wonderful thing.

“At one point, I think he was 350 pounds. He decided that wasn’t a good weight for him and he needed to do something about it because he wasn’t playing like he wanted to. And he did. You talk about some respect for a guy who can make a decision like that. It’s tough. Think about how many sizes of clothes that is, right? He probably had to buy him a whole new set of clothes 80 pounds later. That says a whole lot about his commitment to me.”

That decision, that sacrifice, that commitment has paid off. Sanders got a scholarship to Oklahoma, became ESPN’s No. 25-rated defensive lineman in the nation, helped his team to a 10-3 record in 2022, graduated high school a semester early, earned a spot in the U.S. Army All-American Game last week in Frisco, TX, and is already practicing with the Sooners in Orlando, FL, ahead of their Cheez-It Bowl showdown with Florida State.

Ashton Sanders / Ashton Sanders via Twitter

“Ashton Sanders,” said OU coach Brent Venables, “has got a great story.”

Sanders had been recruited by Wisconsin, Washington, Cal, Arizona State and others but said he never believed a true blueblood like Oklahoma would ever reach out.

“I didn’t think I was gonna get one of my dream schools,” Sanders told AllSooners this week. “Nor did I think I was gonna get a legit offer from a school that played big-time football and to be coached by a great coach.”

Sanders said he wasn’t stressed over recruiting. Rather, he was just focused on being the best player he could be, on being the best teammate he could be, and on winning a championship. Cathedral fell short, but while he was taking care of his business, football took a turn.

OU defensive line coach Todd Bates reached out, and Sanders’ perspective on college football changed.

“It was a blessing, honestly,” he said. “I would say they came at the right time. … Once they called, that was my sign from God telling me to always believe and always keep pushing.”

Bates offered a scholarship on Oct. 31, and Sanders took his official visit to Norman on Nov. 19 – for the Oklahoma State game. He committed to the Sooners that Sunday, without hesitation.

“My experience was chill – literally and mentally,” Sanders said. “Because it was cold. That was my first time ever to take an official visit and ever being at a college game and seeing fans like that. It really was a great experience. To know that every game, for a home game, is like that – it wowed me. Because it was exactly what I wanted. I wanted the big scenes. I wanted to be a part of it.”

Sanders’ recruiting host that weekend was junior defensive end Reggie Grimes. That helped. Grimes has become quite the host.

“I love it,” Grimes said. “It’s time to connect with a group of guys that you want to come here. I had Ashton Sanders, and he committed here, so it’s a chance to connect with some of the guys who were going to be in our locker room next year. I had Taylor Wein a few weeks ago – he’s a kid from Nashville, from my area. So you’ve got guys who you’re reconnecting with as far as it’s concerned for me. I love it.

“I’ll tell them how it is. I have nothing to hide from anyone, you know what I mean? We want you here. If they’re putting you with me, that means we want you here. So, take you out, have a good time, and kinda going to show you why Oklahoma is Oklahoma, why we are the way that we are.”

Grimes will be a senior when Sanders is a freshman, but Sanders said he feels like he has a friend for life.

Ashton Sanders / Ashton Sanders via Twitter

“He’s one person I know I can call if I’m ever not understanding the scheme,” Sanders said. “Like, I texted him and said, ‘Help me with the scheme a little bit,’ and he was like, ‘For sure’ – once I signed, he would help me out and we would sit down and talk about it, and he would also send me the stuff. So he’s a great guy.”

But the single strongest connection Sanders made was with his new position coach.

It seems Sanders and Todd Bates share a love of poetry.

“That’s one thing that I connected with him with, because I write poems,” Sanders said.

Sanders’ poetry writing began when he took a summer English class. His teacher, Ms. Pennington, quickly got his attention.

“I used to hate English,” Sanders said. “But when I had her in summer school to get ahead, she taught me a whole bunch of it and I really just got hooked in. I mean, I was already writing poems, and I was always one of the best writers in class, and she told me I was horrible. But me being the kind of person I am, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m horrible? No I’m not. OK, now I’m fixin’ to learn.’ ”

Sanders said he writes poetry “mainly to get by, or sometimes I write down my feelings. It’s just my personal therapy. … Also, I like to challenge myself. The hardest thing for me to write right now is a sonnet. I still haven’t understood the rhyme scheme.”

When he and Bates met, the conversation turned to poetry.

“I’m reading his poetry,” Sanders said. “I told him he should be a published writer, and he said he is, he wrote his own book at one point. And that’s just stuff you don’t hear from every coach. Like, being recruited, you hear a lot of the same things from every coach.”

In the brief time they’ve known each other, their relationship has deepened profoundly.

“I can say that not once has coach Bates lied to me,” Sanders said. “Every single thing has been true. I know that because of the way his wife holds him and talks about him. And also, one night my mom overheard Coach Bates praying for me. That touched me. Like, very deep. Because I don’t know of another coach that has done that for me.

“Just a great man, a great person, a great disciple. He’s a great father, too. He’s someone that I know, after my NCAA career is over and I get married, he will officially be at my wedding. That’s the type of guy he is.”

Sanders will be in Orlando next week practicing with the team. He won’t get to play in the game itself per NCAA rules, but he’ll be flashing his skills – and his 275-pound frame – for his new coaches.

“Really excellent athlete,” Venables said. “”He's a bigger guy … tremendously agile with great feet.”

“He’s so versatile,” said Roof. “You look at what happened with his play on tape, he’s really, really explosive as far as getting off the ball. He can play a lot of different techniques for us. The main thing we want to do is attack and get vertical off the ball from the defensive line. He can do that. He’s really, really twitchy and explosive.”

All that from cutting out sugar.

It’s just literally, all I did was no added sugar,” Sanders said. “ … Mine was sugar. Every single second of the day, I’m asking for candy, and that’s what weighed me down.

“It’s not just pick a diet, it’s delete something that you’ve been having all your life a lot of servings of. And once you delete it, you’ll see a dramatic change.”

Now that he’s lost the weight, he’s looking forward to getting into Jerry Schmidt’s infamous winter workouts and putting on the good weight – the muscle.

“Oh, I’m gonna put on some weight. Yeah,” Sanders said. “I wanted to go in as a young pup and have them build me up.”

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