Oklahoma Football Recruiting: Sooners announce 2017 class

The Oklahoma Sooners 2017 recruiting class on National Signing Day could vault them heavily into the National Championship conversation

Offense has not been a problem for the Oklahoma Sooners in recent years. Though Dede Westbrook, Joe Mixon, and Samaje Perine are all NFL-bound, they do return Baker Mayfield for another year. Subsequently, their focus should have been on loading up on the defense with the offense in good hands. Looking at their 2017 recruiting class on National Signing Day, that’s exactly what Bob Stoops was thinking as well.

Oklahoma has six recruits that are ranked in the top 150 prospects in the 247 Sports Composite Rankings. Of those six young players, though, five of them are defensive talents that could make an immediate impact.

Chief among that group is safety Justin Broiles, who has playmaker written all over him. With great length and tremendous athleticism at the position, he could be a ballhawk in the last line of defense. Joining him are a talented middle linebacker in Levi Draper, a beast of a weak-side defensive end with Addison Gumbs, and Robert Barnes, another big, long safety. They certainly headline this 2017 class for the Sooners, but they aren’t alone as high-caliber recruits.

Here’s a look at the Oklahoma 2017 recruiting class on National Signing Day:

However, Stoops and Oklahoma weren’t done as National Signing Day came calling. They remained in play for a couple of other big-name defensive recruits. However, there were none bigger than defensive tackle Marvin Wilson.

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While Wilson seems likely to head elsewhere, the Sooners weren’t ruled out as Wednesday arrived. Pulling off a signing of that caliber from under the nose of big programs such as Texas and LSU would be massive to continuing to improve the defense. Even if they miss out, though, the Sooners did enough to have a top-10 recruiting class in the end of it all.