7/4/2021 football Edit

Brice is in the Bag

Bob Przybylo • OUInsider

Staff Writer

Once Arlington (Texas) Seguin athlete Xavion Brice decided to decommit from Kansas last month and open everything back up, the race was on.

Brice went from a solid wide receiver prospect to a highly sought-after defensive back recruit in a matter of weeks, and now he’s coming to Norman.

The three-star prospect joined a healthy list of OU commitments this weekend, as the Sooners staff put in the work in recent months and saw the rewards Saturday and Sunday.

Originally committed to KU back in November as a receiver, Brice’s stock increased dramatically as schools saw him during the June visit period and believed in what he could do at defensive back.

The Sooners offered June 9, and Texas wasn’t too far off to make its own pitch. And it felt like a three-team race between OU, Texas and SMU.

Brice visited Norman last weekend, the final weekend before the recruiting dead period went back into effect. And hey, sometimes those final visits are the ones that mean the most.

Given his size at 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds, again, it’s the blueprint for what OU defensive coaches Alex Grinch and Roy Manning have been aiming for. Size, length and speed. Check, check and check.

Strangely enough, Brice becomes the second wide receiver-to-defensive back commitment of the day for OU as Broken Arrow (Okla.) High’s Robert Spears-Jennings made the same decision earlier Sunday afternoon.

OU entered the holiday weekend with just one defensive back commitment in Tulsa (Okla.) Union’s Jayden Rowe and leaves with three. The versatility and the size are all there when it comes to Rowe, Spears-Jennings and now Brice.

The Sooners aren’t done in the secondary, but with so many key pieces added this weekend, it’s going to allow Grinch and Manning to shoot for the elite of the elite going forward because they know they’ve got solid pieces already firm like Brice.

It has been a crazy holiday weekend for the Sooners, and the good news is OU is not even close to being done yet in July. Brice is another vital addition in a month that will be full of them.