Reggie Powers III glanced over his shoulder and exchanged smiles with his roommate, Michael Boganowski.

Sporting a crimson polo and a small cross necklace, Powers looked remarkably calm amidst the chaos of the moment. All twelve of Oklahoma’s defensive newcomers sat scattered around a crowded room, each one at an individual bar table adorned with nothing more than a paper name-card. To Powers’ right was David Stone, the homegrown five-star defensive tackle who hardly needed any such identifier. Reporters had understandably formed a sizable scrum around Stone’s table, and were actively peppering him with questions in rapid succession.

But Powers, still something of an unknown to the local media, experienced far less hullabaloo at his table. As he sat alone, one might have expected that he’d pull out his phone and pass the time by scrolling through his Instagram feed or catching up on unread text messages. Instead, he sat in silence, seemingly embracing what may be one of his last few moments of relative anonymity.

As spring ball draws near in Norman, few newcomers have generated as much buzz within the program as Powers. He’s turned no shortage of heads during the winter workout period, and that doesn’t come as any surprise to those who were privy to his decorated high school career in southwest Ohio. It’s entirely natural that Stone, Xavier Robinson and Andy Bass garner more acclaim in Oklahoma circles — at least right now — than someone like Powers. The typical OU football fan is far more familiar with the hometown heroes than the transplants from hundreds of miles away. But Centerville High School defensive coordinator John Puckett believes it’s only a matter of time before his prized pupil makes his name known in the Sooner State.

“He’s a very levelheaded, mild-mannered young man,” Puckett noted. “Very polite. But when it’s time to compete, he gets a different look in his eye. That nice, mild-mannered young man goes out the window. He’s a guy that’s constantly working. He’s learned that work ethic at a very young age, that just doing what everyone else is doing isn’t enough.”

That extra-mile mentality helped Powers, a native of suburban Dayton, to quickly rise to gridiron stardom at Centerville. In turn, it also helped him land scholarship offers from over 30 FBS institutions. Oklahoma ultimately won the battle for his services with a late surge in his recruitment, but for that to happen, one critical development had to occur — and it was completely out of the Sooners’ control.

By the end of his junior year at Centerville, Powers already had the attention of numerous Power 5 institutions, including the Buckeye State’s flagship football program. Ohio State had offered him in March of 2023, but by the early summer, he had become quite enamored with a different Big Ten school. Michigan State offered in May, and Powers moved quickly to set up a June official visit with the Spartans.

“Reggie liked everything about the campus,” said Powers’ father, Reggie Jr. “He had talked to Coach Tucker before, and it was weird — he’s never been truly excited about going places. But it was a little bit different, his excitement level going there. So once he got there and saw the campus, got the vibes and stuff like that — we got there Friday and I think he told me Friday night he wanted to be there. I think he told them on Saturday at Coach Tucker’s house, and he was locked in.”

Powers went public with his pledge to the Spartans on June 14, and returned to campus at the end of July for another visit at his future home. Oklahoma started kicking the tires on Powers in August, and other schools continued to recruit him as well. However, Powers had no intention of re-opening his recruitment.

But come early September, everything changed. A bombshell report from USA Today detailed an allegation of sexual harassment against Tucker, which immediately cast doubt upon his future as the Spartans’ head coach. Encouraged by his father to take a step back and re-evaluate the process, Powers decommitted from Michigan State on Sept. 26.

The Spartan administration fired Tucker the next day.

But as one door closed, another opened — and it came in the form of an offer from Brandon Hall and the Sooners. At the time, Hall was still trying to nail down a commitment from Boganowski, who was waffling between Oklahoma and Kansas State. In Powers, the Sooner staff saw two things: another top-flight option at safety if Boganowski decided on K-State, and a versatile chess piece that projected well to OU’s unique “cheetah” role.

“He was all-in on Michigan State,” said Puckett. “And he really, really enjoyed Coach Tucker on his visits. So when all that happened up there, it kind of took him for a whirlwind there for a second. But to his credit, he stayed open-minded about where to go next, and Oklahoma — that [was] a pretty big deal.”

It was a big enough deal that Powers began working to schedule an unofficial visit to Norman, creating margin for him to return for an official visit if he liked what he saw. But there was no incredibly opportune time to visit Oklahoma during the season, as the Sooners generally kicked off their home games at 11 a.m. during conference play. Powers’ Friday night games were always 7 p.m. kickoffs. That meant he and his family would have to hustle — on very little sleep, at that — to catch a game in Norman.

But they took the plunge in late October to watch the Sooners tussle with UCF.

“We got there Saturday, and we ran from the plane straight to the game,” said Reggie Jr. “We missed them coming out [of the tunnel] and everything. We saw the kickoff.”

Although Powers still had the official visit ahead of him, it quickly became clear that Oklahoma wouldn’t need to wait that long to lock down his pledge. He felt the love from the Oklahoma staff, the atmosphere impressed him, and the Norman dynamic struck a resonant chord.

“After they made that offer, it was constant communication,” Reggie Jr. explained. “Constant FaceTimes. And not just with Reggie — Coach Venables and Coach Losman would FaceTime me and my wife outside of him. So he really felt like they wanted him. And he knows the history of Coach Venables; that’s a big-time defensive coach. Oklahoma’s a national program. And then everything there [on campus], it fit right. He liked the environment. And he’s learned, just like with East Lansing, [that] he’s not a city kid. He likes a big campus, but off to itself. He likes how Norman is; he’s a college-town kid.”

Powers scheduled his official visit for Nov. 10, but ultimately didn’t need a second look to confidently pull the trigger.

“When he came back,” Puckett recalled, “he was floating. He loved it so much. He was just telling me, ‘Coach, the game-day atmosphere was unreal.’”

On Oct. 28, exactly one week after his very first visit to the state of Oklahoma, Powers went public with his commitment to the Sooners. It came with relatively little fanfare, as his announcement dropped during the fourth quarter of Oklahoma’s eventual 38-33 loss to Kansas. It was OU’s first loss of the 2023 season after a 7-0 start, and the addition of a singular commit was but a small consolation to many of the Sooner faithful. But Powers didn’t care about the hype or the recognition; he was home for good, and that was all that mattered. From there, he had his sights set on making an early impact in the crimson and cream.

“I think one big thing in my decision was being able to showcase my talent and not be limited to one spot,” Powers told OUInsider on signing day. “I think my versatility, being able to play different positions in the defense and not just one, can really help me get on the field early.”

And in the end, Hall got both his guys, as Boganowski publicly committed to Oklahoma some nine days prior to Powers' announcement. The Sooner staff would have been content to land one of the two; instead, the best-case scenario came to fruition. With Jaydan Hardy and Mykel Patterson-McDonald also on board, the Sooners ultimately became the only program in the nation to ink four blue-chip safeties on signing day.

As Powers gets acclimated to his future role at Oklahoma, it certainly helps that he’s already somewhat familiar with the cheetah position. It’s essentially the same role he played in high school, albeit under a different moniker. At Centerville, the base defensive scheme consists of a three-safety package, with the third safety dubbed the “elk.” The elk plays a multifaceted role that includes plenty of action in the box, much akin to what the cheetah is asked to do in Brent Venables’ defense.

Powers’ skill set was a hand-in-glove fit for the elk role at Centerville, and he demonstrated the capacity to dominate the game no matter where Puckett asked him to line up.

“He’s like your prototypical guy that we want to play that position,” Puckett said of Powers. “You want a guy that can set the edge in the outside run game, a guy that’s physical enough to take on blockers, athletic enough to be able to blitz but can also cover a slot [receiver] man-to-man. And Reggie is exceptional at all those things. You guys will see — he is a ferocious hitter. He tries to take your head off every chance he gets.

“He’s a very lean 200 pounds,” Puckett continued, “and he’s explosive. He’s got great feet, great short-area quickness. So yeah, you can put him in underneath coverage. In an odd front, you take a guy who’s 200 pounds and you blitz him off the edge and now you can move into an over front. Now he’s basically a defensive end. And Reggie is ideal for that position just because he’s got that ability to play in man, but he’s also a very impactful blitzer.”

Asked to describe Oklahoma’s cheetah role in his own words, Powers offered a description that bears plenty of resemblance to the role in which Puckett deployed him.

“You’re going to blitz; you’re going to be in the run fit,” said Powers. “But you’re also going to need to cover man-on-man and in zone. So I think you’ve got to be a very versatile player to play that position, because you’re doing many things in the defense that not a lot of other positions do.”

And though Powers might be a safety in the loosest sense of the term, his father — who also serves as his trainer — isn’t quick to put any sort of positional label on his son. After all, versatility is part and parcel of Powers’ game, and lining up all over the field is what he’s come to expect.

“He’s done that his whole football career,” Reggie Jr. remarked. “Once he gets it, you don’t have to repeat a lot of stuff. You don’t really have to go over a bunch of stuff a lot of times. He’s always been able to pick things up, and once he understands what his assignment is, he can just play football. He’s played deep safety, strong safety. If it was an athletic quarterback, he would play middle linebacker and kind of be a spy. So he’s always been able to plug and play. He’s a football player.”

The first play of Powers’ senior highlight tape underscores virtually everything that makes him special. It’s something of a broken play, in which the opposing quarterback reverses field and is seemingly destined to reach the edge and score. And the opposing quarterback on this particular play isn’t your typical high school hunk who can throw a spiral. It’s Aaron Scott, a national top-100 prospect in the 2024 class who signed with Ohio State to play cornerback. He’s one of the fastest players in the Mid-Atlantic region, and Powers knows that as well as anyone; he’s faced off with Scott every year since second grade.

As the play unfolds, Powers tracks Scott the whole way. After reversing field, Scott kicks it into fifth gear and angles for the near sideline, and he’s got a step on the Centerville defense — save for Powers, who comes streaking from the second level like a heat-seeking missile at a perfectly calculated angle. As Scott turns the corner and tears for the end zone, Powers arrives with fury, lowering his shoulder at full speed to deliver a vicious hit.

Par for the course, according to Puckett.

“You guys are gonna get a charge out of it when he lays it on somebody, because it’s gonna be a violent hit,” he promised. “And he tries to do it every time.”

It’s one thing to lay punishing hits on skill-position players; that’s a fair expectation for most any FBS safety prospect. But the extent to which Powers terrorized opponents at the high school level runs far deeper. How many defensive backs even have occasion to rank among their region’s most feared pass rushers? And yet Powers raised just as much hell in the trenches as he did in the defensive backfield. Blitzing is a staple of the elk’s role, and Powers thrived off the edge for Centerville.

“That position is ideal for him,” Puckett reiterated. “I probably blitzed him 12, 15 times a game. In 27 years, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen O-linemen pre-snap, all of them communicating and pointing to where your nickel defender is lined up. They all knew where he was at. They had to know.”

The afternoon sun had begun to wane in the background of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. As he sat at his lightly trafficked bar table, Powers ended up answering plenty of the same questions over and over again as reporters wandered his way in turn.

At some point along the way, he faced the standard prompt about his goals for Year 1. He didn’t cite any statistical benchmarks, any accolades.

“I want to do anything I can do to help the team win,” he professed. “Obviously, my goal is to play my freshman year. But I just want to do anything to help the team out. We want to win the SEC championship; we want to win the national championship. That’s the main goal. We want to win every game.”

The apple doesn’t fall terribly far from the tree in Powers’ case, as his father expresses a practically identical mindset with regard to his boy’s first year of college.

“I have no expectations of this many snaps, or anything like that,” said Reggie Jr. “What I’ve told him is just, ‘Whatever you have to do to get on the field and make the team better, that’s what you do.’ Whether it’s special teams, whether it’s scout team, just do whatever they need. Because I’m a parent, but I’ve also been a coach. I want them to win. So, don’t put him out there if he ain’t ready. I’m not a parent that’s like, ‘My kid should be out there.’ No, if he ain’t ready to be out there, don’t do it.

“I’d rather him redshirt and play in the four games, maybe the bowl game, and be really ready for next year rather than put him out there and he’s not mentally there yet. I’ve always said, hey — if he redshirts his first year and comes back a monster for that second year, I’m fine with that. You’re at Oklahoma. There’s other dudes there too.”

Powers will have free rein to develop at his own pace in Norman, as he’s already well ahead of the curve in a way. He’s only 17 years old, a detail that’ll halfway irk Puckett if he dwells upon it for long enough.

It might take three months and it might take three years for the 6-foot-1, 202-pound Swiss army knife to prove he’s worthy of a cornerstone role in Venables’ defense. But if there’s one thing that gave the elder Powers great faith in entrusting his son to Oklahoma, it’s the fact that development isn’t a pie-in-the-sky ideal for the Sooner staff. It’s a recipe — and one that’s tried and true, at that.

“They’ve done it,” remarked Reggie Jr. “It’s not a sales-y thing. That’s one thing I don’t worry about. I don’t have to worry about him getting coached up; I trust them to challenge him, because they’ve seen kids like him. They’ve seen kids that they’ve made better. I just want people to challenge the hell out of him, and I trust that they’re going to get the best out of him. I don’t worry about football at all with that staff.”

Eight weeks into his Oklahoma experience, Powers is already feeling the heat of that challenge. But even amidst the trial by fire that is Jerry Schmidt’s workout regimen, the young defensive back has found great encouragement in the company of peers who share his motivations and aspirations.

“It’s been real hard work,” he admitted, “but that’s what I came here for. I knew all the coaches were going to push us to be great. I think the guys, we’re all here with the same goal. We want to win championships. We’re all winners. We all work hard. We all care about the game. I think just being here and just working, it’s been a great start, and we’re excited to get into spring ball and compete with everybody. I’ve been a learning a few new positions; I’ve been learning strong [safety] and cheetah. So wherever I can fit in and help the team, that’s what I want to do.”

He’s three days away from putting on a jersey for the very first time as a college football player. He’s still three months away from his eighteenth birthday. But Reggie Powers is exactly where he wants to be, and who he wants to be, as an Oklahoma Sooner.

“It’s probably not gonna feel real the first time, that first practice with my guys,” he laughed. “But I know this is my dream; this is all I wanted to do. I wanted to play college football at the next level. So I think it’s going to be very exciting. I’m just going to try to have fun and play hard.

“I came here for a reason. I don’t regret this decision at all. This is the best place for me.”

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