Dimon Shines as Katys First Sooner
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To steal an old line from former Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips when you talk about historic programs like Katy, Texas and Oklahoma University at the high school and college levels, respectively, 'I don't know if they are in a class by themselves, but whatever class they're in, it don't take long to call the roll'.
As such the two programs would seem a natural fit for one another, with the Sooners taking interest in numerous Tigers through their years of massive success - particularly in the Bob Stoops era. However, according to the Rivals.com database is not only the first Katy Tiger to commit to Oklahoma, but is also the first to hold an Oklahoma scholarship offer since at least the class of 2002 and SoonerScoop.com believes in any of his three prior classes.
So when Matt Dimon chose to commit, it was a big connection between two prestigious programs that had never much existed before.
"That's definitely cool to, I guess, be the only one that has been there since Bob Stoops, that's a pretty big honor. We're getting the Katy name out there, we're paving the way," Dimon said. "Some people think we are a system school and stuff like that but we have a bunch of great talent and hard working athletes.
"Norman, it felt a little bit like Katy, kind of a small town. Norman is a suburb of Oklahoma City and Katy is a small suburb on the West side of Houston. The colors are Crimson and Cream and that was something different. I really liked it there. At Oklahoma, you can feel the tradition and they both compare really well."
Among highly successful programs, it's not just Katy that has seen Oklahoma take serious interest in their top talent in the class of 2013. While it may be a coincidence Dimon admits that playing for a program that knows something about winning not only made Oklahoma more attractive but could help him with the transition.
"It could definitely play a part, you come (to Katy) with the mindset, we're going to win, I would say that we've got one of the best high school staffs in the state, and maybe even the country. Week in and week out we're the most prepared," he said.
"I've only lost two games in my high school career, it's something different from other recruits that their schools lost six or seven every year, I guess they do prepare us well (to win)."
Whatever may have brought his decision about Dimon had been considering a choice since his time in Norman for Oklahoma's March 3 junior day. After speaking with his family more and more Dimon felt he couldn't hold off his choice any longer.
"I just talked it over with my parents, it just felt right, it felt like a good decision," Dimon said. "I called coach Wright, and they were pretty happy, I don't know, I wasn't there but they sounded happy, they were pretty excited about me coming up there."
An interesting aspect of Dimon's recruitment has been a question of just where he might fit into Oklahoma's plans going forward - could it even be at defensive tackle?
"Actually when we did that interview and you published that article, coach Wright heard about it and said they were recruiting me as just a defensive end," he explained.
Dimon, who announced his decision to commit to Oklahoma via Twitter has seen things go crazy over the last 48 hours.
"I haven't been out that much, but I don't know, it's been kind of crazy, lots of followers, a lot of new friends," Dimon laughed. "I just felt like announcing it and I had Twitter to do it on so I just tweeted out. I think before I had like 290 followers and last I checked I'm at like 386."