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Depth in secondary is coming for OU

Oklahoma entered the early signing period with just two defensive back commitments. By the time the period had reached its conclusion, the Sooners were sitting pretty with five.

One day can change the outlook of a position, and that’s exactly what happened two weeks ago when the Sooners added three defensive backs in the span of eight hours and gave a little sigh of relief for OU fans wondering what the 2020 group was going to look like.

“Really felt like there was a need for us in a number of areas and felt like we hit those needs,” defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said. “Some of those guys will be here in the mid-year so we’ll immediately into the mix and competing and that. Just size potential and speed potential, I keep going back to that.

“Size that can help us in our development and continue to increase what they can become for us, regardless of position. We probably have a pretty good basketball team in this class, but we have to make sure they’re pretty good football players, too, which we will and they are.”

OU had a strong foundation in Keller (Texas) Central athlete Davon Graham and Houston C.E. King safety Bryson Washington. But they were going to need some help and that help arrived.

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It started just after the noon hour when Lakeland (Fla.) High cornerback Kendall Dennis announced he was picking the Sooners.

Dennis, a high three-star prospect, was someone the Sooners had been gunning for during the last month and checks off the size and speed boxes for Grinch and cornerbacks coach Roy Manning.

OU was able to withstand a late push from Florida State, and now Dennis can be thrown right into the mix as it’s no secret the Sooners only played with three scholarship cornerbacks throughout the second half of the season.

With Parnell Motley graduating, the door is open for anybody who wants to attempt to make their own statement.

Fast forward another few hours, and we get to Bakersfield (Calif.) CC defensive back Justin Harrington. This doesn’t feel like the flashiest of names, but adding Harrington meant you’ve got another quality safety and have somebody who can come in and compete immediately.

OU beat out Bedlam rival Oklahoma State and North Carolina State, and Harrington is set to be a mid-year enrollee for the Sooners.

That last shot in the arm came from Aldine (Texas) MacArthur defensive back Joshua Eaton. Most felt confident the Sooners had been the team to beat for a while after his decommitment from Texas.

But nobody knew whether Eaton would sign during the early period or wait until February and take a few more visits in January.

He answered that emphatically around the 8 p.m. hour, and the Sooners defensive staff had done their job in the secondary.

Tangible evidence of a defensive revival was being rewarded on the biggest day of the recruiting calendar.

“It's obviously a real positive,” Grinch said. “You talk about a program with the stature of Oklahoma. You know everyone's going to take your phone call, at least that first one. There's a pretty good chance you're going to get them on campus.

“In any event, you continue to move forward now that you've got more tangible evidence. In some respects, a guy comes through ‘okay gotcha coach, gotcha coach.’ Every single kid that you recruit, oh by the way, has got just about everybody in the country that they can choose from.

“Evidence is good. You're constantly trying to find those things that separate you between you and your competition. We've got a big time one in terms of this logo and this facility, this campus, this school. But you're trying to find the next thing and obviously results matter.”

Which, unfortunately, brings us to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Once again, it became a case where as OU attempts to narrow the gap, you begin to understand just how large that gap is to begin with.

And that remains the goal. That remains the challenge, and that’s what the 2020 class is hoping to do once it arrives in Norman.

”If you look for the majority of the season, how those guys that played — I mean, the numbers speak for themselves,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “I think the development and what we’re doing schematically, I think all that’s good. I know a big part of it — we talked about it on signing day — is adding more length in the secondary. And you’re not going to have every guy be 6’3, but you’re not going to have every guy be 5’10 either.”

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