Ex-Arizona Corner headed to OU

[Sooner in Tampa]

Hmmm...


We noted Tuesday that wide receiver Jalen Saunders had decided to transfer from Fresno State to Oklahoma (http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/08/fresno-state-wr-transferring-to-sooners/).
As it turns out, a player on the other side of the ball has decided to do the same, destination-wise, as well.
According to multiple media outlets, cornerback Cortez Johnson has decided to transfer to the Sooners (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20120508_92_0_Itappe623949&rss_lnk=92). Arizona announced back in late March that Johnson had decided to leave the football program in order to be closer to his Louisiana hometown. It was originally thought Johnson would end up at Louisiana Tech (http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/31/corner-leaving-arizona-likely-headed-to-latech/) with former UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes.
Heading to Norman will still serve as a reunion for Johnson, though. Mike Stoops, fired as the Wildcats’ head coach last year, is back on the OU coaching staff, as is former UA assistant Tim Kish.
The combination of the familiarity with the coaching staff as well as a weekend visit to the Norman campus sealed the deal for Johnson.
“I just wanted to get back with Coach Stoops and be closer to home,” Johnson said. “Oklahoma – it just felt right (http://espn.go.com/blog/colleges/oklahoma/post/_/id/8580/sooners-adding-arizona-transfer-cortez-johnson). Everything went great and fell right in place.”
As a true freshman in 2011, Johnson played in eight games for the Wildcats. He was expected to compete for significant playing time, if not a starting job, in UA’s secondary this year under first-year head coach Rich Rodriguez.
Like Saunders, Johnson will be forced to sit out the 2012 season in order to satisfy NCAA transfer rules.

[MamaMia]

This is just getting better every day. :)

Coach Kish is a good person to have as well with his west coast recruiting experience.

[LVSOONER15]

This west coast recruiting will help in a major way. Hopefully we can develope this talent as much as possible.

[sooneredaco]

It's nice to finally have guys transferring to OU not away from OU

[SoonerNomad]

I don't share the "it's nice to finally have guys transfer into OU" philosophy. This is in no way 100% true, but my experience both with those that have left OU and those that have come here is that there is usually a negative reason why guys transfer from one school to another. Obviously, there are great exceptions to this rule, but most transferring players are either struggling with school or struggling with college life or struggling with playing time and are attempting to run from their problems by going somewhere new.

From what little I have read, these two guys look like players and their transfers may work out. I certainly hope so and will be rooting for them. One of my favorite players in the Coach Stoop's era was Lynn McGruder, the DT that left Tennessee because of selling drugs and came into Norman, cleaned up his act, and became a solid contributor on the field and an even better person off the field. He even participated in a rescue of some individuals in a car accident that from all accounts saved lives.

I just prefer that OU do less of the transfer stuff and more of the recruiting solid citizens with talent and building from within. That is the majority of what they do, but when I see two transfers into the school in less than a month I start to worry about cutting corners. It does help that Coach Mike Stoops recruited the cornerback to Arizona and knows him well.

[Curly Bill]

I'm somewhat ambivalent on taking transfer players as well. I hope and expect that these two guys will work out, but in general I'm not a fan of taking in players that haven't worked out at another program.

[Widescreen]

Our #1 recruiting priority always seems to be recruiting high schools and i think that's the right strategy. However, if a quality player is available who can fill some kind of gap and won't be a problem, why not bring them on board? I'm sure the coaches vet these guys pretty carefully.

[BBQ Man]

Our #1 recruiting priority always seems to be recruiting high schools and i think that's the right strategy. However, if a quality player is available who can fill some kind of gap and won't be a problem, why not bring them on board? I'm sure the coaches vet these guys pretty carefully.

That's exactly right!

[allanace16]

Yeah, both of these guys seem like pretty unique cases to me as far as transfer guys go. Both were at a school that saw a regime change and realized the current scheme probably wasn't going to work for them so they went somewhere that's running a scheme that does. In Johnson's case, he gets to be under basically his old coaching staff as well. Can't really fault a guy for playing for who he feels comfortable for. That's why I don't fault Kellen Jones for following Venables to Clemson. Jalen Saunders probably looked at potential other schools and saw a guy that's of a similar build in Broyles have a LOT of success here and thought he could follow those footsteps. Makes sense to me. Way different situation than a guy like that RB that came in from Iowa that seemed to be in the doghouse so he had to leave (Wegher? Too lazy to look it up).