National Signing Day: It’s Oklahoma for Clovis West linebacker Caleb Kelly

In regard specifically to high school recruiting, this was unlike anything Fresno County has seen, if not beyond in the Central Valley.

It involved Clovis West linebacker Caleb Kelly, the nation’s prep Butkus Award winner, his family, an army of media and about 200 friends and spectators Wednesday at Lincoln Elementary, a Golden Eagles feeder located in northeast Fresno.

National scouting services were wired into it and, for darn sure, coaches Brian Kelly of Notre Dame, Bob Stoops of Oklahoma and Mark Helfrich of Oregon were, too.

The last three standing in a coast-to-coast chase that counted 31 scholarships for Kelly, all waiting for this: “I’ll be going to Oklahoma,” Kelly announced at 5:30 p.m.

And with that, in an overflow Multi-Purpose Room of the school he attended, the pursuit had ceased for a 6-foot-2 1/2 , 220-pounder ranked 17th nationally among all players, regardless of position, and the No. 2 outside linebacker by Scout.com.

Only North High-Torrance’s Mique Juarez was ranked ahead of Kelly at the position. Juarez signed with UCLA.

Mike Stoops, Bob’s brother and Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator, was asked on the phone how he was feeling about an hour after Caleb Kelly made the announcement: “Well, a lot better now. We lost five of our six top linebackers. Replacing them is big, but, when you play in the (Big 12) conference we do and the people we play, you’ve got to replace with quality that makes sense.

“We’ve got to replace a big striker with another. And Caleb has a great combination of size, speed, strength and intelligence. That’s what I was most enamored with, how quickly he picks things up.”

Caleb Kelly has long fancied Oklahoma, and the Stoops brothers, knowing this, were hoping for an early commit months ago.

Then an NCAA monster arrived: Notre Dame.

“In the middle part of the recruiting process we thought we were in good shape,” Mike Stoops said. “But then Notre Dame started to gain traction. We countered, regained some traction, and then it drug out. He had genuine interest in Notre Dame, and how could he not?”

Caleb Kelly, except for a brief tease, wasted no time in making his call at the beginning of Wednesday’s ceremony at a school his mother also attended.

Fashioning black slacks, a white dress shirt, bow tie and white sneakers, he stood on a stage with his mother to his right and eighth-grade step-brother, Jeremiah, to his left.

Valerie Kelly, a 1995 graduate of Clovis West, has raised the step-brothers as a single mother. Caleb Kelly has never seen his biological father.

Displayed on a table in front of them were school hats from Oregon, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

Caleb Kelly, after acknowledging his family, mentors – such as longtime West Fresno leader and prep assistant coach Tony Perry – and the throng, first asked his step-brother to reach down and pick something up.

Would it be a stunner? Would it be a hat with a school logo other than the present three?

Nope.

The crowd broke into laughter as little brother yanked up a Dallas Cowboys hat and placed it on his head.

Significance? “That’s my brother and mother’s favorite team,” Jeremiah said. “Mine’s the 49ers.”

Older brother then made the announcement, reached forward, grabbed the white Oklahoma lid with a crimson “OU” and mashed it upon his curly locks.

And it was then – only then – that all was good.

A dramatically different scene had unfolded in the Kelly home in Fresno two weeks ago.

Mom: “We had a day it was too much for us.”

Caleb: “I cried two tears. It was crazy; it was overwhelming. It all hit me one day and I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ ”

Mom: “When you see hurt in your child’s eyes, it’s enough. I was done. And I told Caleb, ‘It’s time to make your decision.’ ”

So he did that night, first telling his brother – with whom he’s inseparable – and then his mom.

“I wanted to go to Notre Dame,” he said, “but my heart was with Oklahoma.

“(The Sooners) weren’t in it until I made my official visit (Nov. 21). I had just kept them around because they were the first to make me an offer. I had already been (to the campus) twice, but it wasn’t until the official visit and I learned more about their academics that things changed.

“My heart tells me I will be a perfect fit at Oklahoma. I feel I will be a leader there and will change some lives.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 5:54 PM with the headline "National Signing Day: It’s Oklahoma for Clovis West linebacker Caleb Kelly."