Tulsa adds another mid-term junior college transfer
The mid-year junior college transfer period runs through January 15, and Tulsa snagged its sixth juco transfer of the 2018 recruiting cycle just before the deadline when Independence Community College defensive tackle Jajuan Blankenship verbally committed on Thursday.
"I’m actually leaving to come tonight," he told Inside Tulsa Sports on Thursday afternoon.
Blankenship enrolled at Tulsa on Friday morning.
“I really like the American conference - I feel like it’s a really competitive league with great competition,” he explained. “Coach (Jermial) Ashley said that they wanted to get a guy from junior college to help bring some maturity and experience, and I feel like being in juco has helped me mature as a person and a player, so I can spread that along to the younger players in the D-line room and on the team.”
Blankenship redshirted at South Carolina in 2016 before transferring to Independence College. As a redshirt freshman this season, the 3-star prospect posted 41 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and 10 quarterback hurries for the Pirates.
“I feel my speed is a big asset because guards normally don’t move well in space, so that helps me set them up with a move,” he explained. “I’m also good at using my hands to get off blocks. I would say I’m best at pass rushing simply because of the speed and quickness.”
Blankenship chose Tulsa over offers from New Mexico, Alabama State and Southeastern Louisiana. He also had strong interest from Louisiana-Lafayette, Georgia Southern, Arkansas State, Texas State and UMass.
The 6-foot-2 and 280-pounder will join seven other mid-term enrollees at Tulsa this month. The Golden Hurricane signed 16 prospects in the early football signing period (Dec. 20-22), and a whopping six of those are mid-term enrollees, including five junior college transfers and one early high school graduate. Also joining TU this month is D-1 transfer Zach Smith, a quarterback that played for Baylor the past two seasons.
Tulsa has two other current commitments in the 2018 class - WR Marquez Perez and OL Josh Owens - and the Hurricane will likely add three to four more before the regular signing period on February 7.
Stay tuned to Hurricane Alley for all the latest breaking info on Tulsa football and basketball recruiting.