Sunderland Surprises Himself with Decision

The fact that Rivals250 safety Will Sunderland committed to Oklahoma surprised no one.

>The fact that he did it on Saturday surprised most everyone, and no one was more surprised than himself.

The 6-foot-2, 186-pound safety took his official visit to Norman over the weekend and after months and months of saying he would be taking his official visits, namely to Ohio State for their annual grudge match with Michigan, he admits he could no longer keep the Sooners waiting.

"It kind of surprised me, I wasn't thinking about committing, I just went up there, it was just me going up there like I always do," Sunderland said. "It was the right time to do it, so something just hit me when I went up there. They treat me as family and it was just at the right time, I listened to my heart and my heart wanted me to go to OU.

Though many were surprised, including his parents, Sunderland's mother was clear on how she felt about his decision.

"Coach (Bob) Stoops sat me down in his office, he was talking about how bad they wanted me - it was just me and my mama and telling me about the program, telling my parents they really want me there and talking about the academics," he said.

"We were sitting there and I looked over to my mama and said 'I'm going to do it', and she said 'what?'. She heard me but she wasn't for sure what I meant and I told coach Stoops and I said 'I want to spend my four years at Oklahoma, and I want to commit'. He got so happy, he started throwing my hands up in the air.

"My dad got up and he shook my hand, and my mom started crying.

My mom was crying and she was so excited, she was saying 'I did not want Will to go out of state', my daddy said the same thing.

"It was just a pretty awesome moment."

Sunderland committed on Saturday morning of his visit and the nation's No. 8 safety spent the rest of the day basking in the joys of being a future Sooner and hanging out with the Sooner players. One of which has decided to take Sunderland under his wing.

"(Michiah) Quick was my host, also Dominique Alexander I was with him and I was with Sterling Shepard, so we were just kicking it all night. Dominique said come up here next year and I'll treat you like my little brother, we were just having fun. They were happy I committed," he said.

Part of Alexander's offer is, of course, partially due to wanting to help a young Sooner but it doesn't hurt that Sunderland arrives at a position that will be up for grabs in 2015. The nation's No. 138 overall player thinks he may have an inside line on the opening.

"It's the defense that we run, they do the same stuff. The formations they do is like ours, and I'm real cool with the players and coaches, and I love the fans. My heart is just right at Oklahoma," he said.

"You know, the plays they do, it's exactly like ours, man-free, most cats go to Oklahoma as a defensive back and they don't run it at their high school.

"Some people get it in a year, but when I arrive, I already know what to do - so that basically gave me a head start."

And while that is all well and good he is currently busy enjoying the perks of his recent decision.

"It's awesome, it feels great, I can say that Oklahoma is my family now," Sunderland admitted "I mean just on Twitter and stuff, I can post pictures about Oklahoma. For so long I couldn't do that, people would think I'm going ther- now I can. All this stress is gone."