Sooners Success on Unfamiliar Ground
The last time that Oklahoma landed an Oklahoma City public schools product he became an All-American, No. 3 overall pick in the NFL draft, and a perennial pro bowler. But over 10 years later the Sooners have dipped back into the school district to land John Marshall high school’s Rivals250 defensive back Justin Broiles.
And a big part of that decision was his relationship with second-year defensive back coach Kerry Cooks but also state’s No. 2 player couldn’t help but notice the success the Sooners had producing talent from their own state – even if not often in Broiles’ own school district.
“That’s the thing that coach Bob (Stoops) said. ‘Who does better with Oklahoma talent than OU?’ I went and looked at past talent and I didn’t see anyone that did as well with Oklahoma kids as OU did,” Broiles explained.
The nation’s No. 176 overall prospect chose Oklahoma over offers from coast to coast including Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas State, Miami, Michigan, Ole Miss, Oregon, Texas, and Texas A&M amongst more than 20 others. And when he made the call to the Sooners he felt the choice was well worth it.
“I called coach Stoops and coach Cooks, I talked to coach Stoops and coach Cooks on the phone but the rest of the coaches were in the background,” he recalled. “They were loud! I didn’t know they going to be in the background, I hear everybody ‘ahhh!’ and I was like ‘yeah man, how could I not want to be here?’.”
Not surprisingly Cooks was a huge component of Broiles’ decision to head to Norman.
“I knew (Oklahoma) was right when I saw how the players reacted to coach Kerry Cooks and everyone else,” he said. “When they started getting chippy, he didn’t restrain them back. He was right there getting chippy with them.
“That was (the kind of) thing I was really looking for, which coach was going to let me be me and which coach is going to also mean business with it as well? That was the biggest decision for me.”
Though ranked as the nation’s No. 18 cornerback there is definitely the possibility that Broiles could play in several different roles for the Sooners.
“They said that I could play everything, nickel, safety, corner, coach Riley said something about some receiver snaps,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter to me, I prefer to play cornerback, but I’ll play wherever the team needs me to.”
So what now for Broiles?
“It’s time to get this class rolling, first off we’re going to get my boy Tre Brown (to commit),” Broiles said.
His focus also now turns to trying to get his John Marshall Bears to a state championship as he turns away from recruiting. Something that will make that easier?
The reality that he is done with his recruitment.
“Man, it’s just a big relief (to have this over) now I can focus on football, focus on being more of a leader for my team,” he said. “Now there is no more trying to get my name out.
“But for recruiting OU is where I’m going, I’m done.”