For about a month or so, you would have had a hard time recognizing that Oklahoma had made its third straight trip to the college football playoff.

When you look at the way OU closed its 2020 class and was beginning its 2021 edition in January and February, hard-pressed to find the supposed playoff recruiting bump the schools get.

Not an emergency, no panic button was pressed but just an odd feeling. And now that we’re in March, well, the sleeping giant is alive and stirring in Norman.

It started last Sunday with the first day after the recruiting dead period was in the books. One emoji can mean so much, especially for OU fans itching for something to get excited about. Waiting for more than a month, the eyes resonated just that much more Sunday evening.

As the Sooner faithful wait for those eyes to be public, the hits keep coming. It was revealed last week that Washington D.C. Gonzaga quarterback Caleb Williams is making yet another trip to OU, a three-day stay that begins Thursday.

“If you just go look at their recent history with Coach (Lincoln) Riley, that should be enough to get me back on campus,” said Williams in a first-person journal entry for Sports Illustrated earlier this week. “With Baker (Mayfield), to Kyler (Murray), to Jalen Hurts. They were all Heisman contenders, two Heisman winners and two were first overall picks. Jalen is coming up in this draft and he should go high.

“I've already visited there twice and I've liked it. I like Coach Riley. He and I were in the war room – they call it – the offensive meeting room. We were going through a bunch of plays; we were talking and connected very well. I think it was for a long time and it wasn't supposed to be, it was supposed to be 20 minutes or so and it went way longer. I have a good connection with Coach Riley. The recent history is enough for me to come back.”

These are the types of visits that get the ball rolling. As much as it was great to get so many top-tier 2022 and 2023 prospects to OU last Sunday, it’s time for 2021 to get kicked into high gear.

The question remains, will the eyes come out once again this weekend? Williams has been quick to say don’t jump to that conclusion just yet.

There are a couple of lines of thinking here. One, Williams is being 100 percent truthful. That this return visit isn’t about committing, but about planting the seeds to a future commitment somewhere down the road.

The other is that it’s all been a smokescreen. Tell people to expect nothing to attempt to surprise people the most when it does go down.

You go back three months ago, and it was hard to envision Williams even considering the Sooners. Fellow five-star quarterback Brock Vandagriff was committed to OU, and Williams appeared to be a heavy lean toward LSU.

Vandagriff decides to stay home and goes to Georgia. LSU offensive wizard Joe Brady leaves for the NFL, and now the dots look like they’re connecting for Williams to be a Sooner.

“Still trying to figure out if that is one of the places for me out of all the schools I'm choosing from,” said Williams in the entry. “And just the feeling of being there and if I could be out there for three or four years and call it my home.

“If I can call it home for the rest of my life.”

OU stands at three commitments for #LincUp21, but that’s about to change. Whether it’s Williams this weekend or down the road, the next two months should be incredibly kind to Riley and the Sooners.

It’s the calm before the storm, and it’s about to go down.