GARDEN CITY, Kan. — Throughout his recruiting, J.R. Bryant did something most college students only practice in the classroom.
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He took notes.
The four-star linebacker from Garden City Community College (Kan.) brought a notebook on every visit. At each stop, Bryant jotted down pros and cons — such as which coaches he liked and disliked and which roster needed him the most. Which stadium felt like home.
Thursday night, the 6-foot-3, 228-pounder pulled out the notebook and looked over his work, weighing each plus and minus among his favorite schools — OU, OSU and Texas Tech.
Friday, he picked the Sooners.
"My mom told me I should take notes wherever I went,” said Bryant, who hails from Jessup, Ga. "(Schools) are going to show you their best, but you have to look and think about everything.
"I looked at Oklahoma, and I thought, ‘Why not play for the best?' They had a lot of pros.”
Bryant locked up his college decision, and Oklahoma locked up its top recruiting target from the junior college ranks.
A big outside linebacker with sub-4.5 speed, Bryant is the No. 34 overall juco recruit, according to Rivals.com. He comes to Norman having earned NJCAA All-America honors in 2007.
"My first goal is to come in and be high in my graduating class,” Bryant said. "On the field, I'm going to work hard and compete for a starting position.
"Maybe I'll be Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year,” he added, chuckling.
In recent weeks, Bryant had narrowed his list to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. But even after his Jan. 11 official visit to Stillwater, Bryant listed the Sooners as his favorite.
"I don't assign a number, really. All of them were pretty even,” Bryant said. "With Texas Tech, there was a lot of comfort level. I liked the coaches a lot at Oklahoma State. Oklahoma had the best tradition.
"(The Sooners) had the most going for them. It was the best fit for me.”
Former Garden City CC teammate Phil Loadholt started every game for the Sooners in 2007. Bryant could do the same this year, as Oklahoma coaches look to replace outgoing seniors Lewis Baker and Demarrio Pleasant and junior Curtis Lofton, who declared early for the NFL Draft.
Bryant is OU's third linebacker commit from the Class of 2008. Last weekend, Mike Balogun of Lackawanna College in Pennsylvania committed, offering further experience to the Sooner linebacking corps.
Both commitments punctuate a turnaround in the OU recruiting season.
Bryant's commitment means that five-star athlete Burton Scott won't be visiting this weekend.
Scott was to take an official visit to Norman along with five-star receiver Julio Jones this weekend, but Scott's high school coach told Rivals.com that OU coaches told him Friday that they were cancelling Scott's visit.
Scott was supposed to depart for Norman today.
In November, Wichita (Kan.) standout Arthur Brown unexpectedly scrapped the Sooners from contention. In December, OU's new No. 1 linebacker target, Lynn Katoa, made an early commitment to Colorado. Two weeks later, Youngstown (Ohio) Cardinal Mooney linebacker Taylor Hill decommitted from OU in favor of Michigan.
"They wouldn't be pushing so hard for a juco kid like me if they weren't going to play them,” Bryant said after his Dec. 14 visit to Norman.
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He not only is "salty" and "pretty good" he is also going to be a good student, and represent the school in a good way. He will be a factor on the field as well. Way to go OU!
Being from Kansas, I think this Bryant kid is probably pretty good, as all I've heard about him is positive. I have friends that coach in the Jayhawk Conference and they say that he is pretty salty.
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