Sooners Pick Up Class of 2013 Stud, Pierce

Willie Saylor, Editor

With the coaching staff at Oklahoma just moving in to Norman this year, recruiting got off to a slow start.

But the Sooners are sure starting the class of ’13 off with a bang.

On Monday they received a verbal commitment from Allen, TX prospect, Oliver Pierce.

Ranked by TheOpenMat as the #4 160lber in the country, Pierce is has won the State Championship, the Woodlands Tournament, and the KC Classic each year in high school.

He also has a tremendous national resume.

In 2009 he won the USAWrestling Folkstyle Nationals, followed by a Cadet GR title and taking 4^th in Fargo FS.

In 2010 he won a Fargo title in FS and was 4^th in Greco.

Pierce won a Fila Cadet title this spring.

This summer, as a Fargo JR, he placed 2^nd in GR and 5^th in freestyle.

In total, Oliver has six Fargo medals as a high school Junior, and has posted a cumulative record at the national duals of 36-4 in three years of competing in both styles.

In August, Pierce competed in the Cadet World Championships in Szombathely, Hungary at 69kg, where he finished in 5^th place.

We had the opportunity to ask Ollie about his decision:

WS:  What made you ultimately decide on the Sooners?

OP: I felt really comfortable with the coaches. They are awesome people and I felt like they cared about me more as a person than even as a wrestler. Norman is less than three hours from home and my grandparents live in Norman and Edmond.

WS:  Mark Cody and Tyrone Lewis are new coaches at OU. What is your relationship like with them?

OP: The relationship I have built with the Coaches has probably been the deciding factor of committing to OU. Coach Cody and Lewis were great on unofficial visits but it is Coach Frayer and Ligtner that I have really become close with. They are so positive and down to earth good guys.

WS:  What weight do you anticipate wrestling in college?

OP:  I would assume 157 but Coach Cody has a pretty unique philosophy when it comes to projected weights in that he is a big believer in strength training and loves for guys to be comfortable and grow. I love what he has to say about weight cutting and being more concerned about getting better than cutting lots of weight. I will obviously wrestle whatever weight I am asked to wrestle. My dad is a strength coach so he likes that.

WS:  Do you know any wrestlers currently on the team?

OP:  I know Jarod Patterson from camps. His dad and my coach Jerry Best are good friends and I have attended camps with him. I also know Tim Hamilton and Kyle Garcia which are two guys I have grown up wrestling with in little league and junior high. Other than that I do not know a lot of the guys but I think thats one of the reasons I clicked with OU. All of the guys I have met have been very personable and make you feel like you are a part of what is going on immediately.

WS:  Do you know what you’ll major in?

OP: I am not sure what I will major in but I have always wanted to be a coach so I am sure it will probably be education with an emphasis in math or science.

WS:  You’ve been really successful in FS/GR. Do you have international aspirations for wrestling beyond college?

OP:  I love Freestyle and Greco and have huge aspirations especially in freestyle. My goal is to be an Olympic and World Champ and quite honestly I strongly considered going to the Olympic Training Center for a year before college.

WS:  What other schools were you considering?

OP:  The main schools that I had a real interest in were Oklahoma State, Virginia, Missouri and Lehigh.

WS:  You were also a good football player. Did you consider playing football in college.

OP:  I love football and will be playing QB my senior year, I have been an inside receiver and kick returner the last two years. 5’10’’ 160 lb football players do not get a lot of scholarship offers so that was never really an option. I did grow up a diehard Texas Longhorn football fan so its been kind of strange saying Boomer Sooner though…ha!

Congratulations to The Pierce family and the Allen and Sooner wrestling communities!