Three down, one to go for Bellevue West senior-to-be Kaden Helms. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound tight end took an official visit to Oklahoma last weekend. 

“It was good,” Helms said of his trip to Norman. “The second day I was there they had a barbecue and brought back a bunch of NFL players, so it was really cool.” 

Helms got some face time with former Sooners Adrian Petersen, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, CD Lamb, Wayne Johnson and Sam Bradford. 

The weekend was a chance for Helms to not just meet former Sooners. He learned more about the area and enjoyed building a relationship with OU coaches. 

“I liked getting a feel for Norman and the Oklahoma City area,” he said. “Meeting the coaches and getting to see the facilities and seeing them in person. I got to know coach (Lincoln) Riley and talked to him one-on-one, which was really good. He’s a good guy and values things for the right reasons.” 

Great time in Norman!?? pic.twitter.com/vcxOlTem99

— Kaden Helms (@KadenJHelms) June 20, 2021

In late March, Helms announced a top 10 of Arizona State, Auburn, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Miami and Tennessee from the 23 power-conference offers he received. 

Earlier this month Helms unofficially visited Arizona State (June 4-6) and officially visited Miami (June 11-13). He originally scheduled an official visit to Auburn (June 21-23) but cancelled that and will head to North Carolina for an official visit this weekend (June 25-27).  

Last week’s reports of potential recruiting violations at ASU hasn’t ruled out the Sun Devils from consideration to land a commitment from Helms. 

“I’m just going to wait and see how everything unfolds,” Helms said of ASU. 

Helms is rated as a three-star in the 2022 class according to the 247Sports composite, a ranking that combines the three major national rankings of 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals. 247 ranks him as a four-star and the No. 12 tight end nationally in the 2022 class. 

His official visit to South Beach was eye opening. 

“Miami was really fun. My host was Will Mallory. He lives in the middle of Miami so we went out and it was cool to see for sure. We ate dinner on South Beach and that was cool,” he said. “Football wise I didn’t know how drastically they need tight ends for the offense to run and that was the biggest thing I took away from them.” 

In seven games last fall, Helms had 25 receptions for 322 yards and four touchdowns.

Helms doesn’t have a specific date when he will announce his commitment, although he does want to make a decision before the start of his season. 

“Right now I’m thinking sometime in early July,” he said of an announcement date. “Obviously that is subject to change but right now I’m shooting for early July.”