National Signing Day 2013: Oklahoma Sooners Coaches' Takes

The Oklahoma Sooners the finishing touches to its 2013 signing class on Wednesday. Highlighting the class were 14 defensive players, including seven defensive linemen. Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops talked about each of OU's new players Wednesday.

Jed Barnett

"Jed Barnett is a guy we really needed. He's one of the best junior college punters in the country. His hang time is around four seconds or better. He averaged over 40 yards per punt. No one gets really excited about Jed until next year when you're punting the ball. I was focused on it and really excited about Jed. He's a big guy probably about 6'3" 215 pounds. He's got a big leg, and I really believe he's going to be a key ingredient for us when we're on the field next fall."

Dannon Cavil

"We're really excited about him. He's a very good kid. He's a kid I really liked as a junior, but he hurt him hamstring and couldn't play as a junior. He was committed to Ole Miss and then Cal got him, but we were able to convince him he had a great opportunity here." –OU co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell

Quincy Russell

"Quincy Russell being that he's a junior college guy with the size and strength and quickness he has we expect, well really all of these guys anymore we expect to make an immediate impact, but we expect Quincy being in the position that he's older, but we need guys to step up."

Ahmad Thomas

"Very physical and tough tackler. He's a good cover guy. He's a guy that is already here working with us."

D.J. Ward

"D.J. is a guy that has been dying to play again. He has had a great attitude through it all and has continued to lift and run. You can tell that he looks like he is in excellent shape. He is on campus now going to classes and still waiting to be cleared but again, looks great and hopefully that will happen soon [on being cleared] and he can get in the weight room with our guys and then be on the field in the spring, which will help him."

Keith Ford

"Running back we got an exceptional player in Keith Ford. He's one of the better players down in the whole Houston area. He played on a great team: I believe they lost in the semi-finals. Keith had almost 1,900 yards rushing, and I want to say 28 touchdowns. He just had an excellent year. He catches the ball well, the ability to make people miss him, physical enough to run through people, just all the things you really want.

Jordan Smallwood

"Jordan Smallwood is another guy here from Oklahoma who has great size and strength. We had him in camp and loved the way he played."

Christian Daimler

"We have an excellent athlete in Christian Daimler. He's a guy that reminds us a lot of Lane Johnson. Last check he's taller than 6'6", almost 6'7", 285 or 90 pounds and is a good athlete."

Austin Bennett

"Austin Bennett is a guy that can play outside and inside, great route runner, great athlete and great hands."

Matthew Romar, Charles Walker

"On the defensive line you have to be able to run to be any good anyways, so that's the only way you're going to get penetration or get to the quarterback, those kinds of things, or be able to chase the ball down to the sidelines, so they're hard to find. There are just not a lot of them, but we love these four guys. We feel they're really excellent players. All can run. All have got good size, so I feel it's a really good group."

Stanvon Taylor

"People were talking about how Stanvon could be a receiver, but you love it when a corner has receiver-type ball skills to go after the ball. He reminds us very much of Aaron Colvin, just the athlete that he is. We believe he is special. We are excited about Stanvon at corner."

Dominique Alexander

"Dominique Alexander is a great athlete when he's out in space running and covering, all of that. He's powerful, strong, tackles well."

Josiah St. John

"Josiah St. John is a big tackle, all of 6'6", 305 or so pounds and is an excellent athlete at that position."

Dionte Savage

"Well, Dionte is physical. If you watch him, you can tell he has really worked hard in the weight room and he is really strong and powerful. I am hopeful and believe that is going to help us be physical up there."

Cody Thomas

"He is one of the best athletes in the whole class, that's what you want at quarterback. We're really excited about Cody. Great athlete, great poise. He can run; obviously if you have the chance to be drafted in baseball you can run. Exceptional talent. Everything he does, he does it well. Playing other sports, he does it well, so really special guy."

Hatari Byrd

"Hatari is a great safety, a big time DB. He's got great size and range. He's a huge hitter, but a great athlete. He can really run, and again, he's got a ton of range to him. He's all of 6'1"; I think he's closer to 6'2" to be honest, around 200 pounds. Again, an excellent skill athlete."

Jordan Evans

"You know, his dad was a great D end here. If he grows into a defensive end, then great. He's got the speed, the quickness, the agility to play outside linebacker. He's got the size where you're unsure where he will end up growing to, but that's good. The bottom line when we all looked at him and were watching him over and over is everybody likes him, so wherever he ends up kind of growing to, good. He's just a great athlete. He's got a lot of range in size to him, and we're like hey, we'll find the right spot for him once we get him here."

Kerrick Huggins

"Really a big, strong player. Excellent feet and quickness. 6'3" to 6'4", 285 to 290 (pounds). Excellent quickness though. That's the biggest thing as you watch him, the ability to change direction and move his feet. Really a strong player."

K.J. Young

"K.J. is a guy that everybody kept finding out about a little bit late. He has good size, and an amazing athlete. Late in the process he had offers from Oregon and a couple other big time Pac 12 schools. Nebraska came in on him and offered him late as well. Everyone started to realize what a great athlete he is. He makes all kind of plays and is a strong kid. A good player who can do a lot of things."

L.J. Moore

"L.J. has great size for a corner and tremendous coverage skills. He'll give a boost to our secondary."

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo

Dakota Austin

Matt Dimon