Four-star RB DeZephen Walker had all but officially narrowed his focus to four schools as of last week. He'd booked official visits with Kansas, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Nebraska as he worked toward a final decision.

Then he got a call that had been a long, long time coming.

Walker had been on the radar for DeMarco Murray and the Oklahoma staff since his freshman year of high school. But the Sooners had never applied much pressure in recruiting him, and they'd never officially offered. That had much to do with the fact that they'd long held a commitment from four-star RB Jonathan Hatton, a back with a similar physical profile. However, when Hatton decommitted a few months ago, that led the Sooners to start looking around for another big-bodied running back to target. They landed back on Walker, and finally extended the offer to the blue-chipper out of Raymore-Peculiar (Mo.) High School.

“I’m just grateful, man," Walker told Rivals. "They had a running back commit for a long time, and then he decommitted, so I know that had a big part to play with them in my recruiting process. But I’m just grateful for the opportunity they gave me; that’s a big SEC school and they obviously have put out the results [with] great running backs. So I’m just grateful for it.”

Murray didn't reach out to Walker on his lonesome, and that resonated with the nation's No. 16 running back prospect. When Oklahoma called to offer, the entire staff was present on the other end of the phone line.

“The head coach, running backs coach, GM, basically the whole offensive side chatted with me and offered me," Walker remarked. "They looked at my tape and they feel like I’m a first/second/third-down running back, and I can pick up where they left off with the running backs that they’ve had. They looked at my straight-line speed and my size and my frame, and they feel like I fit their offensive scheme with the running backs that they used to have.”