Open Post | Weekend, June 5th – 7th
Posted on: June 5, 2020
Quick Hitters | Rawlins-Kibonge & McMillon | Timelines
– Charlie S
Couple notes on some targets timelines for making a decision I came across…
*** Last week, 2021 DE offer Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge (6’7″ 240) out of Portland, Oregon, took his virtual visit with the Sooners. I mentioned that he gave the visit good reviews previously but I was not able to get a timeline for his commitment to his choice of schools at that time.
He got back to me over the weekend and let me know that he plans on making his announcement in December…so there is a long way to go in this one.
*** Also followed up with 2021 DB Donovan McMillon (6’2″ 193) out of Canonsburg, PA. in regards to when he plans on making his announcement following the reveal of his Top 5
McMillon does not have a set timeline and it’s going to be a ‘When you know, you’ll know’ deal for him.
Christian Leary | Trending
– Super K
As you know, the #Serious3 referred to Mario Williams, Caleb Williams and 2021 FL WR, Christian Leary.
Mario is in the boat.
Caleb Williams isn’t a mystery.
So, what about Leary?
For a bit there it looked like Oklahoma had really taken a strong lead (and they had). But Leary recently announced that he would be holding off on his June commitment.
Even as Oklahoma had the lead, a Florida source had said, “OU for Leary right now but Florida is on him. Even if he commits (to OU), Florida won’t let up. He’s the number one slot on Florida’s board. They may have just started their push too late”.
It appears our source was correct, it sounds like the hold has come because Florida (and Bama) simply won’t let up. Additionally, Leary, I’m told, has some family matters that may make it preferable to him and his family that he stay in state.
I’m told Bama has told Leary he will come in and immediately replace Jalen Waddle. And Florida is obviously close to him.
I’m not saying OU is out of this one. But I think this one is no longer clearly trending to the Sooners. Three-way race right now between the Sooners, Bama and Florida and as the source said above, Florida is going to fight tooth and nail for this one. They already lost Mario and that had to burn.
Savion Byrd | Trending
– Super K
I mentioned that the commitment of 2021 OT Deuce Fatheree shouldn’t get Sooner fans down, as there is something else on the horizon…
Specifically, I wrote (here):
I will say that this may seem like bad news to OU but there for the Sooners, there is more to the story and the “more” is good news.
That good news is the recent surge OU has made with elite OT, Savion Byrd (for those of you who are star/rankings watchers, he’s ranked 12 spots higher than Fatheree).
Byrd had begun to trend hard towards the Sooners about a week and a half ago. Then the family did their virtual visit with OU late last week.
That gave Oklahoma even more of a push.
The schools in the mix have been Texas, LSU, OU, and SMU (his ties to staff members at SMU are very strong and they have been a real threat). OU had already overtaken Texas. They still needed to take down LSU and SMU.
They have, I’m told, overtaken LSU. And I also believe they have emerged as the favorite.
Sourced | Competition for Donovan McMillon
– Super K
As you know, Sooners 2021 DB target, Donovan McMillon (Canonsburg, PA) released his list of top schools which included: OU, Florida, Oregon, TAMU, and Virginia Tech.
I am told that Grinch has made McMillon a high priority. A source said he’s this year’s Bryson Washington for Grinch.
Sooners are apparently somewhere near the top of the list, but I am told that the staff feels the biggest threat to them landing McMillon is Florida.
Quick Updates | Smael Mondon & Jeremiah Williams
– Super K
***As you know, 2021 5-star LB, Smael Mondon did a virtual tour with the Sooners, last week.
I spoke with Mondon over the phone and wanted to highlight a couple of things.
1) Interestingly, he told me that he actually wanted to be recruited by Oklahoma before they were recruiting him. In other words, while it didn’t grow up a fan of Oklahoma, OU’s brand is beginning to get back to that point where national recruits not only follow OU but covet being pursued by the Sooners.
2) While most feel Mondon will end up at Georgia (and I’m not saying he will or won’t), he was pretty transparent to me in saying that he literally has not yet made a decision. He also noted that he is not originally from the state of Georgia. Clearly UGA has a ton of advantages in this one and with pressure from coaches he could commit there, but as of my conversation with him, I got the sense that he genuinely had yet to decide.
***Sooners also recently hosted 2021 4-star DE, Jeremiah Williams (Birmingham, AL).
I haven’t yet spoken to Williams in detail but exchanged a few initial texts and it was pretty clear that of all the virtual visits he’s done, OU’s was, in his opinion, the best (not surprised).
Cullen Montgomery | All About the Crimson and Cream
– Charlie S
It feels like 2021 offensive lineman Cullen Montgomery (6’5″ 315, Bellaire, TX) has been committed to Oklahoma for years now doesn’t it sometimes?
The reality of the matter is that Montgomery has been a commit since late January of 2020. Not sure if the reason it feels so much longer is based on the events in our country over the past four months or because since the time he was offered, back in January of 2019, he was always thought to be a huge Oklahoma lean.
Either way, Bill Bedenbaugh identified Montgomery early on and made him a priority which resulted in the Sooners getting a huge piece of their offensive line class in the fold. Montgomery may not have the stars from the ranking services that some people crave…but he has the offer list and the physical attributes that should tell you that he has a tremendous upside. I’ll be the first to say that physically he reminds me of a mix between former Sooners offensive lineman Cody Ford and current Sooners offensive lineman Marquis Hayes. But that’s another story for another day.
Montgomery is a very vocal recruiter, both on social media and behind the scenes.
He’s always tweeting out pro-Oklahoma messages and encouraging other recruits to join him. He obviously is not shy.
Montgomery puts in a lot of work in the public eye in an effort to build his class and he also puts in a lot of work behind the scenes.
I caught up with him and while he let me know he is recruiting fellow linemen (Bryce Foster, Savion Byrd, and Tristan Leigh) he is not solely focused on his position group. Montgomery mentioned a few defenders he is actively recruiting to join him in Norman as well.
I’m not going to get into the names of the other guys he is targeting right now (will bring them up at the proper time) because that is really not the topic at hand as I just wanted to give you all a reminder of how important peer to peer recruiting can be and how that exercise helps lock commits deeper into a program as they are investing a huge part of themselves into building their future.
On that topic, when I asked Cullen why he felt it was important for him to put so much of himself into recruiting, he said: “It is important to me because I need those dawgs to play with me so we can get over the hump of the college football playoffs and win a national championship!” He added, “I am putting 100% of my efforts into my workouts as well as my recruiting.”
Cullen Montgomery is all in with the Sooners and I believe that is a good thing for Oklahoma and it will show big dividends both on and off the field over time.
