Westbrook excited to pull the trigger for OU, shuts it down
Oklahoma is making quick work of junior college recruiting this month. Sunday afternoon, the Sooners were still hosting Rochester (N.Y.) Monroe C.C. cornerback William Johnson when he decided to pull the trigger and commit.
Now the Sooners welcome in their second junior college commitment from the weekend in Brenham (TX) Blinn C.C. wide receiver Dede Westbrook (pronounced dee-dee).
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When Westbrook left Oklahoma Sunday, he still had plans to visit Texas Tech, West Virginia and possibly Kansas State. But those plans went up in smoke as soon as he got home and thought about his options.
"I talked to my family and they think it's the best fit," explained Westbrook of the sudden commitment. "I'm real big on family and whatever my family tells me, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. That's what it is."
Westbrook says he has cancelled his visits. He's done with the recruiting process and he's headed to Norman in January after he graduates from Blinn.
As for the football part of things, Westbrook sees rings in his future. And he believes Oklahoma is the one place that affords him the best opportunity to get one.
The ring.
"I want to win a national championship and I think we have all the tools and the people and the fans and everything in Norman to do it," he said.
Westbrook announced his decision to the world on Twitter. But he made sure he first called the Oklahoma coaching staff to let them know he was coming.
"I actually called coach Norvell and he put me on with coach Stoops. I gave the news to coach Stoops first and he told me, his exact words were: 'You just made my holiday and everyone else here in Oklahoma's holiday.'
"He put me back on the phone with coach Norvell and I broke the news to coach Norvell and he said he was turning cartwheels."
It sounds like the Taiwanese Animation team needs to get back to work.
Oklahoma sells championships as part of their recruiting pitch. They've always made that a priority. It just so happens championships were the bling that attracted Westbrook to Norman.
Bob Stoops seemed to make quite an impression on Westbrook as well.
"I was in the presence of a champion," he said. "The guy knows how to win championships and I'm big on winning myself. I really felt like we could relate to each other."
Westbrook mentioned during an interview with Rivals.com's Rob Cassiday that he developed an instant friendship with Sterling Shepard on his trip. But he also got to spend some time around Dorial Green-Beckham.
While some are concerned DGB could skip town and head to the NFL during the offseason, Westbrook insisted all the talk this weekend centered around Green-Beckham staying in Norman and being a part of the team next season.
"It was great man. He was a cool cat," Westbrook said of Green-Beckham. "They're starving for a championship and we're about to get it.
"The reason I picked Oklahoma is because of guys like Sterling Shepard and Dorial Green-Beckham and I know those are people I'm going to look up to on how to sharpen my game."