Oklahoma
Persistence Helps Oklahoma Land “Freakazoid” Wide Receiver
NORMAN — In the middle of his signing day press conference Wednesday, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables got word that wide receiver Jayden Petit had signed with the Sooners.
Venables called Petit a “freakazoid.”
“Big, strong, athletic, amazing, not only in catch radius but his strain at the top of the route, again, for a guy in high school is just a little bit different,” Venables said.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Petit’s recruitment was emblematic of the Sooners’ recruiting approach under Venables and general manager Jim Nagy.
Venables and wide receivers coach Emmett Jones stayed in contact with Petit even after the Naples, Florida, product committed to Wisconsin in June, less than three weeks after taking an official visit to Norman.
Petit flipped to the Sooners on Thanksgiving and signed Wednesday.
“They stayed with it,” Venables said of his staff’s approach to Petit. “And where a lot of people would grow weary, they didn’t. And again, same things they sold in recruiting, I think, came to fruition. And Jayden’s a really spiritual guy and I think he just had a peace about coming to Oklahoma.”
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Of course, the product Venables and co. are selling now is a bit different from the vision they were trying to sell over the summer.
After a 6-7 season last season where no wide receiver had more than 315 yards receiving, the Sooners surged this season, finishing the regular season 10-2 and likely heading to the College Football Playoff.
And instead of having tight end Bauer Sharp as the leading receiver, wide receiver Isaiah Sategna leads the Sooners with 65 catches for 948 yards and seven touchdowns.
So while the offense isn’t fully fixed, it’s still a much better product than it was back when Petit made his original decision.
When Nagy arrived in March, he began looking through the players that were already on Oklahoma’s radar.
It didn’t take him long to notice Petit.
“He was one of my favorite players when I got here in March that was currently on the board,” Nagy said.
With Deion Burks and Keontez Lewis seniors among the wide receiver group, there will be some playing time up for grabs at the position.
Petit was one of four wide receivers the Sooners signed Wednesday, joining Jahsier Rogers from Delaware, Daniel Odom from California and Zizi Okwufulueze of Owasso’s Rejoice Christian.
But Venables singled out Petit as a player who had an opportunity to play right away.
“He’s gonna jump into a great group, and really feel like he’s — from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint — he’s gonna be able to jump in right away and help make that position immediately better.”
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Moves up Friday Start Times for Baseball, Softball Games
OU fans hoping to make it to either diamond on Friday will need to get there earlier than expected.
Oklahoma announced on Thursday that its baseball and softball series openers will each begin at 5:30 p.m on Friday.
Game 1 of the No. 14 Sooners’ baseball series against Missouri was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., while the No. 1 softball team’s series opener against No. 8 Arkansas was slated for 7 p.m.
In a pair of releases on OU’s athletic website, the reason given for both time changes was “forecasted inclement weather.” According to the National Weather Service, severe weather is supposed to arrive in Norman and its surrounding areas around 8 p.m.
OU’s other baseball games against the Tigers on Saturday and Sunday will remain at their scheduled times (4 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively). The softball games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will remain at 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
The baseball team’s three-game duel with Mizzou will be OU’s third home series of SEC play. Oklahoma opened conference play by taking two games of three against Texas A&M before dropping two of three to Alabama a few weeks later.
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OU has already played three SEC road series. The Sooners won two games of three at LSU in March before getting swept at Texas a week later. Most recently — last week — Oklahoma won two games against Vanderbilt in Nashville.
Oklahoma (24-12 overall, 7-8 SEC) sits in a five-way tie for ninth place in the SEC standings alongside Mississippi State, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Missouri, on the other hand, has played its way out of contention.
The Tigers come to Norman 20-17 and 3-12. They earned a road series win against Kentucky two weeks ago, but they followed that up with three losses in a row to fellow conference bottom feeder South Carolina last week. Mizzou has been swept three times — by Auburn, Texas A&M and the Gamecocks — since the start of SEC play.
On the softball side, Oklahoma is ranked No. 1 after taking two games of three against former top-ranked squad Texas. The Sooners, though, dropped their third game in Austin before falling to unranked Oklahoma State at Devon Park in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
The Sooners are 40-5 overall and 13-2 in conference play. OU currently sits atop the SEC standings, one game ahead of second-place Alabama.
Arkansas comes into the series at Love’s Field on a heater. The Razorbacks (35-6, 10-5) have won six of their last seven contests. Their only series loss of conference play this year came against Alabama, which is ranked No. 3.
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Oklahoma
Oklahoma police set up sting for stolen property
TULSA, Okla. (KOKH) — One person has been arrested after allegedly trying to sell stolen property on Facebook.
On April 10, an officer with the Tulsa Police Department saw a post on Facebook Marketplace for a projector lens that was stolen from the condemned Promenade Mall.
The lens, which is worth $20,000, was listed for just $500.
The officer used a fake Facebook account to message the seller and arranged a trade for the lens in exchange for a minibike.
Earlier this week, 19-year-old Zachery Scrivner met with the officer and was arrested.
According to the police department, Scrivner said he knew the lens was stolen but decided to try to sell it anyway.
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He was arrested on a complaint of knowingly concealing stolen property.
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