By John Shinn
It didn't use to be like this. National Signing Day used to be a long day of angst. Coaches stood around the fax machine all morning, afternoon and sometimes into the night.
"It's pretty anti-climatic on signing day," defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. "Usually there is a little bit of drama, but not nearly as much as there used to be."
The Sooners had their entire class signed, sealed and delivered by noon Wednesday, but there was still a little drama.
It came early in the day when Dallas Skyline linebacker Corey Nelson elected to back out of a commitment to Texas A--M and sign with the Sooners.
Nelson, ESPN.com's No. 62 player and No. 3 outside linebacker, had been committed to the Aggies for months.
However, he made a visit to OU in late January and kept communication lines open with Venables.
I just tried to hold the course and hang around until the end and hoped something good would happen," Venables said. "We tried to give him as much clarity on how his career could be here at Oklahoma if he was willing to put in the work. I think he saw a detailed plan on our behalf on how we would make it happen."
OU coach Bob Stoops said landing Nelson wasn't a surprise. He informed the coaching he would sign with the Sooners.
It was the classic case of OU's coaching staff finding a way to keep communication open with a committed player.
"It just depends on if someone's listening or not, and fortunately, Corey was listening," Stoops said.
The only other surprise was that Jenks wide receiver Jarrett Lake signed with Arkansas instead of OU. Stoops said that did not catch him off guard.
Lake didn't play football this past season because he was ruled ineligible by the OSSAA in part of a transfer scandal that caused Jenks coach Allan Trimble to be suspended for the season.
Stoops said Lake's transcripts weren't sufficient for him to be admitted to OU either.
"We chose -- and let them (Lake and his family) know that -- that we probably need to look at some other options. Because there's still some unresolved issues there that we, in the end, weren't comfortable with," Stoops said.
But that was it. OU was expecting 28 letters of intent flow through the fax machine Wednesday. All came through.
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
