The Football Brainiacs

Image from the Austin American Statesman (Photographer: Deborah Cannon)

This past weekend at the Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech game 2014 cornerback out of Pflugerville, TX, Trai Mosley, headed up to Norman along with his teammate and Oklahoma RB commit, Samaje Perine. But Trai got more than just a good game. Trai got an offer from Oklahoma.

Trai is currently committed to Nebraska. I had not seen any film on him until the offer and we plan on releasing our graded evaluation on him but I wanted to offer a few initial thoughts along with comments from his HS coach at Hendrickson, Coach Chip Killian.

When I first saw Trai’s tape I thought of Oklahoma commit, Tito Windham. Not the biggest kid (Trai is a little over 5’9) but a physical kid; a kid that, as his coach says, “will come up and hit you in the mouth”. You see him diagnose the run game and blow through a kid on the regular. And I love how physical he is when he presses at the line of scrimmage. He knows how to be physical without reaching or over extending himself. But being a Cover 2 corner in Oklahoma’s defense isn’t enough. So what I wanted to know is whether Trai can play man or quarters/man.

To be honest I initially was a little concerned about his speed but as I went back over his tape and looked for clues I started noticing more and more things that displayed his top gear and his recovery speed. In fact we asked Coach Killian about Trai’s speed and he said that before Nebraska offered they actually wanted to time his 40 and they clocked him up in Lincoln at 4.4! Nebraska offered him on the spot. That was enough for Nebraska and that’s more than enough for me!

Coach Killian said Trai’s got speed but he also candidly said, Trai doesn’t quite have Daje Johnson’s (highly recruited athlete that played under coach Chip and is currently a WR/RB for Texas) speed but who does? In fact Coach Killian admitted he hasn’t seen speed like Daje Johnson. But that doesn’t mean Trai doesn’t have speed to burn. But what is really exciting is, according to Coach Killian,Trai does have “better feet and hips” than even an elite athlete like Daje Johnson. Coach Killian raved about Trai’s feet and his hips, “Trey gets beat less (than Daje and other players) because he’s better at footwork and he is detailed oriented.” And that is an incredibly important quality that a lot of folks don’t understand.

There is a certain level of athleticism required to play CB, and Trai has that. But beyond that it takes incredible attention to detail, great footwork, the ability to fluidly flip your hips, etc. which is where Trai really separates himself from even the some of the nations best. Trai is just smooth! Coach Killian feels like Trai has the kind of natural talent and worth ethic to really thrive under excellent CB coaching like he would receive at a school like Oklahoma. Some of you will remember Coach Wright talking about how much Oklahoma loved Aaron Colvin’s feet and hips a few years back when he first signed with OU. He turned out pretty good! Coaches talk about feet, flexibility, and fluidity in the hips because they are some of the most coveted and rare qualities in order to be a great cornerback.

I know there are some folks that might be concerned about Trai’s height but, if it’s not obvious on film, Coach Killian will tell you Trai has long arms and a 40 inch vertical. In fact there is a play where Trai is so high off the ground that his feet are literally at the chest of the receiver!  Pardon the pun but he jumped out on film. Everything I saw on tape told me Trai is a quick twitch athlete and Coach Killian only confirmed that. When folks raise concerns about Trai’s height Coach Chip says, “roll some tape on him because he can flat out play!” In fact Nebraska was down at Hendrickson solely to see Trai’s teammate, Samaje Perine, and while on the trip they couldn’t help but notice Trai. And the rest, as they say, was history.

So now it, it seems, Oklahoma is looking to flip Trai and I can’t say I blame them. If Oklahoma wants to stop Big 12 basketball offenses they need kids like Trai that can cover man-to-man but can be physical; they can press and reroute or they can make you regret catching a ball. That’s Oklahoma football – speed and violence – and Trai has both. And the cherry on top? Trai’s seriousness and work ethic. Coach Killian spent a lot of time talking about how hard working and coachable Trai is. He said Trai is “meticulous and detail oriented”. How many times have we heard Coach Mike Stoops talk about the need for his cornerbacks to be more attentive to the details in order to excel? Trai already has that kind of maturity.That cannot be underestimated as a quality that leads to success at the next level.

But what are Oklahoma’s chances? That remains to be seen but when we asked Coach Killian if Trai had any interest Oklahoma he responded by asking “How could you not?” Coach Killian emphasized how much his teammate Samaje loves Oklahoma and said that having Samaje’s commitment to Oklahoma and the distance could definitely play a factor and help Oklahoma’s.

The bottom line for me is Trai “can flat out play!” Sooner fans would be lucky to get this commit because Nebraska found themselves an excellent ball player and a great young man in Trai Mosley