The Football Brainiacs

Image of JK Dobbins via Austin American Statesman

– Tre Brown: One in-state prospect fans hoped would receive an offer this past weekend and did is Tulsa Union’s Tre Brown. The 2017 CB made it Norman with friend and Sooner commit, Levi Draper (who has become quite the recruiter for Oklahoma, by the way).

Brown spoke glowingly of the trip and while a commitment didn’t happen, it remains a possibility one could happen soon. Brown told TFB he will take a trip to Stillwater today to check out Oklahoma State, after which he will sit down and think through things. Brown is mature as it relates to the recruiting process, “I don’t want to have a recruitment process where I’m talking to a bunch of schools and considering a bunch of schools. I want it to be manageable so I’m just focusing on four or five schools.” But Brown admitted that between Draper and his friendship with a guy like Steven Parker, he has the most connections with OU.

Brown went on to say, “I talked to coach Cooks and he said that if this (OU) is where I want to be then to go ahead and come on in and help them build the class. That’s something they’re really emphasizing.”

This was something I touched on in a recent post saying in part:

Build a foundation. Typically recruiting kids in a certain area (Texas or Oklahoma for example) ensures they know each other, and a lot of the time they can be your best ally in recruiting one another. The see each other at camps, games, etc. and end up building a strong foundation with each other that is sometimes harder for them to walk away from, perhaps even proving to be more important than the relationship they have with a school and/or coach. Additionally, they can band together and collectively recruit other guys.

That doesn’t mean OU should back off recruiting nationally — as far as I’m concerned they got a STEAL out of D.C. in Parnell Motley — but they need to continue to work to make sure there is a foundation of committed recruits who help the coaches recruit other kids. In this 2017 class, OU already has a couple guys like that in Levi Draper and Robert Barnes.

The Sooners are certainly working towards building a core group of guys in this region that may end up being their best recruiting asset. And I personally think it’s a very intelligent approach. – (Super K)

– Edward Ingram: 2017 OG Edward Ingram (Desoto, TX) was another one of several prospect to make the trip to Norman this past weekend. And while we haven’t had a chance to catch up with Ingram just yet, I did speak with someone close to Ingram who indicated the trip went really well for both Ingram and his teammate, 2017 wide receiver Laviska Shenault (we still believe an offer could be coming for Shenault).

I just wanted to note that Ingram is expected to take a trip to Alabama in a couple weeks. It also won’t surprise me if he visits Texas, as they offered Ingram on Sunday.

Ingram is a man child…built like a 3-tech and can absolutely run. Kudos to Bill Bedenbaugh for getting in on him early. – (Super K)

– Isaiah Thomas: 2017 OLB/DE Isaiah Thomas (Tulsa, OK) was another in-state guy who picked up an Oklahoma offer this past weekend. I spoke with Thomas last night and for him this was apparently his first visit to any school. As many of you know, Bob Stoops was not in town over the weekend so Thomas spent most of his time with Mike Stoops, who made the actual offer to Thomas.

Thomas said he really liked his time with the Oklahoma defensive coordinator. “He’s a cool guy. I could see myself playing for him. He wants me to play that Jack position.”

While the trip went well, it doesn’t sound like Thomas is in any hurry to make a decision. Thomas said he will visit Oklahoma State later this spring and then arrange some additional visits.  – (Super K)

– JK Dobbins: Sooners are likely looking to fill two spots at the running back position in their 2017 class, and the name at the top of the OU coaches wish list right now is La Grange’s (TX) JK Dobbins. I caught up with Dobbins last night and it sounded like his visit to Norman this past weekend couldn’t have gone any better. Long after most of the other prospects had left, Dobbins and his family were still on the OU campus with running backs coach Jay Boulware and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley.

Dobbins told me they stayed in Boulware’s office until around 9 pm going over everything. Dobbins added, “Tyrese Robinson and Levi Draper were getting at me to commit while I was there. I love those guys.” Although a commitment did not happen, Dobbins says his relationship with Boulware might be the best of all the coaches that are recruiting him. Dobbins said, “we DM on Twitter everyday and I call him once a week and he will call me once a week, so we talk everyday, pretty much.”

The staff is making Dobbins well aware, as are several of OU’s current commits, that he is the guy they want to join them in this 2017 class. Dobbins says he plans on taking more visits to other schools, but a return trip to Norman for the OU spring game is good possibility. All in all, the Sooners put on a good show for one of the top running backs in the country. – (Brandon)

– More on Dobbins: Just wanted to add a follow up note on Dobbins since I cover him on the Texas side of things. I talked to a source close to Dobbins and was told that while he may wind up taking some additional visits, this one is going to be an OU/Texas battle. – (Andrew King)

– Nick Robinson: Another OK Preps player in town this past weekend was 2017 Putnam City West DE/WR, Nick Robinson. I spoke to Robinson briefly about his recruitment in general following the visit. We didn’t really discuss the OU trip, one in which he came away without an offer from the Sooners, but I just wanted to note this is a guy I think OU should seriously consider offering.

Beyond all the great things we’ve heard about the young man (which is a huge part of any evaluation), Robinson is just a phenomenal and fluid athlete with great size and frame. For a big guy he runs as well as any of the other big athletes in the Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas area. – (Super K)