How Oklahoma's Early Enrollees Have 'Blown Away' Teammates During Alamo Bowl Practices
SAN ANTONIO — Seven Oklahoma signees are getting a crucial head start on their careers in Norman.
Seven members of OU’s recently signed 2024 recruiting class, defensive backs Eli Bowen and Jaydan Hardy, defensive linemen Jayden Jackson, Nigel Smith II and Wyatt Gilmore, quarterback Michael Hawkins and running back Xavier Robinson have all joined the Sooners for the final practices leading up to the Alamo Bowl against Arizona on Dec. 28.
The seven won’t be able to participate against the No. 14-ranked Wildcats in the Alamodome, but they’re getting crucial experience.
From the mundane — simply knowing where to go throughout practice — to the recognition of what the expectation truly is from both the coaching staff and their teammates, the true freshmen have been able to start their development process before strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt even gets his hands on the 2024 early enrollees when the calendar flips to the new year.
“Part of it is where do I need to stand,” OU defensive coordinator Ted Roof said at his Alamo Bowl press conference on Tuesday. “… And also to start to bond with his teammates, their teammates, because the chemistry of the locker room is huge. We’ve got such great chemistry because we’ve got great people and so it’s a big deal.”
Linking up with the program before the season officially ends is a new phenomenon in college football, one that some guys don’t think they would have been ready for as a high school senior.
“If that was me, I would not have been emotionally prepared for all of it,” Oklahoma defensive end Ethan Downs said. “For the speed of it, the craziness and all the characters that come with the locker room… I would have been blown away.”
Downs, a veteran of the defensive end group who has already announced he’ll return to Norman in 2024, said he’ll use that perspective to be a better teammate as he works to bring the freshmen along this offseason.
“Now being in a position of knowing what that felt like as a senior in high school,” said Downs, “I can use my role to prepare those guys. And that’s an amazing opportunity.”
In his own position group, Downs was impressed by Smith and Gilmore.
“(Smith’s) a big dude… And he’s smart,’ Downs said. “He’s asking a lot of questions. He’s an open character… I think he’s gonna come in really smoothly… I think he’s gonna adapt really quickly.”
But on the defensive interior, Jackson drew Downs’ eye.
“He is really good,” Downs said. “He’s a star of the group that came in.”
Getting acclimated to life at OU is essential for the newcomers, even if it’s only for a few weeks before winter workouts begin.
“It’ll help them understand what’s ahead of them,” safety Billy Bowman said. “They sit through our meetings. They understand how college meetings go. They’re around us so they see how we act and then obviously they come to practice and they’re out there with us so they see the expectation early… So that’s big time.”
Oklahoma won’t start to see the returns until spring, but every day counts as the Sooners prepare to take on the SEC.
“It’s good so when they come back in January,” Roof said. “They’ll be launching from a different point. So it all adds up.”
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