Few players saw their recruitment take a bigger turn in a shorter amount of time than Snoqualmie (Wash.) Mount Si three-star offensive tackle Heath Ozaeta. The 6-foot-6, 296-pound prospect, who was born in Oklahoma, went from something of a quiet Oklahoma target to having a Sooner offer in less than a week.
The big offensive linemen caught the eye of Bill Bedenbaugh early on and during Ozaeta's second trip to Norman he admits he got a big swept up as soon as the Sooners offered.
"So what kind of happened was we visited there that day. We went down, saw the campus with coach Bedenbaugh for the whole day. He told me I was an offer kid but had to get the OK from coach (Brent) Venables," Ozaeta recalled.
"That night coach V called me up and told me I got the offer. Me and my family were talking about it the rest of the day, he called me and it was an on the spot type of thing."
Ozaeta, who grew up in Edmond before moving away at age 7, but he still has a lot of connection to the university thanks to his parents. So was his quick decision to commit to Oklahoma about that fandom or did the Sooners impress him with his pair of looks at them?
"I would say it’s a little bit of both. I was always very interested in OU. I grew up watching them a little bit. I probably wouldn’t have jumped the gun if I hadn’t been down there but being down there and seeing how the team operates. Just being there made me sure about everything," he admitted.
With that rapid change Ozaeta has had to play some catch-up with his classmates in the class of 2023. One commitment reached out almost immediately after he made his announcement.
"It’s been good, Josh Bates reached out to me first. He reached out right as I committed, I’ve definitely been talking to him the longest. We’ve all been talking on snapchat and making jokes and talking about what recruits we’d try and get. It’s been great getting to know all of the recruits," he said.
Ozaeta committeed on June 27 starting a run of 13 commitments in roughly a month and a half for the Sooners. So is Washington's No. 10 prospect ready to take credit for Oklahoma's history July and August?
"Luck of the Irish, you know what hey say? I’ll take a little responsibility," he laughed. "The coaches and other commits, we’ve been working hard on locking those guys in. I know the recruits specifically we’re working hard on getting some more good commits."
Later this year Ozaeta will face off on Sept. 8 with one of his succeeding commitments, fellow Washingtonian Jasiah Wagoner, and though the two didn't know each other coming in they are working to rectify that.
"I know who he is, I’ve known who he was but we’ve never really crossed paths. As soon as I saw his top four, I sent him a few messages and we’ve actually exchanged texts," he said.
Ozaeta says that prior to his Oklahoma offer on June 22 he was looking at a top three of Stanford, Utah, and UCLA with the Utes and Cardinal at the forefront of his thinking.
But once the Sooners offered everything changed for him and a big part of that was built on the reputation, and his relationship with Bedenbaugh.
"One of my reasons to go there was coach B because I know he’s going to be there and his track record and everything," Ozaeta said.
"It’s like he said, I’m going to coach you hard but it’s all love at the end of the day, it’s just to get you better. I don’t want to be babied. I want a coach to tell me what they want from me and what I’m doing wrong – I think it’s the best way. Honesty is the best policy and hard coaching is great."
Bedenbaugh and Ozaeta have talked about the possibility of him playing multiple spots along the offensive line, 'right now coach B sees me as a tackle', but concedes that he's willing to play any of the five position if that gets him on the field. It's a field that Ozaeta has been thinking of since childhood and admits to feeling his current reality is somewhat unbelievable.
"It’s been pretty surreal. Since I was a kid, college football has always been a dream. Being cemented with a school – first of all, just a relief to be done with the whole process. Then it was more just, ready to help out where I can and get any recruits I can and get to work now. Now I focus on football and get better for this season and before I get there," he explained.
And over the past month he has heard a lot of talk about Oklahoma's commitment policy and how they want their pledges to operate - basically not taking any future trips elsewhere. Ozaeta says that the way the policy was explained made sense to him and thinks some of the national conversation has made more of it than there is in reality.
"We were told before (I committed). But it wasn’t anything aggressive, 'we want commits to be sure. We don’t want you to go other places'," he recalled. "Personally think it’s very reasonable, I think some people are thinking it’s a weird policy. You don’t want guys who aren’t committed to you to commit. It’s a very friendly conversation."
