Oklahoma Sooners

Cornerback Tito Windham Jr. (Gulfport, Miss./Harrison Central) was getting accustomed to the day-to-day routine.

Major college coaches come for spring practice and give him attention, but the offer doesn’t come. Missouri, Auburn, Michigan State, Alabama and LSU were among the schools stopping by to watch Windham work.

Oklahoma came a week before his spring practice started. OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops came by again on Wednesday. After practice, he talked to Windham on the phone and offered, and Windham immediately committed. He went public with the commitment Friday.

“It has been real crazy,” Windham said. “So many people congratulating me. It has been a great day.”

Windham wasn’t shocked OU came by for practice, but said he was shocked by the offer. He said it wasn’t until Thursday it had him what had actually happened.

“My mind went blank,” Windham said.

Before this week, Windham, who is 5-foot-9 and 174 pounds, only had one other offer: Louisiana-Lafayette.

If other offers come around now, it simply won’t matter.

“No, my recruitment is done,” Windham said. “I’m not sure if I’m going to visit [OU] in the summer or the fall, but I’m definitely going to get there soon.”

Windham has talked to Stoops since his commitment and the message is simple: Keep working and getting stronger. Windham said that won’t be a problem because he has been as heavy as 185 pounds before so he said putting the weight back on will come easy.

Recruited as a corner, Windham didn’t mention anything about ball skills as why OU fans should be excited.

“I love to hit people,” Windham said. “I’m a hard hitter, and I’m really fast.”

The Windham commitment completes a crazy week for OU recruiting. The Sooners entered the week with four commits and leave with seven, including two on Friday.

Windham is the second cornerback to commit this week, joining Cedar Hill (Texas) High defensive back Marcus Green who committed Sunday.

Offensive lineman Alex Dalton (Troy, Ohio/Troy) committed Friday morning, hours before Windham went public with his announcement.

Windham is the second recruit from Mississippi to sign with OU in Bob Stoops' tenure as coach. Lacoltan Bester signed with the Sooners in 2012 after transferring from East Mississippi Community College.

After the first visit to Oklahoma in March, offensive lineman Alex Dalton (Troy, Ohio/Troy) was pretty sure he would wind up with the Sooners.

Following the second visit, he was sure OU was the place for him. But he still wasn’t going to rush his decision. He wanted to make the call when he felt ready.

On Friday morning, Dalton was ready. He called OU offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh to let him know he was pledging to the Sooners.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot here lately,” Dalton said. “There was nothing that really made me feel like I had to do it today, but I knew I wasn’t looking for anything else.”

Bedenbaugh tweeted on Friday morning he was going to be in Ohio for the day, and Dalton said Bedenbaugh spoke with his high school coach during the morning and everybody involved sensed the commitment coming.

Dalton announced a top three of OU, Indiana and Stanford in March following a busy spring break with trips to OU and Stanford. But after the second OU visit, it was more of a top one list than anything else. The Sooners were making their case, and Stanford had backed off a bit.

As the spring evaluation period continued, though, other schools made their push. Arkansas started to get in contact with him. Offers from Nebraska, Louisville and Virginia Tech came and interest from schools like Northwestern or Tennessee started to see what the interest was.

“I was open to go look at them, but I knew what I wanted,” Dalton said. “There wasn’t anything else I was looking for.”

Dalton said he had been messaging with Bedenbaugh on Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis and the relationship was only getting better with each day.

Dalton first forged his relationship with Bedenbaugh when Bedenbaugh was coaching at West Virginia. When Bedenbaugh made the move to OU, one of his first offers was to Dalton.

Dalton was comfortable with Bedenbaugh, but he had to make sure he was 100 percent sure OU met all of his requirements.

“I looked at the school itself for football,” Dalton said. “I thought about where I had the best chance to play. Where I fit in as a player and a person. The distance.

“Oklahoma is not too far away but far away enough for me to make it on my own. My family can visit and watch me play. It all worked out.”

Dalton is being recruited at center by the Sooners although he can also play offensive guard. Dalton is OU’s sixth overall commitment for the Class of 2014 and the second this week.

This is what OU fans were hoping for in getting Bedenbaugh as coach. OU’s first offensive lineman commit for the Class of 2013 came in December. This time around it is seven months earlier. And there is no doubting his commitment.

“I’m excited to have this process over,” Dalton said. “I know that if I would have waited longer, my mind wouldn’t have changed.”

When ESPN 150 linebacker Kyron Watson committed to Kansas, it was arguably their biggest commit in years. Damon Sayles discusses the implications of that commitment, and Saint Louis, Missouri recruiting being an underrated hotspot. Max Olson also stops by to talk the latest in Baylor recruiting.