The Football Brainiacs

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Neville Gallimore: As most of you know by now, 2015 DL Neville Gallimore has been recruited by just about every major program in the country. In fact, he took official visits to three of the four teams that made the playoffs this year in Ohio State, Florida State & Oregon.

We’ve been saying for a while now that our sources close to Gallimore have given us every reason to believe Oklahoma was a major contender right along with Ohio State. Jerry Montgomery has been Gallimore’s primary recruiter and already beat out a number of big time programs when he landed highly touted national recruit, LB Ricky DeBerry.

After talking to a couple sources, we are ready to make the call. Jerry Montgomery will do it again tomorrow. Be sure to tune in for Neville’s announcement during the U.S. Army All-America Game (at noon, on NBC), because we think you’re going to like what you hear!

Justin Reid: Lately we have been receiving questions about where things stand with stud 2015 safety, Justin Reid. We have talked with Reid on a number of occasions and also recently spoken to someone close to him. And it is sounding more and more like despite having an LSU offer, Reid likely won’t end up in Baton Rouge.

He is, as everyone knows, a very intelligent young man and we get the sense that the late offer from LSU doesn’t give him the same level of confidence in where he stands in the eyes of the coaches there (never mind the recent hiring away of their DC, John Chavis). Alternatively, Oklahoma has been aggressively recruiting Reid for a while now and has made him a very clear priority.  In fact, we are being told that it’s likely going to come down to OU and Stanford.

– UPDATE (Fri., 10:21 am): Oklahoma defensive end Charles Tapper has put an end to whatever speculation there may have been about him possibly leaving early. He announced late Friday morning he will be returning for his senior season.

Thanks you Sooner nation for these great years! I'm sorry this one did not end like we wanted.Some people have been wondering if I will stay

— Charles Tapper (@Takeflightchuck) January 2, 2015

Or go. But after a hard thought out decision I will be back in Norman, Oklahoma for my senior year to win a national championship!

— Charles Tapper (@Takeflightchuck) January 2, 2015

– UPDATED (Fri., 11:40 am): With some of the recruiting analysts from other sites predicting Anthony Wheeler will commit to Texas later today, we’ve received multiple requests to follow up on this. We’ve just spoken to one of our recruiting partners in Dallas, who has spoken to someone at Skyline, and this what he has told us:

“Wheeler’s parents want him at Texas, but his (Wheeler’s) relationship with Frank Shannon is the only thing holding it back. However, Wheeler and Shannon had a long talk last night. Either way it looks like this is closer than most thought between OU and Texas.”

When we spoke to Wheeler last week, we got the sense that OU was going to win this one. But it can’t be overlooked that he’s always been interested in Texas, as we’ve also stated on the site numerous time. He’s spent the entire week in Florida with guys like Malik Jefferson, and there is obviously a lot of smoke around Tim Kish’s job security right now. So it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to put together the puzzle pieces here if this Texas talk has some legs.

As noted above, we are now being told that his parents want him at Texas. So perhaps it’s not a total surprise that things now seem to be trending in that direction late in this process. Also keep in mind that, as we reported recently, Wheeler had told us only two or three weeks ago that OU and Texas were even (see link for that report here).

We’re going to continue checking on this, but that is what we have for now.

– UPDATE (Fri., 11:52 am): Just chatted with 2015 Lawton DB Darreyl Patterson. As you’ll recall, we reported recently he had received a qualifying ACT score. Our long time readers will also remember that we mentioned back in the spring we’d been told Bob Stoops really likes him. Well, Darreyl Patterson has finally received his OU offer!

And this is interesting, the offer did not come from either of the DB coaches. The offer was made to Darreyl by Bob Stoops himself. Not sure if that’s just more smoke regarding possible coaching changes or if Stoops just wanted Patterson to know how important he is to the program, but either way found it interesting.

– UPDATE (Fri., 12:05 pm): Most you will recall us mentioned Kimball HS (Dallas) DB, Antoine Stephens a while back. Stephens is a 2015 CB who is late on the recruiting scene because he only started playing cornerback this year. But as a 6’2 fast and physical corner he recently started picking up interest from a number of schools. In fact coach Mike Stoops had stopped by to see him back in the fall. Stephens picked up his first offer recently from SMU and the Texas coaches recently came by to see him.

We’ve been told that coach Boulware and coach Bobby Jack Wright reached out to Antoine this morning and asked him to come up to Norman for an official visit. They also let him know that they will be making a decision shortly regarding whether an offer will be extended.

We’re not sure yet what this means because we do know that OU is currently in good shape with Patterson and Kareem Orr. OU is also in good shape with Nate Dalton but we are told he will likely be moved to safety. But there seems to be a lot of movement right now on the DB front.

– UPDATE (Fri., 1:30 pm): Continuing to work this Wheeler/Texas talk and in doing so, we’ve heard back from another source. And, unfortunately, it’s not news you’re going to want to hear. Based on what we continue to be told, this one doesn’t appear as though it’s going to go OU’s way later today when Wheeler officially makes his announcement.

– UPDATE (Fri., 3:30 pm): With the news (we are hearing from a source out of the Under Armor All American game and our source in Dallas) about Wheeler now looking more and more like he’s heading to Texas, we figured it would be a good time to let you know that OU has been in touch with Louisiana LB, Dwaine Thomas. In fact, we’ve been told that Thomas has been in contact with OU head coach, Bob Stoops. An offer hasn’t happened just yet, but the head coach doesn’t typically talk to recruits that aren’t under serious consideration for one.

– UPDATE (Fri., 5:05 pm): Anthony Wheeler has committed to Texas.

– UPDATE (Fri., 5:11 pm): Sterling Shepard has also now formally announced he will be returning for his senior season.

I have decided to return for my senior year. Not only am I committed to the program I want that degree! The best is yet to come! #Boomer

— Sterling Shepard (@sterl_shep3) January 2, 2015

– UPDATE (Sat., 10:52 am): OU fans could be getting their good news early today, as Neville Gallimore is scheduled to announce his commitment during the first quarter of today’s US Army All-America Game.

– UPDATE (Sat., 11:23 am): I (Jordan) could be wrong, but I believe there’s a pretty good chance we’re not going to see Gallimore or Ricky DeBerry play in this game today. Both are dealing with injuries and I don’t believe either have taken part in practices this week.

– UPDATE (Sat., 12:33 pm): Neville Gallimore has committed to the University of Oklahoma.