If the average Sooner fan had a bingo card going into Oklahoma's first weekend of June official visits, a commitment from three-star CB Derrick Johnson II certainly wasn't on that card.

And yet the Sooners pulled a stunner, locking down the talented Murrieta (Calif.) Valley High product over Kansas, Utah, Washington and UCLA. And though it's no doubt surprising to many Oklahoma fans who were barely acquainted with Johnson going into the weekend's festivities, it effectively marks the annual out-of-nowhere recruiting victory for Jay Valai. The Sooners' cornerbacks coach has made a tradition of landing a commit out of left field: Jasiah Wagoner in the 2023 cycle, then Jeremiah Newcombe in the 2024 cycle, then Courtland Guillory in the 2025 cycle. This time, it's Johnson that marks the surprise addition to Oklahoma's recruiting haul at corner.

Shortly before announcing his commitment, Johnson went in-depth with OUInsider — and perhaps even a step beyond in-depth — to break down his pledge to the Sooners.

On the general rationale for his decision: “Ever since they started recruiting me, they’ve just been showing a lot of love, and you could really tell that they really do want me there. They would text me every day; they would call me almost every day. And even when they first offered me — I’ve never seen this, I’ve never even heard of this. They brought four coaches out. Four coaches flew out and came to my school, including Coach Venables. It really stood out to me because I was like, ‘Damn. All these coaches are out here.’ And after they offered me, it wasn’t just like they offered me and barely talked to me. They were talking to me almost every day, and made a whole group chat and everything. The love was just unbelievable, and it was just really good. It felt really good from the start. And I connected with the coaches really fast too; my first conversation with Coach Venables went great. I had phone calls before they came with Coach Valai, which was really good.

"And I don’t know — I just really felt the love and connected with them really fast. The love they showed all the way up to the official visit — I went up there March 8, and I loved everything I saw up there. But I didn’t see everything, so then on my official visit, I saw everything. I mean, really, it just came down to [the fact that] I had a really good relationship with Coach Venables, and obviously the DC and position coaches too. Coach Xavier Brewer, he was my host, so he was great — and Coach Jeremiah Criddell too. So he’s from California, and we connected really well. He’s from where I’m from. And another thing that stood out to me too was the S.O.U.L. Mission program; I thought that was really great for my life after football, because that’s important for me too. So those were kind of like the main points of why I committed.”