The Football Brainiacs

Image of Kyzir White via twitter.com/KyzirWhite8

– Kyzir White: Last night Oklahoma made another offer to a JUCO prospect. This time it was to S/LB Kyzir White (Lackawanna C.C.). White hails from the same school as OU OL signee Ashton Julious and OU LB offer Kapri Doucet. There was some confusion about whether White was indeed offered. The answer, as I understand it, is he was indeed offered. Evidently the offer was made last night by LBs coach Tim Kish.

White is currently committed to West Virginia and is the brother of NFL WR and former Mountaineer, Kevin White. While it may seem like an impossible task to flip someone with close ties to West Virginia, White is taking a visit to USC so it does appear he’s at least somewhat open to considering other options. I asked White last night, after the OU offer came, whether he will visit Oklahoma, to which he said he has not yet decided but is ‘considering it.’

To me this offer very much feels like OU searching for a JUCO prospect to come in and compete for Dom Alexander’s now vacant spot. One thing is for sure, Oklahoma definitely asks their LBs to be in coverage situations, including man coverage, and White would have little problem doing that.

He can even be seen on film playing CB at times! But that doesn’t take anything away from his physicality, at least in terms of his willingness to hit. You don’t get to see him take on many blocks but this past year, for the most part, Oklahoma’s defensive line and their varied alignments kept Alexander cleaner than he had been the previous two seasons. So finding someone like White, who can get down hill in a hurry and strike someone violently but can also drop, cover, and close windows are likely the most coveted features OU seeks in a potential LB replacement. – (Super K)

– Amani Bledsoe: Per Randy Withers of Rivals.com, 2016 DE Amani Bledsoe (Lawrence, KS) is down to Oklahoma and Kansas. For anyone who thinks Kansas is being thrown out there by Bledsoe simply as a tip of the hat to his home city school…in the immortal words of DJ Khaled, “you played yourself.”

One of TFB’s partners spoke with Bledsoe’s mom recently and while she refused to talk at length about recruiting, she did say that Bledsoe does seem genuinely torn between OU and Kansas. She apparently added that even she wasn’t sure what he was going to do.

Kansas is struggling right now on the field (obviously) and I’m sure their coaches have been saying over and over, “we cannot let this kid leave the state.” It’s exactly the kind of moral victory Kansas could certainly use.

We are told through a source there are mixed feelings on the Kansas side of things. Some inside the program are feeling confident that they will land Bledsoe, however others are not quite as certain. We are also told that Bledsoe, as expected, has plenty of pressure to commit to the local school, but there are also a few people close to him that like Oklahoma.

This one is a coin flip in my mind. Stay tuned. – (Super K)