Wright's recruiting whirlwind lands him at Tulsa

As with all signing periods, a handful of prospects see extreme changes in their recruiting process in the few days leading up to signing day. Abilene (TX) Cooper linebacker Justin Wright was one of those prospects, and after it was all said and done, he officially joined the Golden Hurricane in the first early signing period for high school seniors.

Just two days prior, however, things were much different.

On Dec. 18, Magnolia (TX) athlete Reese Mason, who had been committed to TU as a linebacker since late July, decided to go in a different direction. That created an opening on the Hurricane’s scholarship board in the linebacker corps.

As fate would have it, Justin Wright had recently backed off of his commitment to Texas State just a few days prior and had been on Tulsa’s radar for a long time. He had been pledged to the Bobcats since August, but TU coaches had stayed in touch, and it paid off for both parties.

Wright held other offers from Nevada, Louisiana-Monroe and UTEP, but when Tulsa offered late on Dec. 19, Wright decided to jump at the opportunity.

“Since my sophomore year, when Tulsa sent me a letter in the mail, I’ve been a fan and kept up with them,” the 6-foot-2 and 220-pounder told Inside Tulsa Sports. “I’ve had my fair share of offers, and Tulsa is by far the best one. I have never even been to Tulsa, and I just know it’s for me.

“They have a blue-collar mentality, and I think that fits me perfectly. I know that me going there, I can be a huge factor in Tulsa’s program. They offered me last night, and I didn’t hesitate one minute. I just knew.”

Wright helped Cooper to a 9-4 record this season, which ended with a tough 34-31 loss to Aledo in the third-round of the state playoffs. He collected two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, in a 62-3 win over Frenship early in the season, but Wright believes his best attribute is rushing the passer.

“Like any defensive player, getting in the backfield is the greatest feeling in the world,” he said. “Another thing I think I do best is making plays when plays need to be made.”

A first-team All-District 4-5A selection, Wright finished his senior season with 91 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, six sacks, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. He also earned all-Big Country honors.

Wright was one of 16 early signees for Tulsa on Wednesday in the new early football signing period. Two other Tulsa commitments are waiting until the February signing period, and TU will likely add up to five more commitments before then.

But when it comes to offering a prospect a scholarship on the eve of signing day and having them sign a letter of intent within the next 10 hours, as happened with Wright, Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery believes it’s a unique situation.

“It’s a quick turnaround, and it’s an unusual thing. I don’t think we’ve ever done that (before), especially under the circumstances we were under here,” said Montgomery. “We might have done that with a kid that had already been to your campus, seen it and toured it, and done all of that. Justin signed sight unseen. He hadn’t visited up here and done all of those things.

“That goes back to your evaluation and the relationship that you’re building. We’ve been recruiting you for a while, we’ve been on it, but this is where the situation is. We jumped and we moved, and he was ready to make that jump with us.”

• Full 2018 Tulsa Signee/Commit List
• Scenes from Signing Day
• Early Signee Breakdown: Offense
• TU Recruiting Notebook