From #BearDown to #BoomerSooner, 2014 Bruton graduate Kapri Doucet has had wild ride throughout his college football recruitment.
Doucet, who was a standout linebacker for Lackawanna College after being academically ineligible to play for James Madison University straight out of high school, saw his stock skyrocket during the 2015 football season.
On Friday, Doucet put his college recruitment to an end and announced his commitment to play for the University of Oklahoma.
However, Oklahoma was not the first school Doucet committed to in what has been a wild sequence of events for the Bruton alumnus.
With a number of highly regarded Division I football programs — including Nebraska, West Virginia and Louisville — vying for his services out of Lackawanna College, Doucet decided to commit to the University of Arizona on Dec. 31.
That was until the Arizona Coach Rich Rodriguez dismissed defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jeff Casteel on Jan. 4 after the Wildcats had one of the worst defenses in the nation.
The firing of Doucet’s future defensive coordinator and position coach forced Doucet to reconsider his commitment to Arizona. After some thought, Doucet took to Twitter to announce his decommitment and intentions to reopen his recruitment later that day.
“I was kind of upset that my coaches got fired from Arizona, but I realized I had plenty of options ahead of me,” Doucet said. “At the same time, I had to move on with my recruitment and find a new home.”
For Doucet, that new home turned out to be Norman, Oklahoma, where the University of Oklahoma is located.
With the Sooners needing to replace three starting linebackers, and Doucet having a solid relationship with Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops, choosing to play for Oklahoma seemed like the best option for Doucet.
“The resume Bob Stoops has with graduating guys and putting guys into the NFL, it’s a great program,” said Doucet about the factors that led him to commit to Oklahoma. “They’re going to move me around at different linebacker spots. That’s another reason why, being able to show my versatility and show the different things I can do.”
And even though Doucet has never stepped foot on the campus — he was supposed to take an official visit this weekend, but the snowstorm that blasted Virginia put a damper on his plans — he is sure this decision will ultimately be the best one for his future as a football player and person.
