Oklahoma DE Target Colton Yarbrough Has 'Always Been a Sooner Fan,' But Now is Just a Recruit

The big defensive end out of Durant used to play 8-man football and has grown into an athletic freak, but he's not affected by the hype as his recruitment heats up.
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Colton Yarbrough may eventually become one of college football’s true unicorns.

At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, Yarbrough is a defensive end/edge rusher who has so far played just one year of 11-man football and last summer was clocked in the 40 at 4.7 seconds.

And that was before his freshman season at Durant.

Yarbrough, still just 15 years old and already a prized recruit in the class of 2026, holds scholarship offers from Arkansas, Colorado, Miami, Michigan State, Oregon, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. He received his first offer from the Commodores prior to beginning high school.

Colton Yarbrough  :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

But while his recruiting momentum is picking up, he’s not slowed down by the hype.

“I don’t even let it bother me,” Yarbrough told AllSooners recently. “I just play my own game.”

Right now, Yarbrough’s “own game” is a lot of 7-on-7 tournaments, getting ready for spring practice at Durant, and planning camps and visits.

He plays mostly defense for Sean Cooper’s C4 Sports 7-on-7 team, and the natural fluidity with which he moves around the field – dropping in coverage, flipping his hips, reacting to bat down a football or changing direction to chase down a receiver – simply belies his mountainous frame.

Colton Yarbrough
Colton Yarbrough :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

By the time he reaches his senior year, Yarbrough might very well stand 6-foot-7 and weigh 250 pounds.

That’s actually sort of on his to-do list the rest of this offseason – that, and anchoring the 4x100 relay and competing in the long jump and high jump for the Durant track team. He also competes in powerlifting.

“Just get bigger, stronger, faster,” he said, “get ready for Friday nights.”

Yarbrough doesn’t have an official scholarship offer from Oklahoma yet among his nine total offers, but that could come any day. He's actually on the OU campus Friday for another unofficial visit.

He said he talks with OU edge coach Miguel Chavis “all the time” and recently chopped it up with OU d-tackles coach Todd Bates and Sooners head coach Brent Venables as they visited teammate Xadavien Sims in Durant.

His impression of Venables?

“He’s a tough dude,” Yarbrough said.

And his thoughts on Chavis?

Colton Yarbrough
Colton Yarbrough :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

“He knows his stuff,” Yarbrough said. “He doesn’t think he’s above you like a lot of schools think they are.”

Yarbrough also has attended two OU camps.

“Their camp is really nice,” he said. “All their coaching staff knows what they’re talking about.”

Yarbrough previously played 8-man football at Caddo, OK. He last played tight end and defensive end. He said he only got the football one time during the season.

The result?

“Sixty-five-yard touchdown,” Yarbrough laughed.

“It was fun, but I’m not going nowhere with 8-man,” he said. “I’m not gonna know anything about 11-man when I get to college.”

Last year at Durant, in his first taste of 11-man football, Yarbrough started out at middle linebacker as a freshman on varsity, then switched to defensive line, then switched to outside linebacker.

“They’re trying to figure me out, because I came from 8-man,” he said. Which, he said, “was easy. Too easy. Not enough competition. We (at Durant) play some dogs.”

Growing up in Oklahoma, Yarbrough admitted his early college football allegiances, but realized things change when a young fan becomes a promising recruit.

“I’ve always been a Sooner fan,” he said. “But here lately, I like to keep it on the low. I don’t like taking (sides with) fans. I’m just a college football fan, I guess, all around.”

Colton Yarbrough
Colton Yarbrough :: John E. Hoover / AllSooners

Still, he says he’s been to “a lot of OU’s” games over the years and has enjoyed getting to meet some of his college football heroes up close, like fellow defensive end Ethan Downs, who he’s met both at multiple OU camps as well as on unofficial visits.

“He’s tough. Strong,” Yarbrough said. “He’s real humble. He remembered me.”


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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.