Due to his wife and coming of another player; The time player in Oklahoma Sooners his offfiicially announced his leaving.
Surprisingly, last year Bill Bedenbaugh signed a player from every time zone in the contiguous United States.
However, it appears that the offensive line coach for the Sooners was still dissatisfied with the extent of his geographic reach during the recruiting process, as he expanded internationally in the 2024 cycle.
Three-star offensive lineman Daniel Akinkunmi, a 6-foot-5, 320-pound native of Loughborough, England, recently committed to Bedenbaugh and Oklahoma. Akinkunmi, an offensive lineman, becomes the fourth member of Bedenbaugh’s 2024 class by selecting the Sooners over offers from numerous schools, including Clemson, Miami, Nebraska, and Penn State.
Since signing Canadian-born player Neville Gallimore in the 2015 class, the Sooners have not added a player from outside the United States. The Oklahoma staff, of course, doesn’t make a practice of hiring across continents, as the logistics are a significant disincentive on their own.
With Akinkunmi, though, who has spent the last two years honing his craft in the UK with the NFL Academy, they made an exception.
You’re not the only one with inquiries concerning the training and hiring procedures for young football players in Europe. Fortunately, in an August interview with OUInsider, Akinkunmi provided a great deal of clarity on the matter.
Akinkunmi was getting ready for a series of five official visits in September at the time of the interview. He had determined that Oklahoma, Michigan, Clemson, Miami, and Ole Miss were his five finalist schools, and he intended to visit them all. The trip to OU was the first of those five planned excursions, and it had made a July offer. And he made sure to bring along one very essential piece of gear—a smartphone gimbal—when he packed for his journey from England to the Sooner State.
A rising video producer with more than a thousand subscribers on his YouTube channel, Akinkunmi had previously made a video log of his official visit to Baylor in June. He intended to follow suit in Oklahoma. Akinkunmi and his mother landed at Will Rogers World Airport, where a car was waiting to take them to Norman, having flown more than 4,500 miles.
Even though his circadian rhythm may have just been thrown off, Akinkunmi insists that his initial thoughts about Oklahoma were not very positive.
But after that first night of sleep, things started to get much better.
Akinkunmi told OUInsider, “I felt like it was a bit of a rocky start at first; wasn’t really sure if I was feeling it or not.” The difference was significant on the second day.
For me, I believe that watching the game and watching the film with Coach Bedenbaugh was the most important thing. The group is so different now. It was incredible to witness the offense, defense, and effectiveness of them all in person. It made me realize just how much Coach Venables has altered the curriculum.
