Everybody knew June was going to be intense, crazy, choose whatever word you want here. With recruiting being open for the first time since March 2020, it was going to be a blur until the dead period came back June 28.

It was all across the country, and Oklahoma was no exception. Between camp weekends, personal workouts, official and unofficial visits, Lincoln Riley and the rest of his staff had to keep their heads on a swivel last month.

Dead period has led to commitment season, and the Sooners are cashing in. The long days, long nights, the results are there.

“It was like taking a year’s worth of work or visits or whatever you want to put it and squeezing it into a few days,” Riley told SoonerScoop.com at Big 12 media days last week. “It was fun. When it was done, it was like, ‘Whew.’ You had to kind of catch your breath a little but it was good to have guys back on campus.

“We have such a great thing to show off that you can’t completely see behind the computer screen. So it was good to have guys on campus, good to have our families back in the facility again. It was hectic but fun and kind of a relief to have everybody back.”

Since July 3, OU has landed nine commitments. Seven for the 2022 class to bring the group to No. 6 overall and two monster ones to begin 2023. Yes, it’s ridiculously early, but OU currently has the No. 1-ranked 2023 class by Rivals.

It didn’t start out well with OU losing a couple of major wide receiver commitments, but there is simply no panic among the OU staff. You can sense that with how they’ve handled the roller coaster process the last couple of years.

A temporary sting, but the train keeps rolling.

The Nine

*Edmond (Okla.) Deer Creek OT Jacob Sexton (No. 204 Rivals 250, July 3)

*Broken Arrow (Okla.) High DB Robert Spears-Jennings (3-star, July 4)

*Arlington (Texas) Seguin DB Xavion Brice (3-star, July 4)

*Baltimore St. Frances Academy DE Derrick Moore (No. 165 Rivals 250, July 4)

*Las Vegas Bishop Gorman OT Jake Taylor (4-star, July 7)

*Frisco (Texas) High K Gavin Marshall (July 16)

*2023 Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian ATH Treyaun Webb (No. 56 Rivals 100, July 17)

*Bellevue (Neb.) West TE Kaden Helms (3-star, July 17)

*2023 Los Alamitos (Calif.) High QB Malachi Nelson (No. 2 Rivals 100, July 18)

Five of the nine commitments (Moore, Taylor, Webb, Helms, Nelson) were in attendance for the ChampUBBQ, OU’s mega-recruiting event the third weekend of June.

OU fans had become conditioned to expect immediate commitments from big-time recruiting weekends, but Riley and the staff have seemingly changed their tune.

So no, you didn’t see the rash of eyeball emojis on Father’s Day weekend. But by July? The good times were about to go down.

“The biggest selling point was the family aspect and how much they actually care for their athletes in absolutely every sport,” Taylor said. “The athletes come on their own back to campus just to show their gratitude to the university.”

A change in the recruiting calendar with June being open meant a change in OU’s philosophy as well. The BBQ has traditionally been the final weekend of July, but Riley went June this year.

And as much as the jaw-dropping cars had the headlines on social media that weekend, it was another aspect that helped the BBQ resonate by having former players come back.

Not just one or two but a boatload of some of the most recognizable names to wear the OU jersey were back in town.

“I’ve never experienced something like that,” Nelson said. “It was eye-opening. It was crazy. Look this way, it’s Kyler Murray. Look that way, it’s A.D. (Adrian Peterson).”

OU did such a great job during the virtual visit era that you wondered how the Sooners staff was gonna handle the month of June.

Turns out the group did just fine, as usual.

“It was the visit,” said Webb about why he committed to OU. “I kind of had an idea that I wanted to go there. It made everything click. It was the final cherry on top.”

The Sooners have managed a top-tier 2022 class despite not having a quarterback in the group and the full expectation of not having a signal-caller for #ChampU22.

Perhaps there isn’t a face of the class, but there are enough quality pieces that are doing a good job of keeping them together combined with the extra oomph Riley has always brought to the table.

The 2022 class isn’t done, and the 2023 cycle couldn’t have started it any better with another five-star quarterback like Nelson and a top running back in Webb.

June’s insanity has led to July’s big victories, and the Sooners aren’t slowing down anytime soon.