It's been a long, long time since Oklahoma signed a scholarship specialist out of high school, let alone hosted a specialist for an official visit.

That reality alone should speak to the Sooners' level of interest in Kansan kicker Trace Rudd, who is due in Norman tomorrow for the start of his OV. Rudd picked up a scholarship offer earlier this month from Brent Venables and Oklahoma special teams coordinator Doug Deakin. And the span of the few short weeks since OU pulled the trigger on Rudd, the Sooners have emerged as the lead dog in his recruitment.

His recruitment likely won't last much longer, either, as Rudd told Rivals that he intends to make a decision in the not-too-distant future.

“I plan on committing before the season," he disclosed.

A 6-foot, 185-pound, left-footed phenom out of Overland Park (Kan.), Rudd also holds a scholarship offer from Texas Tech and interest from numerous other Power 4 programs. However, as Oklahoma has placed a greater emphasis on strong special-teams play of late, they saw fit to extend a full scholarship to Rudd when he turned in a strong camp performance in Norman at the beginning of June. The kicking game has been a consistent bugaboo for OU in recent years, and Venables has had quite enough of it. The Sooners brought in two scholarship kickers via the transfer portal this offseason in Austin Welch (Kennesaw State) and Tate Sandell (UTSA). In putting a red-eye on Rudd, the Sooners have now taken aim at a longer-term solution.

“[Venables] was just like, ‘We think highly of you. You’re our No. 1 priority for special teams,'" Rudd recalled. "He said I had a blue-collar mentality. But yeah, he was like, ‘We obviously want you to play here. Definitely would give you the opportunity to play freshman year.’”