Riley Squeals Over New Commit
Oklahoma’s last two recruiting wins in Georgia have worked out quite well for the Sooners with Orlando Brown capping an All-American tenure at the end of 2017 and Trey Sermon currently featuring as Oklahoma’s sophomore starting running back.
They hope that trend will continue with today’s commitment from Buford, Ga. three-star 2020 cornerback Jalen Huff.
While many will remember Lincoln Riley sending out the eyes last Saturday night following his team’s big win over Kansas State for Huff the memory will be much more connected to when he gave Riley the news itself in the locker room just after Riley met with the media.
“It was after the game, we were in a meeting area and coach Riley kind of pulled me aside, I had just talked to coach (Kerry) Cooks about me committing and told him that this was where I wanted to be. (After that) I told coach Riley, and he kind of let out a little squeal,” Huff said laughing. “It’s definitely a moment I won’t forget.”
Who could blame Riley for hoping that another Georgia native could replicate the success of his predecessors but it wasn’t Sermon that Huff spoke to while on campus. In fact it was the player that just about every recruit buzzes about when he visits Norman.
“I talked to Brendan Radley-Hiles a little bit (while I was) with coach (Chip) Viney, we talked about the techniques, an average day’s practice and spoke to some freshmen and sophomores but I can’t remember their names off the top of my head,” he said. “They all said coming in everyone has to work,” the nation’s No. 30 cornerback in 2020 said. “If you’ll do that and work harder in the offseason as well, come in prepared, come in do all of that and coach Riley is going to take care of you. They just said to just make sure I’m prepared for the transition from high school to college.
“I did not know (Radley-Hiles) before but I definitely knew about him; I saw some highlights, saw some things about him. He has a very business-like attitude, he takes the game seriously. I could tell he wasn’t going to sell me out to the school, he was very serious.”
Huff, Georgia’s current No. 45 overall junior prospect, said that from the time he was offered by Cooks and the coaching staff that he felt as though things were always moving forward with his recruitment.
“After I got offered in the spring me and coach Cooks talked a bit, just keeping a relationship and we started talking more and more and it just built up over time,” he said.
So what went into making the decision when he did?
“Being a junior, it’s probably about time, it was definitely on my mind but when I got there, the staff was cool and everything and it made it feel like it was time to make that decision,” he said.
In fact the 6-foot-1, 169-pound defensive back said that there was a moment when the idea of committing to Oklahoma, over offers from Arizona State, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Oregon, and Tennessee amongst many others, truly began to crystalize in his mind.
“Definitely it was just a feeling I got when I was there. Being at a sold out game, a very loud stadium. There were nice people, hospitality everywhere. It was mid-second quarter and I was thinking everything over and it was kind of a blow out and I kept expecting the fans to leave. Everyone stayed until the fourth. Oklahoma offense, Oklahoma defense, it was just a smooth transition and I was thinking I could really see myself here,” he said.
With his decision now in the rearview mirror Huff, who made the trip to Norman with his dad, says that in spite of the distance from home or any other reasons some might expect his commitment to wander, he won’t be any source of concern for the Sooners staff.
“I plan on standing firm on my commitment, as far as visiting other schools that’s out of the picture. I plan on being a man of my word and staying committed to Oklahoma and that’s pretty much it,” Huff explained.
So for now it’s about recruiting Oklahoma’s top targets and he has hopes of a few of his teammates making that list.
“(I’ll recruit) anyone that can help us in the long run, best believe I’m on them, always,” he laughed. “I’ll be talking to Aaron McLaughlin about it, I talked to Darrin Brown but he is already committed to Texas, any guy that has the offer or interest I’ll be talking to them.”