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Oklahoma Lands All-American Linebacker

Konnor Near helped Ferris State to back-to-back national championships and had gotten plenty of Power 5 attention since entering the transfer portal.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma Lands All-American Linebacker
Oklahoma Lands All-American Linebacker

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma has landed a national champion in the transfer portal.

Konnor Near, an All-American linebacker at Division II national champion Ferris State, tweeted Thursday that he was verbally committed to play for the Sooners.

The 6-foot-2, 236-pound Near is actually a two-time national champ who helped the Bulldogs to the crown in 2021 and 2022.

Near, from St. Johns, MI, has received offers from Georgia Tech, Duke, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, Oklahoma (on April 29) and others in the past week since entering the NCAA Transfer Portal on April 20.

In 15 games last season, Near made 66 tackles with three quarterback sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss. In 13 games in 2021, Near had 27 total tackles with two TFLs.

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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.

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