The Football Brainiacs

The Sooners picked up their first verbal pledge as an official member of the SEC and it’s a banger of an addition!

Elite (no, I do not use that word often) wide receiver Cortez Mills (6’1 170) out of Homestead, Florida, has announced his pledge to Emmett Jones and the Oklahoma Sooners!

The Sooners, led by wide receiver coach Emmett Jones, seemingly came out of nowhere in a hurry in this recruitment and they not only won his pledge, but they did so by overcoming Clemson who had a substantial lead prior to his OU visit.

The pledge should not come as a surprise to our community as back on June 18th (HERE) I trended him to Oklahoma, but leading up to then, he was considered a heavy Clemson lean. Here is what I wrote on June 18th:

“Following his visit, sources have been very optimistic about where OU stands and one source I talked with believes the Sooners did enough to take over the top spot from Clemson. Same source noted that they were a bit concerned about the Miami visit coming up this weekend, but…Mills just announced he would not be taking that visit.

Typically, I wait for the post visit high to wear off before I trend a kid anywhere, but I have to say with the way things are playing out and with my sources confidence in where OU stands in relation to Clemson, I believe OU is out front.”

Mills’ addition to the class gives the Sooners five very good wide receiver commits in the ’25 as he joins Marcus Harris, Elijah Thomas, Emmanuel Choice and Gracen Harris and on paper, he may be the best of a very stout and diverse group.

The Sooners are getting a dynamic playmaker who has some of the best body control you will see paired with tremendous hands. He can beat you with speed and agility, but for my money, it is his hands that separate him. His athleticism gives him a huge catch radius and he catches everything thrown his way.

Mills holds three dozen or so offers which include all of the Florida schools, so that is one thing, but the real noteworthy thing in this one is that OU ‘out-Clemsoned’ Clemson. Mills was thought to be a Clemson lean for a long time throughout his recruitment and he talked about the atmosphere and family and faith feel that Clemson provided as one of the reasons they were out front. I mentioned prior to his visit that if there was one school who could potentially knock Clemson out of the top spot, it would be OU.

Emmett Jones was not to be denied however as he identified Mills’ talent and knew that OU had something for him in regard to what they could provide him that could be similar in style to the Clemson allure.

Jones kept working on building his relationship with Mills over the months since he was offered in January of ’24. His persistence paid off when Mills announced he would be taking a visit to Norman in mid-June and that was the opening Jones needed.

From the moment Mills stepped on campus in Norman, things started to turn in OU’s favor as he bonded with fellow WR Marcus Harris and a bunch of OU commits while also getting to experience the atmosphere and family vibe in Norman. It didn’t take long for the Sooners to rise to the front of the recruitment and while he took one more visit to LSU following his trip to Norman, this one was pretty well wrapped up in favor of the Sooners.

Huge pickup for OU on the field as he is one of the top receivers in the country this cycle, in my opinion.

Significant head to head win over Clemson and the Florida schools on a kid from Florida.

Once again, Emmett Jones is that guy.