All Sooners

Oregon Beats Out Oklahoma for Star Defensive Lineman

Sooners target and 4-star DL Xadavien Sims announced his commitment on Saturday, choosing to leave his home state and play for the Ducks.

Randall Sweet

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DURANT, OK — Durant High School defensive line standout Xadavien Sims committed to Oregon at the C4 Sports Performance Center in Mead, OK, on Saturday. 

Ranked as the No. 1 player in OK for the 2024 class, Sims’ commitment marks yet another top notch defender leaving the Sooner state to play at the next level.

"As soon as I stepped on campus it felt right to me," Sims said in an interview following his commitment. "I got to talking with Coach Lanning and I told him I wanted to be a Duck."

Listed at 6-foot-4, 280 pounds, Sims is currently slotted as a unanimous 4-star prospect, ranked No. 74 in the country according to Rivals. The rising senior is rated No. 200 in On3’s recruiting database and is No. 121 in the nation on 247Sports, earning comparisons to Houston Texans’ defensive lineman Thomas Booker.

The in-state stud has over 20 offers from schools around the nation, including; Texas, Texas A&M, Michigan and more. Heading into Saturday’s commitment, however, Sims cut his list to; Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Michigan State, TCU and Oregon.

"Before Oregon it was really OU and TCU. ... TCU at one point was definitely one of my top schools" Sims said of his recruitment. "A little bit before then I was close to committing to Michigan State. This process has really been like a roller coaster but I'm glad I'm here now and I'm grateful to be a Duck."

After making his decision, the Durant High School standout told reporters that he almost skipped his visit to Eugene, saying he felt as though his choice of schools had already been made.

"Going into Oregon ... I felt like in my mind I was already committed to OU," Sims said. "I was this close to cancelling the trip to Oregon and staying here to go to the OU spring game. I felt like I was already locked in with OU."

Sims announced Friday on Twitter that he will be taking an official visit to MSU in early June, leaving many Sooner fans curious if the Lions’ star defender staying in his home state was already off the table. 

The future Oregon lineman said that he will be canceling his scheduled official visits after pledging to the Ducks. 

Losing out on yet another in-state defender is deflating for Brent Venables and the Sooners, who tried and failed to bring in 4-star edge Bai Jobe in the 2023 recruiting class. Jobe chose MSU over Oklahoma despite playing high school football at Community Christian School in Norman.

"It wasn't really a bad thing about OU, it was just more I felt better at Oregon," Sims said when asked about choosing the Ducks over the Sooners. "OU's a great place, I really thought I saw myself going to school there, that was the next place for me. Oregon just ultimately changed my mind and changed my family's mind so I signed there."

Nigel Smith II of Melissa (TX) High School, David Stone of IMG Academy in Florida and Williams Nwaneri of Lee’s Summit North High School in Kansas City are all big-time defensive line recruits that OU can still make a run at. With Sims out of the picture, however, it could be an uphill battle for the Sooners to land their top defensive line targets.

As OU makes the jump to the SEC in just one season, it is vital for the Sooners to add big, physical players in the trenches. Losing out on a commitment from Sims is a huge blow to the Sooners, who struggled up front in Venables' first year on the job.

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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