Bob Stoops: Oklahoma background checks didn't uncover Dede Westbrook arrests

Bob Stoops said Oklahoma uses an outside agency to do background checks on recruits

Shortly after Oklahoma wide receiver Dede Westbrook made his rounds through the media tour as a 2016 Heisman Trophy finalist, it was revealed that the former JUCO prospect had been arrested twice and once charged for domestic violence-related issues.

The Tulsa World report included details of two incidents, both of which occurred in Westbrook's hometown of Cameron, Texas. According to police reports, Westbrook was accused of throwing the mother of his two children to the ground in 2012, when he was 18, and biting the same woman's arm and punching her with a closed fist in 2013.

Neither incident resulted in a conviction for Westbrook.

"There were some disagreements in the past that were cleared up years ago," Westbrook said in a statement to Tulsa World. "We have resolved our issues and are focused on the future."

The news came as a surprise to the college football world, previously enamored with this former junior college star-turned-Heisman finalist, and led to questions for Oklahoma. Coach Bob Stoops said Tuesday that the school has background checks that have turned up information which caused the staff to stop recruiting a player. In this case, the school says it was unaware of the incidents in Cameron.

"We have extensive background checks," Stoops told reporters. "I'm not part of that. Again, so I'm not sure how that happened."

Westbrook was a four-star prospect coming out of Blinn College in the Sooners' 2015 recruiting class.