2014 US Army All-American Bowl | Recruit Watch (UPDATE 2:45 pm – Mixon Commits to OU)
Posted on: January 4, 2014
The 2014 US Army All-American Bowl airs live on NBC today at 12:00 pm CST. We will try to post updates in this thread as we watch the game. We will keep our eye on some of OU’s recruiting targets who will be announcing their decisions during the game. OU recruits playing in today’s game include:
Dwight Williams (LB) – Dwight will be announcing his decision during the game and most feel Oklahoma leads here.
Joe Mixon (RB) – Joe will be announcing his decision during the game. According to Joe he will choose between Oklahoma, UCLA and Wisconsin.
Natrell Curtis (OL) – The last time I spoke to Natrell he told me he had not decided whether he’d announce at the game or not. Either way Oklahoma appears to be the clear leader with Natrell.
Mark Andrews (WR) – Mark is an Oklahoma commit.
Jordan Sims (OL) – Jordan is a monster OL. Like Oklahoma commit, Dwayne Orso, Jordan hails from Homewood, Alabama. Dwayne and Jordan are friends and there is still a possibility that Sims will take an official visit to Oklahoma. As far as we know Jordan will not be announcing today but he is being recruited by Oklahoma.
Nathan Starks (RB) – As far as we know Nathan will not be announcing today.
KD Cannon (WR) – KD is a Baylor commit but Oklahoma was the first school to offer him and was listed in his final 3 before he chose Baylor. Oklahoma coaches have a good relationship with KD. He hasn’t given any indication that a flip is possible or that Oklahoma is even still pursuing him, but with the big Sugar Bowl win you’ve got to wonder if coach Norvell isn’t back in the lab concocting some master plan to make one last pitch to Cannon.
Here is the player roster for the game: http://www.usarmyallamericanbowl.com/players/player-roster
UPDATE (9:34 am): I forgot to mention that Midwest City stud safety and OU 2015 offer, Will Sunderland is attending the U.S. Army All-American combine this week. I don’t believe 2015 kids can play so the impression I got from him is he is there for the clinic. On a related note, I talk to Will pretty regularly and though it’s still early I think OU is sitting in a good spot with him right now.
UPDATE: (2:16 pm): Sorry this took so long to update. Been wrapped up today. As most of you saw LB Dwight Williams is staying in California and will be attending UCLA.
UPDATE: (2:45 pm): Joe Mixon commits to the University of Oklahoma!
118 Comments
Now ESPN has jumped on that rumor of Stoops to Cleveland, which for some reason Stoops hasn’t really dispelled. Any word on what’s really going on here, and if it will affect some of these commitments?
We know enough people within the program that if he was going somewhere I feel like we would have heard. But I’ve pretty much vowed to stay out of the coaching speculation world. I tried it once and it didn’t work out too well lol
LOL!
LOL x 2!!
He never dispels. Always annoyingly ambiguous when it comes to these things.
NFL network said Stoops will be interviewing for a NFL job for the first time next week. That the Browns are down to him and McDaniel.
Would make no sense. Stoops is being typical Stoops, being very vague. REALLY sounds like he wants a pay raise, not the Cleveland job.
I hope you all are right. They specifically said that this is the first time Stoops has reciprocated NFL interest and will be interviewing for the first time with a NFL team this week.
Stoops was rejuvinated this year, I’d hate to lose him.
How can it be down to “Stoops and McD” if he hasn’t interviewed yet? I don’t believe 1 iota of this garbage.
Looks like the NFL network was wrong:
http://m.espn.go.com/nfl/story?storyId=10250648
Browns won’t interview Bob Stoops
Pat McManamon [ARCHIVE]
ESPN.com | January 6, 2014
Bob Stoops is not a candidate to coach the Cleveland Browns.
A league source close to the Browns confirmed that Stoops has never been on Cleveland’s radar and that the team will not interview the longtime Oklahoma coach.
The Browns have interviewed three NFL assistants and have asked permission to interview one college coach as they search for a replacement for Rob Chudzinski.
Bob set himself up pretty well at OU. Not sure he wants to go to Cleveland for a year or two (see Schiano) and then look around for another gig. Not saying he wouldn’t have success, but Pro ball is such a crap shoot for the lower teir teams. I also think he likes where his team is headed right now.
Doubt he goes. Stated yesterday that it’s not something he’s looking at..take it FWIW http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/1/3/5270226/bob-stoops-nfl-cleveland-browns-coaching-search
I actually like his responses better than the Sabans, Carrolls and Kellys “I will never leave place “x” right before jumping ship…even though the timing of this discussion is crappy.
Stoops never comments on these kind of rumors.
https://twitter.com/Joe_MainMixon/status/419332594077929472
shaking. my. head.
Just looked at his twitter account for the 1st time. Looks like he has a freakin’ pep rally every other day. “Where my OU fans at????”
OU is def making a push for Deondre. From everyone I’ve talked to the impression I get is his mama would prefer OU but he likes LSU. but even he is at least more open to OU than he once was.
How could Mixon not commit to OU? There is VERY little depth. There are no returning starters. How many power teams can give him that opportunity?
Would be nice to pull a rabbit out of the hat and get a couple commits today. I have learned never to expect anything though, that way there is no disappointment. We’ll see what happens.
I personally will only be disappointed if we don’t land Williams and I’m quite certain we will.
I am cautiously optimistic.
Hope your disappointment is offset with surprise announcement(s) later.
Other than Parker, are we recruiting anyone else who will play safety? Imo we need to upgrade there with a little more speed. Idk if you guys have started doing your breakdowns yet, but Hayes got away with grabbing a lot of jerseys when his man was blowing past him.
Been told they want 2 corners and Parker. In our scheme SS and FS are very similar. Have to be able to play deep, cover and play in the box. And yes Hayes had a rough night.
And Im not trying to dog him. Just seems its been forever since we had some legit vertical speed at the safety spots. I think that is our achilles heel. Our safeties dont have the speed to close the gap if they are beat even a tad.
What are we going to do with Byrd, Thomas and Mquinnie? They seem to be in the box safeties with limited flexibility to cover with regularity.
Byrd can play center field and is flexible but ill check with our guy who saw him in the summer. I always assumed mcquinnie would grow into an LB. again you can’t play safety for mike if you can’t play man
I’ve seen some speculate McQuinnie could potentially play safety and several services consider Green to project at safety.
And of course Byrd & Thomas could possibly be just redshirt freshman next year.
Yeah I was hoping to see one of them spell Hayes for a few in the Sugar Bowl.
I remember ahmad thomas coming in on few plays! esp run plays, need to check the game again to confirm though!
My hope is that both qualify for a redshirt under the % time played qualifier
Would still have to have an “injury” in order for the redshirt to happen.
Ahmad Thomas is on the kickoff and kick return teams, so he’s played in every game. No chance there.
Oh ok awesome. I dont remember that, but I did have a pint of Jack and 6beers in me.
https://twitter.com/Joe_MainMixon/status/419510748935512064
You mean we gotta wait that long? Dang. 🙁
Seems to be a bit of a hot dog rather than a team player. Hope I’m wrong, particularly if he comes here.
So, if Mixon goes to UCLA or Wisconsin, do we get Starks?
Not based on that Josh McCuistion was reporting yesterday. Behind a paywall though so I have to respect that.
Let’s just get Michael Warren then.
Amen to that.
I’m with you on Warren.
Agreed. And thanks to the Brainiacs for the heads up and evaluation of Warren.
Not going to sweat too much about commits right now. Would rather see our coaches make stars out of players than see kids who already have stars turn out to be a bust…..It happens!
indeed!
Who would have thought I’d be more excited watching a High School game over an actual bowl game…….
Didn’t get Dwight.
Looks like UCLA
Really wanted this kid. Congrats to him and UCLA.
Had we known he wanted to be a lawyer, the subterfuge would have been easier to predict.
My bet is Mixon to ucla. With him knowing all along. Just drawing it out for attention.
Yeah, the way it’s all drawn out that wouldn’t surprise me. Wouldn’t overly disappoint me, however. He’d be nice and I think Gundy could do some things with him. But I am believing that Gundy can do work with any talented kid who is willing to work.
Yup, the Dwight commit makes it seem more likely, too.
I have to agree. Seems like he liked the attention and kept OU around knowing we have a big fan base.
That is my first post that isn’t positive on this site. I agree with you on the fan base.
I have never been more glad to be wrong in my life
Nice to see Mixon wearing AD’s #28 in the game instead of his #20 from HS.
These commentators are desperate to talk up the SEC.
And Kyle Allen, my word.
He looks like a prima. He’ll have fun battling against his own defense at a$m
Glad I’m not the only one who got red flags during his interview.
If he’s a prima, he should fit right in down there…
Something about Kyle Allen’s personality I don’t like; can’t figure out what, though.
I would have thought, given that they’re teammates, that Allen would throw more to Andrews in this game.
Yeah, I haven’t even heard his name.
Mark fielded an onside kick as well as had a catch early in the game. Dude is a mismatch if he is played right
Yeah, I saw the onside kick. Really excited for him to be a Sooner.
Sorry for the late update guys. Dwight surprises a lot of folks and stays at UCLA.
Is Jackson going to follow Williams to UCLA
Joe mixon had added a Cal hat on the table… #smh
Are you surprised. The game announcer just said OU, Wisconsin and UCLA. No mention of Cal. If we get him great, if not, let’s go get Michael Warren from Lawton.
Tony Jefferson just said he’s 70% sure Mixon picks UCLA over OU due to his mom wanting him to stay home.
Yup. And Cal will be even closer to home.
Glad he was wrong!
If we get Williams or Mixon great if not we’ll be fine,
WOW!!
WOAH!
Yeah, buddy!
Mixon said OU winning the Sugar Bowl sealed the deal. BOOMER SOONER!!
SHABOOM !!
Yessir!!!! Come on MIXON
The ultimate misdirection, misdirection!
Heh heh, that play by the East. Nice.
Joe Mixon’s a Sooner! Right on!
Natrell Curtis might as well commit now too. He’s been pretty buddy buddy with Mixon this week.
Was wondering what he thought about the Sugar Bowl, was weirdly quiet on twitter after it.
wow..totally didn’t think we’d get Mixon. This is great news.
Sure thought we had a better shot at Williams than Mixon.
Yeah same here, I thought Mixon was just being nice by including us in his top three.
Natrell called it! Mixon’s a Sooner! wow.
OU commit Joe Mixon MVP for the AAA Bowl. Last person we had that did this? AD. Saved the best for last
UCLA saying they’re not giving up, said they think the shine from our win will wear off in the coming weeks.
That’s a possibility. Hope it doesn’t happen. I’d like to think we have a brighter future compared to UCLA but who knows how these kids think.
Agree. A couple weeks can’t/won’t erase this teams potential in the coming years.
I’m glad they’re repeating that Kyle Allen is the number one QB recruit in the nation, because I keep forgetting…
Man Shelby, you don’t like the Allen kid very much. LOL
Something about his personality, man, I don’t know! I consider myself a good judge of character, so I’m sticking by my dislike. Character in football players is important to me. For example, I’ll take a Trevor Knight over a Manziel any day. But maybe I’m judging the kid too quickly, I don’t know.
Shelby, that may be the single best comment I’ve seen on any article here. Don’t change a thing. You’re right on point brotha.
Sista*
And thanks, I try to be honest. Lol
oopsie!! Sorry!! So noted:-)
Personally, I’m quite content with Hansen. From what I’ve seen he looks at least as good as Allen.
May I say Super K u guys did a great job following Mixons recruitment even though maybe u guys didn’t think he might not come… I know u guys are just as excited as the rest of Sooner Nation
So pumped about Mixon. Myles Jack…not so much:
https://twitter.com/ClickClack_Jack/status/419570853500579841
Jonathan Thomas tweeted, “Not going to wait around.”
Mean anything?
Saw a tweet from Mixon that said “whole package of us gonna commit to the same school!”
*crosses fingers*
Probably pertaining to an offer from the good guys…
O.T. Stoops to the NFL talk starting to really take off…..
Hoping Mixon’s commitment gives us our answer on Stoops. Don’t see why Mixon wouldn’t call Stoops this morning to ask about the rumors before making his decision.
Happens every time he wins a big game, seen it for years.
Give it a break already. I need a person like you, like I need an OSU tattoo on my butt!!! Stoops would never leave to work for an idiot like Joe Banner at Cleveland.
Gotta give Coach Gundy props. Great job OU Coaching Staff!!!!!!!
I live in NM, so I can’t say I’ve seen any of the OK kids play. ESPN has the Ivy kid out of Muskogee ranked as a 4* and he has very few offers and isn’t committed. Why haven’t we gone after this kid?
Grades. He will not qualify.
Damn these kids! Stomp out all the video games!
Sad
⚡PRIMETIME!!!⚡ @Joe_MainMixon 2m
“Sooner Fans we gotta get my Man @IAmTheOne_9 and my Boy @NatrellCurtis
to where that sooner jersey next year show them love! #LetsGetIt”
Mr. Mixon is requesting our help. He wants us to show some love to KD Cannon and Natrell Curtis. Do yo thang Sooners!
Mixon and a few others a working Cannon and Adoree Jackson pretty hard. Mixon even took to twitter telling Sooner fans to hit Cannon up on twitter. For some of you into recruiting Coach Warren changed his prediction of Cannon to OU.
He (KD Cannon) has a 4.37 40 time. SPEEEEEEEEEEED!