Oklahoma Has a Second Chance with Ijalana

Oklahoma tight ends coach Jay Boulware is hoping the second time around with Woodland Hills (Calif.) Pierce C.C. tight end Isaac Ijalana will be the charm.

Almost a month to the day after Ijalana pledged to the Sooners he did it again.

"I was already committed once, I just needed some time to think things over," Ijalana said. "He was glad to have me back, said it time to get rolling."

In between, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound three-star tight end, has seen his recruiting turn upside down. Following his official visit to Norman on Nov. 15 and his flight home Ijalana committed to Boulware just moments after stepping off his flight in Los Angeles.

Ijalana Does it All for Pierce

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Roughly two weeks later Ijalana announced via Twitter that he had decommitted from Oklahoma and the race was on.

So what happened?

"It was that one of my science classes wouldn't transfer but later they reviewed the class and said it would transfer in the long run," he explained.

Oklahoma's calm handling of the situation was more help for the Sooners even after things had, seemingly, gone wrong.

"They understood my situation, they know you have to have a plan B, I kept on good terms. I talked to coach Boulware almost every other day so we've been on good terms," he said. "It helped a lot to see how they handled that."

Ijalana with the completion of his finals last week has now set himself up to graduate at semester. He'll sign with Oklahoma on Wednesday - junior college's early enrollment signing day - and says that though his decision ultimately came down to Purdue and Oklahoma there were many schools trying to get in touch with him.

"It was a lot of schools that was in it, but I really didn't have time to take trips, I had finals coming up and everything and I wanted to focus there," he said. "The finals went real well, I'm just waiting for grades. I'm in good shape, so I should be good to go."

The talented tight end will begin setting his plans for arrival in Norman next January when he arrives back in New Jersey on Tuesday to spend Christmas with his family. The Ijalanas recently had a chance to spend some time around Boulware and came away with a strong impression of their son's future mentor.

" They thought he was a good guy, they thought he was real honest and they liked him a lot."