The Football Brainiacs

Image of Ryan Newsome via parkcitiespeople.com

It’s almost Friday!

– First off some exciting Oklahoma HS preps news, we got word that a Purdue coach came down to see Millwood DLineman, Joshua Little (who we recently featured). We had heard Purdue loved Little on film and now it sounds like an offer may be coming from them in the next few weeks. While the news isn’t OU related, Oklahoma HS kids getting exposure and opportunity to play at other big programs is always exciting for us. We’ll keep you updated.

– I talked to 2015 Arizona based RB/LB Dedrick Young, and it sounds like Coach Kish recently came by. He didn’t an extend an offer, but Young said that Kish indicated an offer could happen in the near future. He is being recruited by OU as an LB, not as a RB. Young seems fine with playing LB at the next level. Coach Kish seems to be a little more hesitant than other members of the staff when it comes to pulling the trigger on an offer, which in this case might be warranted. However, as a side note, I still think Armwood LB Jordan Griffin and Plant CB Derrick Baity, both guys Kish recently visited, should already have offers.

– Got a little information on Ryan Newsome through the grapevine. Heard from a very credible source that while Newsome is high on Texas, the Sooners are still very much in it. At a certain point, it sounded like Texas led but from what I hear now that isn’t the case. It appears he likes OU, Texas and a school or two in the Pac-12. Newsome has speed for days and is incredible shifty. I still believe OU should offer Proche, but Newsome is a nightmare slot WR as well.

– 2015 DLineman out of Monroe, Louisiana, Courtney Wallace, recently got a visit from Oklahoma coach, Jerry Montgomery. Coach Montgomery stopped by Neville HS to see Courtney and 2016 DL offer, Rashard Lawrence. OU has not yet offered Wallace, but he does hold a number of offers, including one from Texas Tech. In talking to Wallace, it’s clear if OU did make an offer they’d jump to the top of his list. OU might not be ready to offer Wallace, but he’s exactly why you have to recruit the state of Louisiana. Because the DL depth is so good in that state, you can find kids like Wallace that are talented but not necessarily going to receive an offer from LSU. Which isn’t to say he would be incapable of playing for the Tigers, but at the end of the day football eyes differ and there are only so many spots to fill.

– Last week Oklahoma offered 2016 DB, Kristian Fulton out of Metairie, Louisiana. Sorry we missed that. But again, we are seeing a concerted effort by the Oklahoma staff to recruit the state of Louisiana and I, for one, think it’s a great move and long overdue.

– Also, in case you missed it, Oklahoma offered 2016 WR Dionte Mullins. Mullins is actually the cousin of 2014 DB Cornelius Floyd who, like Mullins, plays for Gulliver Prep. Floyd ended up signing with Arkansas and in talking to Mullins, it sounds like he’d like an Arkansas offer as well.

– Another 2016 prospect you’re going to want to REALLY keep your eye on is Dlineman Garrett Rand out of Arizona. Rand already has offers from both Arizona and Arizona St. Apparently Coach Kish went by to see him recently. An offer has not been extended, but it sounds like Rand and Kish have been talking a lot lately. And Rand plans on visiting this summer in hopes of picking up an OU offer. The good news is Rand’s father is originally from Oklahoma and it sounds like the family are OU fans. Rand is very excited about the possibility of picking up an offer from the Sooners and in chatting with him, he feels like one of those players that OU could really land due his ties to the state.

– UPDATE (11:09 am): As most of you saw, coach Jerry Montgomery tweeted out that he is heading to Hawaii. All indications are that he is going to visit Fehoko. From what we gather Fehoko has cut his ties with all coaching staffs except for Oklahoma’s. As we’ve said many times, Fehoko’s relationship with coach Montgomery is very real!

– UPDATE (11:15 am): Just spoke to DL Neville Gallimore’s coach and apparently coach Montgomery stopped by to see Neville earlier this week (Tuesday). And the visit went great! If coach Montgomery can bring in Gallimore and somehow flip Fehoko, OU would be looking at an amazing odd front DE duo!

– BIG UPDATE (1:12 pm): PJ Mbanasor just let us know that he plans on making a return trip Oklahoma. But this time he will be bringing his parents. You’ll recall that he visited Norman for the jr. day in March without his parents. This would seem to be a positive sign.

– UPDATE (1:42 pm): Well we were just talking about how hesitant Oklahoma seems to be right now at pulling the trigger on LB offers and it might have just bitten us in the rear. Back in March we mentioned an LB that we really like named Riley Garner who had visited OU but OU did not offer (you can read about it here). He just let me know that he has now picked up a Texas A&M offer to add to his list of schools including Rice, Colorado, Utah, Fresno State, North Texas and Texas State. Really believe he would have been a nice ILB for us and a kid who’d bring the academic numbers up at OU…very intelligent kid.

– UPDATE (4:43 pm): Just chatted with a friend who coaches down at American Heritage and he said that coach Josh Heupel was down in Miami yesterday to visit Gibson.