Welcome to the OU 2006 Recruiting Class

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown
Curtis Bailey OL 6-7 340 Dallas, Texas
Jeremy Beal DE 6-2 243 Carrollton, Texas
Chase Beeler OL 6-4 275 Jenks, Okla.
Sam Bradford QB 6-4 200 Oklahoma City, Okla.
Cory Brandon OL 6-6 265 Corsicana, Texas
Chris Brown RB 5-10 192 Alexandria, La.
Brandon Caleb WR 6-1 194 Atlanta, Ga.
Quinton Carter DB 6-0 185 Las Vegas, Nev.
Brandon Crow LB 6-2 215 Comanche, Okla.
Dominique Franks DB 6-0 178 Tulsa, Okla.
Jermaine Gresham TE 6-7 230 Ardmore, Okla.
Joey Halzle QB 6-4 215 Huntington Beach, Calif.
Tim Johnson DE 6-6 265 Homewood, Ill.
Pryce Macon DE 6-1 258 Corpus Christi, Texas
Mossis Madu RB 6-1 190 Norman, Okla.
Gerald McCoy DT 6-4 305 Oklahoma City, Okla.
Eric Mensik TE 6-5 231 Rosenberg, Texas
Sherrone Moore OL 6-5 300 Derby, Kan.
DeMarco Murray RB 6-0 183 Las Vegas, Nev.
Jonathan Nelson DB 6-1 180 Mansfield, Texas
Chris Patterson LB 6-3 220 Chicago, Ill.
Chad Roark OL 6-2 290 Ada, Okla.
Daniel Tabon LB 6-3 215 Altus, Okla.
Adrian Taylor DT 6-5 280 Mansfield, Texas
Adron Tennell WR 6-5 200 Irving, Texas
Brandon Walker OL 6-3 315 Detroit, Mich.
Malcolm Williams DB 5-10 172 Grand Prairie, Texas
Trent Williams OL 6-5 290 Longview, Texas

As I said yesterday, OU signed another top 10 recruiting class. The Sooners landed four defensive backs, three players at defensive end, running back and linebacker and two each at quarterback, wide receiver, tight end and defensive tackle.

All but three of the signees came from the high school ranks. The three exceptions were junior college transfers Chris Patterson, Sherrone Moore and Brandon Walker. Moore is already enrolled at OU and Walker has three years of eligibility remaining rather than the customary two among most junior college recruits.

Here are Sooners head coach Bob Stoops’ comments on the 2006 class.

On the Quarterbacks:
"Joey Halzle is already here and working out. We felt that it was important to get another quarterback in here and could be here in the spring. We wanted a player who had some experience to free up Paul Thompson so that Paul can concentrate solely on playing receiver. We didn't feel that it was fair to Paul to continue to pull him away from trying to earn a starting spot and more playing time at the receiver position so he could work at quarterback.

"Sam Bradford is a young guy that I am really excited about. When you look at our recruits, Sam is one of the strongest and most talented players that we've recruited and watched in the last several years. What I love about him is that when you watch him, he is good at everything he does.

On the Wide Receivers:
"Brandon Caleb and Adron Tennell are talented, talented guys. Adron is playing basketball right now and he's just lighting it up. He had a great Army All-American game.

On the Running Backs:
"They are a very talented group of guys; Chris Brown, Mossis Madu and DeMarco Murray. Chris is probably the one who is strictly a running back. We feel though that we don't recruit guys for other positions.

"DeMarco is strictly a running back. The only reason I brought that up is that he is an incredible athlete. When you watch him, you can see his incredible hands, the way he changes direction, catches the ball and his incredible speed. Chris is also special in the way he runs.

"They all have different styles in the way they run. Mossis is a local guy who everyone knows. We loved watching him throughout the year. He has great athleticism, makes people miss and has an incredible burst. I think these guys will all complement each other."


On the Tight Ends:
"Jermaine Gresham's choice came down to today and I feel that he is one of the best tight ends in the country. He has the athleticism, size, hands and the ability to split out much like we did with Trent Smith. We feel that he can do all those things like Trent did.

"Eric Mensik, on top of being a great tight end, is a great deep snapper which was a priority for us with Jacob Rice graduating. Eric also has the size to make a difference at tight end."

On the Offensive Line:
"Sherrone Moore is already on campus and Brandon Walker is coming after the spring. Those guys have some extra size and a little more experience than the freshmen coming in. There is great size and the ability in the bunch of freshmen we have coming in. We will have them ready to play. I'm not going to pick out who's going to play right away, but we will give them all the opportunity to compete. I think these guys all have a chance to really help us."

On the Defensive Line:
"We signed five guys between the inside guys and defensive ends. All of them fit our mold. They are all athletic, can run and can change direction.

"Gerald McCoy is one of the top recruits in the country and decided today to become a Sooner. Gerald fits the bill of what we want. We've had him in camp for three years and he has reshaped his body in those three years. He's one of those guys who has the great explosiveness. I thought he was very good in the Army All-American game.


On the Linebackers:
"Jeremy Beal, Brandon Crow, Chris Patterson and Daniel Tabon are four linebackers that can run and are very powerful. Jeremy Beal has some extra size that we like for when we want to get a little stronger and thicker in the middle. The other guys are the typical linebackers that we like to recruit, in that they are very athletic."

On the Secondary:
"We have a couple of safeties, Quinton Carter and Malcolm Williams, and a couple of corners in Jonathan Nelson and Dominique Franks. These are talented guys, multi-sport guys and they have the speed and explosiveness that we look for."

comments from soonersports.com