Many Ways to Success

Oklahoma's Bedlam weekend was a big success on the field with a 15-point win in Brent Venables' first-ever meeting with the Cowboys. It didn't take long for recruiting to follow that successful path when Los Angeles (Calif.) Cathedral defensive tackle Ashton Sanders made his commitment to Oklahoma public on Sunday night.

With his decision out of the way it's time for us to take a look at just what kind of player the Sooners have in Sanders.

SoonerScoop.com Recruiting Editor Josh McCuistion: When watching Sanders the first thing that sticks out play after play is his feet.

The big man uses them explosively in pass rushing situations but also does a great job of continuing to keep his feet active when he (rarely) fails to win with his initial move and as such makes it very difficult for offensive linemen to simply keep him blocked after their own initial win.

Those feet also do a good job getting him to the edge of blockers where his ability to lean and easy burst make him a dangerous pass rusher.

A big part of that pass rush is his ability to play low and turn the corner after he gets the better of a block.

Sanders looks most comfortable as a pass defender right now where his athleticism and twitchiness makes him an absolute handful for prep blockers. As a run defender you see some of the same traits but at the 2:39 mark you can see him engage a pair of blockers, shed them, slide to his right and make a tackle for no gain.

In short this is the exact type of evaluation that Brent Venables talked about a few weeks ago - a guy that too many may have forgotten about or overlooked. That being said, it will be interesting to see how he and Oklahoma see his future - is he a three-technique? Can he slide and be a truly dangerous nose tackle? There seem a lot of potential avenues for him to have some success in the college game.

Player Comparison: There is some comparison here to former Sooner Neville Gallimore, though Sanders is far more technically advanced at this point in his career.