-- Written by Tony Adame, Wichita Eagle - Nov. 30, 2015
It was frustrating, sure, but Ben Powers decided to take being snubbed by every single Division I football program in the country out of high school and turn it into something else.
The Kapaun Mount Carmel product turned it into motivation.
It was motivation that landed him a scholarship at Oklahoma after one dominant season on the offensive line for Butler Community College in which the 6-foot-5, 320-pound offensive guard helped lead the Grizzlies to a share of the Jayhawk Conference title and earned a spot on the All-Jayhawk Conference team.
Powers announced his commitment to Oklahoma on Monday via his Twitter account.
"About three weeks ago, my name just finally broke through and it's kind of been non-stop ever since," Powers said. "Not getting any looks after high school was frustrating, but I just turned it into something to work for. It was motivation. Not many people can say they came to a juco, made first team all-conference and were able to get out after one semester."
Powers will have three seasons of eligibility remaining and will enroll at Oklahoma in January. The Sooners clinched the Big 12 title on Saturday with a win over Oklahoma State and have likely earned a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Powers also considered TCU, and was on the Oklahoma sideline when they beat TCU in Norman, Okla., on Nov. 21.
"The atmosphere was just amazing, how the fans reacted to the team was incredible," Powers said. "My family has been awesome through this whole thing for me, just more supportive than I could ask for. That helped a lot."
Powers continues a recent string of in-state offensive linemen with zero offers out of high school that ended up at Division I schools after one season at Butler, following Chanute native Quinn Schooley, a three-year starter at North Carolina State, and Washburn Rural's Quinn Mittermeier, who redshirted this season at Oklahoma.
"It's kind of hard to figure out, but it ends up being our good fortune when (Division I schools) miss on them out of high school," Butler coach Tim Schaffner said. "It came down to a recruiting battle between us, Pitt State and maybe a couple other Jayhawk schools, and now look where (Powers) is at.
"It's so hard to tell how good they'll be, but (Butler offensive line coach) Wade Weibert felt really good about him, and he certainly exceeded all of our expectations as a true freshman."