From Eric Striker to Nik Bonitto to R Mason Thomas, the Sooners have some skins on the wall when it comes to developing conventionally undersized edge rushers from the Sunshine State.

The next man in that decorated lineage may very well be DeAnthony Lafayette, a pure sack machine out of Orlando (Fla.) Lake Nona High School. Lafayette racked up 17.5 sacks as a junior in 2024, and parlayed that productivity into numerous Power 4 offers. Oklahoma was one of the schools that tossed a hat in the ring, and defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis made a trip down to Orlando on Thursday to watch Lafayette in Lake Nona's spring game. It was the second time that Chavis had visited with Lafayette during the current evaluation period, and Lafayette logged 2.5 sacks in the exhibition.

“It was good," said Lafayette of his visit from Chavis. "He spoke with my dad a lot, and it was cool for him to be on the sideline, because he could see where I could get better at. And it felt natural, honestly.”

Though it's been scarce more than a month since Oklahoma offered Lafayette, the Sooners are trending decidedly upward in his recruitment and will get him on campus for an official visit next month. The 6-foot-1, 239-pound edge talent remarked that his relationship with Chavis is already rock solid.

“It’s been awesome," he said. "It’s been awesome. He’s a great guy; you can tell. He coaches for a good reason, and he does it for the players. He thinks my pass-rushing ability is second to none, and me being 6-1 is going to be a big help. It’s not going to hinder me. And it’s not like it’s just Coach Chavis — big schools like LSU think the same thing. Miami thinks the same thing; Jason Taylor said the same thing to me. But it just lets me know that he’s not scared to take a chance on an undersized edge rusher, and they can take my talents and maximize them when I get there so I can come off the edge and get to the quarterback.”