All Sooners

Early Enrollees: DB Erik McCarty Has Time to Grow Into Any Number of Roles

One of the most versatile athletes in the 2023 class will spend this semester rehabbing a knee injury but figures to have options when he gets healthy enough to play.

John E. Hoover

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Editor’s Note: This is Part 9 of a 14-part series on Oklahoma’s early enrollees in the 2023 recruiting class.

Many times, graduating high school early and launching one’s college football career pays off. Many times, it doesn’t.

While early enrollees are navigating new realms of pain and commitment, a lot of their friends are back home — playing basketball, running track or just hanging out and taking full advantage of the affliction known as “senioritis.”

In Oklahoma’s case, 14 newcomers have chosen to make that sudden transition from boys to men. Jerry Schmidt’s winter workouts might seem impossible at first, and then the summer grind is even harder. In between, the coaching staff takes over, and spring football practice puts them ahead of their summer counterparts.

In this series, AllSooners examines each of the 14 newcomers and projects their impact on Brent Venables’ football team in 2023.

— — — —

Where Erik McCarty fits into Oklahoma’s plans is something that doesn’t have to be decided right away.

For now, McCarty is continuing to rehabilitate his knee injury — and learning how to be a college student. That’s plenty.

The Sooners’ versatile signee from nearby McAlester has a bright future in the game, but unlike many of his fellow early enrollees, he’ll be under no stress to perform right away.

The player that McAlester coach Forrest Mazey calls “the most complete football player I’ve ever coached” could virtually have his pick of positions to play when he finally gets healthy.

S Erik McCarty

  • 6-2, 180
  • McAlester, OK
  • 247 Sports: 3-star, No. 742 overall, No. 54 Athlete
  • Rivals: 3-star, unranked overall, No. 9 All-Purpose Back
  • On3: 3-star, unranked overall, No. 114 S
  • ESPN: 3-star, unranked overall, No. 47 S
  • Background: McCarty is one of the best players ever to come out of McAlester — certainly one of the most versatile. He was a standout running back for the Buffaloes, with school records of 4,943 rushing yards and 101 touchdowns. He finished his career with 5,863 all-purpose yards and scored 616 points — but was even better on defense, amassing almost 350 tackles, seven fumbles and five interceptions.
  • 2023 Projection: It’s highly unlikely that McCarty does much in the spring or plays for the Sooners in the fall. His knee injury occurred Nov. 18, and although the latest reports are that he is on track for a full recovery, a return in 2024 would be more practical for everyone. Although he could help in a number of positions, McCarty’s most natural position, safety, has two returning starters in Billy Bowman and Key Lawrence, plus a handful of others who are sure to climb the depth chart this spring, like Damond Harmon, Justin Harrington and Robert Spears-Jennings.

Some recruiting services label him a running back. Some call him a safety. Others just peg him as an athlete — and let the skills fall where they may.

That’s what being your team’s best running back, receiver, safety, linebacker, punt blocker, kick coverer and sometimes quarterback will get you.

“Man, just athletically, he’s a gift,” Mazey said. “He has a gift.”

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound McCarty picked OU over Baylor, TCU, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Pittsburgh and Marshall, among others.

Oklahoma’s 2023 early enrollees

As a running back, he went for 1,966 yards as a sophomore and 2,005 as a junior, with 72 touchdowns. Last year, despite the knee injury and with a greater emphasis on defense, he ran for 929 yards and 16 TDs.

Meanwhile, McCarty compiled almost 350 total tackles on defense and was always around the football.

“He’s thrown passes for touchdowns, he’s played defense, he plays safety, he can play linebacker, he can play running back, he has really good hands, he can kick return, he can block kicks,” Mazey said. “I mean, you name it, and he can do it.”

Mazey said he’s just as impressed by McCarty the citizen.

“More importantly, he’s got a gift to be a great person,” Mazey said. “Everybody matters to him. He doesn’t look down on people.

“You’ll never hear anybody say anything bad about him. I’ll promise you that. He is a great, great young man.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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