Revisiting The 2017 Class
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Today is National Signing Day and athletes all over Oklahoma are signing with their future schools. With Signing Day, comes recruiting rankings. And by the way, we released our FINAL 2021 Rankings for Oklahoma’s senior class today. Now just like with any ranking, a lot of it is opinion and can be proven to be wrong in some areas. So with Signing Day here, we wanted to take a look back at the 2017 class in Oklahoma. In February of 2017, athletes signed their letters of intent. Now, the majority of those athletes have played their final college football games. 2017 was pre-Prep Redzone so we don’t have any PRZ rankings to look back at. But Rivals and 247 Sports both put out Top Ten’s for Oklahoma. We’ll take a look at those and then also feature our own top ten. And our top ten will be based on how those college careers went. And those rankings are quite different than what was projected four years ago.
247 Sports Top Ten
1) Justin Broiles – DB – John Marshall (Signed With Oklahoma)
2) Levi Draper – LB – Collinsville (Signed With Oklahoma)
3) Tre Brown – DB – Union (Signed With Oklahoma)
4) Isaiah Thomas – DL – Memorial (Signed With Oklahoma)
5) Creed Humphrey – OL – Shawnee (Signed With Oklahoma)
6) Evan Fields – DB – Midwest City (Signed With Arizona State)
7) Deontre Thomas – DL – Mustang (Signed With Nebraska)
8) Nick Robinson – TE – Putnam City West (Signed With Memphis)
9) Reese Leitao – TE – Jenks (Signed With Texas)
10) Quindon Lewis – DB – Southmoore (Signed With Memphis)
Rivals Top Ten
1) Justin Broiles – DB – John Marshall (Signed With Oklahoma)
2) Levi Draper – LB – Collinsville (Signed With Oklahoma)
3) Isaiah Thomas – DL – Memorial (Signed With Oklahoma)
4) Reese Leitao – TE – Jenks (Signed With Texas)
5) Tre Brown – DB – Union (Signed With Oklahoma)
6) Nick Robinson – TE – Putnam City West (Signed With Memphis)
7) Kamren Curl – DB – Muskogee (Signed With Arkansas)
8) Kyrei Fisher – LB – Union (Signed With Arkansas
9) Evan Fields – DB – Midwest City (Signed With Arizona State)
10) Adrian Wolford – OL – Meeker (Signed With Texas A&M)
Reranked Top Ten
1) Zaven Collins – LB – Hominy (Signed With Tulsa)
– The top overall player in the reranked 2017 class is Zaven Collins of Tulsa. Collins starred at Class A Hominy and helped lead the Bucks to a state championship during his senior season in 2016. During the summer of 2016, Tulsa was the only D1 program that offered the small school star. Collins would commit to TU less than a month after being offered and would sign with the Golden Hurricane. After redshirting, Collins would be a three-year starter at linebacker. He was an instant impact player, becoming a Freshman All American in 2018. In 2020, he became a nationally known player for the Golden Hurricane. He would end up winning multiple awards, including the Bednarik Award for the nation’s top defensive player. Collins announced that he would be forgoing his senior season and entering the NFL Draft, where he is projected by many to be a first round pick.
2) Creed Humphrey – OL – Shawnee (Signed With Oklahoma)
– We go from one projected first round pick to another in former Shawnee standout Creed Humphrey. Now, it depends on which mock draft out of the thousands that are out there, but some have the OU center being drafted in the first round in April’s NFL Draft. In 2017, it would have been laughable to suggest Zaven Collins would be a first round pick. In 2017, it was understandable to suggest Humphrey would be. The Shawnee star was recruited by programs all over the country. He would commit to Texas A&M at one point before switching to Oklahoma. He was also selected as a US Army All American. Humphrey would be an instant impact player for the Sooners at center. He was a two-time All Big 12 first team selection and was a finalist for the Remington Award, given out to the nation’s best center. ESPN’s draft expert has Humphrey as the 2nd best center prospect in this year’s draft.
3) Tre Brown – DB – Union (Signed With Oklahoma)
– Along the same lines of Humphrey is cornerback Tre Brown. The former Union standout was considered one of the top prospects in his class, starting early on in his high school career. Brown would stay in that position throughout his high school career and would end up being named and Under Armour All American. Before Brown signed with OU, there were some thoughts the week of Signing Day that he would sign with Florida. That would not happen and Brown headed to Norman. Before he was a standout corner, Brown made his first impact in Norman as a kick returner. By his sophomore year he was starting at corner as well and became one of the better corners in the Big 12. Similar to Humphrey, Brown announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. In addition to that, he would skip OU’s bowl game against Florida to begin training for the draft. Depending on the mock draft you look at, Brown could be a second or third day pick.
4) Kamren Curl – DB – Muskogee (Signed With Arkansas)
– Our top three players are all projected to be NFL Draft picks in a few months. Our #4 player is already in the NFL and had a fantastic rookie season in the league. Former Muskogee star Kamren Curl was one of the more sought after recruits in Oklahoma’s 2017 class. With a few weeks left before signing day, Curl committed to Arkansas. The Rougher turned Razorback would start as a true freshman and would play both corner and safety. During his sophomore and junior seasons, Curl played primarily safety. Following his junior season, Curl surprised many when he announced that he would be entering the NFL Draft. He wasn’t an early pick but he was drafted by Washington with the 216th overall pick during the 7th round. Curl would take over as a safety for Washington about halfway thru the 2020 season after Landon Collins was injured. Curl finished the year strong with nearly 90 tackles.
5) Shamari Brooks – RB – Union (Signed With Tulsa)
– The second Tulsa signee in our top five and the second player from Union’s 2017 class is running back Shamari Brooks. It’s somewhat ironic that Tulsa had two players in the top five of these rerankings. Fast forward to this year’s class and they only signed one in-state prospect. However, there’s no doubt that Brooks and Collins have had a massive impact on Tulsa during their career. Hopefully for Brooks, that career isn’t over. Before the 2020 season, Brooks had been TU’s best running back, running for over 2,700 yards and 23 touchdowns. However, before TU opened up what would be a memorable 2020 season, Brooks tore his ACL in a practice and would miss the entire season. It’s expected that Brooks will return to TU next year and look to pick up where he left off as TU’s marquee running back.
6) Charlie Kolar – TE – Norman North (Signed With Iowa State)
It’s been an interesting storyline over the last few seasons as Iowa State has been able to upset OU on a number of occasions. And in both instances, one of the stars for the Cyclones was tight end Charlie Kolar, who played high school ball just miles away from the OU campus. Kolar had a fantastic 2020 season and was a finalist for the Mackey Award, which is given to the nation’s best tight end. Kolar will be back for more in 2021 as he decided to return to Iowa State and will not enter the NFL Draft.
7) Isaiah Thomas – DL – Memorial (Signed With Oklahoma)
– A two-sport star for Memorial, Isaiah Thomas absolutely blew up in the winter of 2016. After his junior tape made the rounds across the country, Thomas became one of the state’s top recruits and he was offered by schools all over the country. Thomas would sign with OU, giving the Sooners an impressive showing with the elite in-state talent. Thomas was somewhat quiet early on in his Sooner career but he’s coming off a 2020 season where he had a breakout year and was a big time player along the OU defensive line.
8) Malcolm Rodriguez – DB – Wagoner (Signed With Oklahoma State)
– Rewind to December of 2016 and there weren’t many players that were as dominant as Wagoner’s Malcolm Rodriguez. He led the Bulldogs to three straight state titles but he was criminally under-recruited. Finally, Oklahoma State pulled the trigger and offered the Bulldog standout and he would commit. Rodriguez has been a strong contributor to the Cowboy defense over the last several seasons. He certainly showed that many more schools should have taken a chance on one of the state’s best players.
9) Evan Fields – DB – Midwest City (Signed With Arizona State)
– Former Midwest City Bomber Evan Fields is another consensus top ten prospect back then and today with the reranking. Fields was considered one of the state’s top prospects and was recruited by programs all over the country. Fields would eventually sign with Arizona State. That certainly raised eyebrows as Oklahoma doesn’t send very many prospects to Arizona State. However, Fields has been very successful with Arizona State. Fields is a two-year starter and will be returning for another senior season.
10) Andre Harris Jr. – OL – Putnam City North (Signed With Arkansas State)
– Former Putnam City North lineman Andre Harris Jr. was a borderline top ten prospect coming out of high school. He would commit and sign with Arkansas State. After redshirting during his freshman season, Harris became one of the more consistent interior linemen for Arkansas State. He started the majority of games in 2018 and every game in 2019. He came into the 2020 season as a preseason all conference selection.