Oklahoma Early Enrollees: Why CB Jasiah Wagoner Plays With a Fearless Versatility
Editor’s Note: This is Part 8 of a 14-part series on Oklahoma’s early enrollees in the 2023 recruiting class.
Many times, graduating high school early and launching one’s college football career pays off. Many times, it doesn’t.
While early enrollees are navigating new realms of pain and commitment, a lot of their friends are back home — playing basketball, running track or just hanging out and taking full advantage of the affliction known as “senioritis.”
In Oklahoma’s case, 14 newcomers have chosen to make that sudden transition from boys to men. Jerry Schmidt’s winter workouts might seem impossible at first, and then the summer grind is even harder. In between, the coaching staff takes over, and spring football practice puts them ahead of their summer counterparts.
In this series, AllSooners examines each of the 14 newcomers and projects their impact on Brent Venables’ football team in 2023.
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Jasiah Wagoner was always a candidate to graduate high school early and get a head start on his college football career.
Yes, the 4-star cornerback probably needs to add a little more mass to his 170-pound frame, and Oklahoma’s winter weightroom routines will accomplish that.
But for Wagoner, it’s deeper than just his physique.
“I’ve always said, he’s one of the brightest kids on the field and in the classroom that I’ve worked with,” said Wagoner’s high school coach, Cameron Robak. “He’s been ready. He likes to be challenged, and I don’t think high school was challenging enough for him.
Jasiah Wagoner
Jasiah Wagoner via Twitter
“He likes to be challenged on the football field as well, so I think he wanted to get to that environment where he’s challenged every day academically — and to be pushed every day in the weight room with those caliber type of guys.”
Robak coached Wagoner at Spanaway Lake, a Seattle suburb. There he saw a somewhat undersized defensive back and wide receiver play big — and make big plays.
“I don’t know if you watched the All-American game down in (San Antonio) Texas,” Robak said. “ … But on TV, he definitely looked like probably one of the smallest guys out there, but you can’t tell by the way he hits. I mean, he’s not afraid of anyone. He flies around, he has a natural instinct to find the ball, whether it’s in the air or in somebody’s hands. He just plays nasty.”
Wagoner excelled on one of high school football’s biggest stages just like he did on fields around Washington: with a broad understanding of the opposing scheme, an instantaneous reaction to the offensive play, and a fearless finish. He relishes contact, plays behind his pads, arrives with force and plays with a physical nature that belies his frame.
Another thing: Wagoner’s versatility helps him — and will force the Oklahoma coaches to find a place for him.
“The first three years for us, he played corner and he set the edge,” Robak said. “Nothing ever got outside him. And we loved that about him. Then this last year, actually, we had a pretty decent corner rotation and we moved him to safety a little bit, which allowed him to get more into the run. And he loved that. He played in the box. And then obviously in the all-star game, he played in the box a little bit, played some nickel, played some safety. And he loves contact.”
CB Jasiah Wagoner
- 5-11, 170
- Spanaway, WA
- 247 Sports: 4-star, No. 289 overall, No. 33 CB
- Rivals: 4-star, unranked overall, No. 41 CB
- On3: 3-star, unranked overall, No. 64 CB
- ESPN: 4-star, No. 200 overall, No. 26 CB
Background: Wagoner was the top-rated recruit in the state of Washington, ranked as high as No. 26 at cornerback by ESPN. Wagoner played three seasons on varsity and was arguably Spanaway Lake’s best player on offense and defense, leading the team all three years with 85 receptions for 1,221 yards and 15 touchdowns and also compiling 68 tackles in 15 games over his final two seasons, with three interceptions, seven passes defensed and one forced fumble. Wagoner played in the Adidas All-America Game in San Antonio and picked OU over offers from Arizona State, Cal, Notre Dame, Washington, Oregon, Penn State, Texas and others.
2023 Projection: No one may benefit more from Jerry Schmidt’s offseason weight training than Wagoner, who comes in this spring at around 170 pounds. He’ll need to bulk up quickly to play for the Sooners this year, especially with his fearless style of play. A redshirt season might be in order, as OU has plenty of experience at the position in three-year starters Woodi Washington and Jaden Davis, plus promising backups Kani Walker, Gentry Williams and Jayden Rowe.
That’s not all. Like many high school defensive backs, Wagoner also played wide receiver at Spanaway Lake. But unlike many prep DBs, he was really good at it.
Wagoner caught 24 passes for 412 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore, 34 for 521 yards and six TDs as a junior, and 27 for 288 and one score during his senior year.
Over three seasons, he caught 85 passes for 1,221 yards and 15 touchdowns — elite numbers for an undersized corner.
Could he even lend a hand to the offense in Norman?
Oklahoma’s 2023 early enrollees
- Jan. 19: DE P.J. Adebawore
- Jan. 20: QB Jackson Arnold
- Jan. 21: C Joshua Bates
- Jan. 22: Peyton Bowen
- Jan. 23: CB Kendel Dolby
- Jan. 24: OT Cayden Green
- Jan. 25: RB Daylan Smothers
- Jan. 26: CB Jasiah Wagoner
- Jan. 27: DB Erik McCarty
- Jan. 28: DB Makari Vickers
- Jan. 29: DT Ashton Sanders
- Jan. 30: RB Kalib Hicks
- Jan. 31: LB Phil Picciotti
- Feb. 1: DE Derrick LeBlanc
“I think he could,” Robak said. “I don’t know how that coaching staff would feel about that. But in our division, in our state, he definitely was a top-tier guy at the receiver position. Just another intangible that he has.”
At his National Signing Day press conference, OU coach Brent Venables included Wagoner among “lots of guys who can play on either side of the ball” but also mentioned him with OU’s six (now seven) defensive backs who are “long and fast and instinctive” who have “intelligence, instincts and ball skills.”
More pressing for Wagoner is his versatility in the secondary. He’s a pure cornerback with elite coverage skills and uncanny instincts. But Robak is confident he could be developed into a good college safety.
“I’ve talked to him a little bit about it,” Robak said. “I think he might start out in that slot position. But I’m not positive.”
In a video announcing his verbal commitment to Oklahoma, Wagoner credited his faith as well as his parents for putting him in position to succeed.
Jasiah Wagoner
Jasiah Wagoner via Twitter
“I thank God, because I think everything stems from Him,” Wagoner said. “You know, He gave me — He blessed me with two parents in the household. My dad, you know, instilled hard work in me. And then my mom, just taking care of me and being there for me. And then all my friends and stuff, they supported me a lot, you know, just let me know that I was doing good, that I should keep going down this path and not going down the wrong path.”
Whatever direction Wagoner’s career path takes him, Robak thinks he’ll excel.
“I think his x-factor is he’s gonna do whatever the coach, whatever the program needs him to do,” Robak said. “If they told him, ‘We need you to be the best wide receiver,’ he’s gonna do that. If they said, ‘We need you to play linebacker,’ he’s gonna do that. He’s gonna do whatever is best for the team and whatever the coaches want him to do.
“He’s always had a swagger about himself that he wants to line up against the best player and prove that he can hang with ‘em and also beat ‘em. I think that’s the thing I’m most excited for: unfortunately over here on the West Coast, we don’t have multiple of those guys on one team, so I’m excited for him to be able to compete with top-tier talent daily and see where that can really take him.”
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