Open Post | Tuesday, September 22nd
Posted on: September 22, 2020
Sooners Sunday Brunch | KSU COVID Issues & Big 12 Updated Rankings
– Charlie S
*** The Sooners had the week off and the hope is that they will get a ton of guys who missed game one against Missouri State due to COVID protocols back for their upcoming game against Kansas State.
As K noted this week, the only bit of COVID noise we picked up this week was one positive test from an OU player who played in the game against Missouri State. Player is not a big contributor at this point, so while his loss will not likely be felt on the field, you do have to be concerned about possible contact tracing via his positive test in regards to effecting other members of the team. We will be keeping an eye on that for sure.
*** Then you have the Kansas State Wildcats. KSU lost to Arkansas State to start their 2020 season and they too are feeling the effects of contact tracing and the virus.
Per The Wichita Eagle, Kansas State head coach Chris Kleinman said the Wildcats took the field against Arkansas State without 35-40 players last week. And around 12 of the active players that entered the game had been out for two weeks before getting the all-clear to return to practice about three days before the game.
Kleinman went on to say that he was hopeful that several of the players that missed the season-opener would be cleared to play against the Sooners.
But it sounds like at least some of those additions will be offset by losses from this week.
Obviously, this will also be something to keep an eye on as the week progresses and we get closer to the scheduled kickoff on Saturday.
***This week in the Big 12 there was only one game played. Oklahoma State squeaked out a win against Tulsa in what can best be described as a ‘sloppy’ game.
Baylor was forced to cancel their game against Houston due to COVID issues and TCU has yet to take the field.
Let’s take a look at my updated rankings for the conference now that the majority of the teams have played:
***1 Oklahoma (1-0) – Got to beat the king to be the king
***2 Texas (1-0) – Took care of business against UTEP, some other Big 12 teams cannot say the same.
***3 West Virginia (1-0) – Pleasant surprise from Neal Brown and his guys as they too took care of business last week against Eastern Kentucky.
***4 TCU (0-0) – Got some good news on the QB front and their D could be salty. Moved them ahead of OkState because…
***5 OkState (1-0) – They had a terrible showing against a sloppy Tulsa team (15 penalties for 120 yards) who refused to win. OkState OL is awful and their QB1 is injured.
***6 Baylor (0-0) – Here because they didn’t lose…
***7 Texas Tech (1-0) – Here because they should have lost to Houston Baptist University in week one.
***8 Iowa State (0-1) – The slow start is nothing new for Iowa State as they seem to stumble out of the gate on a yearly basis. They can and likely will get better and move up.
***9 Kansas State (0-1) – You get no love when you lose to Arkansas State and the COVID issues mentioned above certainly do not help
***10 Kansas (0-1) – They scheduled a rematch with Coastal Carolina to avenge a previous out of conference loss to them…they got destroyed. You can’t poke the bear and then play dead Kansas. You have earned the bottom spot and will likely remain here throughout the year.
What are your thoughts on my rankings and what would you change?
Snippet From: Weekend Notebook | Hearing From Harmon
– James Hale
Two other players that would take advantage of that rule if OU can help push that through, would be four-star defensive tackle Kelvin Gilliam (6’4, 1/2, 265) and four-star cornerback Damond Harmon (6’1, 178), both of Highland Springs, Virginia.
Harmon committed first to the Sooners somewhat quietly on Twitter before Gilliam went on CBS.com and put on a show with his announcement. Harmon loves the fact he is a Sooner.
“It was a great decision for my family and me,” said Harmon on Total Sports at KREF Radio and sportstalk1400.com. “It was definitely the best decision for my family and me. It took a lot of hard thinking, but Coach Riley, Coach (Roy) Manning, and Coach (Alex) Grinch are just great guys that I could not pass up on.”
Harmon is another Sooner commit that will sign with OU without seeing the campus in person.
“No, I didn’t, but I did get to see the campus on their virtual visit,” said Harmon. “It was everything that I was looking for. It’s a great school with great academics. They have a three-year plan, and I will be done with school in three years. So, if I decide to stay for a fourth year, I will be strictly playing football. I won’t’ have to worry about anything but football.”
“That’s great because at that time, I will be getting ready for the league and getting ready for the combine. I can just focus on balling out. I will be done with school and get ready to live a great life after football.”
If you are wondering, yes, he will have to be enrolled in at least six hours of grad school if he has graduated and wants to play a fourth year. He may not understand this now, but he will soon find that out when he arrives at OU.
Harmon developed a great relationship with the Sooner coaching staff, which offset the fact that he didn’t get to visit the campus.
“I actually talked to those guys before school,” laughed Harman. “We had a great conversation as always. They are for real with me at all times, and they let me know what’s going on. They let me know what’s going on within the program, and I watch film with those guys all the time. Everything that is going on with Oklahoma is great.”
Harmon is following Coach Manning on twitter, so he sees his coach coaching up Sooner Nation.
“Coach Manning is definitely very energetic,” laughed Harmon. “He is kind of like me. He is a very loud outgoing guy. He gets everybody hyped just like me, and he likes to get everybody going. I love his energy, and I love everything about the guy. I think he’s a great coach, and he’s a great guy.”
Harmon is on twitter, but he doesn’t feel his tweets will be the same as Coach Manning’s when he gets to OU.
“Haaaa….I can’t really promise that,” laughed Harmon. “When we are winning, I will be posting a lot.”
Highland Springs is not playing this fall, but Harmon is getting his work in.
“That’s terrible because I wanted to ball out for my senior year,” said Harmon. “My junior year, I really balled out, but I got better during the offseason, and I wanted to really show it to my team, coaches, fans, and Oklahoma fans as well. I won’t have a chance to do that, so I guess s I will have to wait until my freshman year at OU.”
Harmon says he probably won’t play with this team in the spring, but if Gilliam does, he may consider it because he wants to show off all his hard work.
“I was able to get out because our fields were open” said Harmon about working out during COVID in the spring and summer. “Nothing was open, and there was nothing to do, so we just practiced. We had nothing but football to do.”
“We were running the neighborhoods and running hills in the neighborhoods, and we were working on getting better. We were working on speed and doing everything that we could to get better for the season. We were hoping that we were going to have a season, but it got canceled out. We were just working nonstop and really wanted to play. Now, we will just keep working for the day we can play again, and again that will probably be at OU my freshman year.”
OU doesn’t care if he plays his senior year or not because they are prepping him to come to Norman.
“Right now, they are just talking to me on how I can get into OU,” said Harmon. “They are talking to me about playing safety or corner for them. That’s what they say they like about me in that I can be thrown in anywhere in the secondary. They tell me I’m a great fit for them because I can play anywhere, and I’m a fast learner.”
“Anywhere they need me to play, I will be ready for it. I can tackle like a great DB should. I’m just ready to get checked in so we can get to playing.”
Harmon has a great frame so that he will be able to put on weight on when he gets to OU.
“My high school coaches told me that I had to learn how to use my body,” said Harmon. “A lot of people wish they had this frame that I have. A lot of people wish they had the speed that I have. I want to use my speed, my physicality, my height, and my length when I play the game of football.”
“Here at Highland Springs I play both corner and safety, and they expect me to play petty much all over the field. I went to school with a guy named Malcolm Green who signed with Clemson, and the two of us played all over our secondary and in the backend last year. There would be a lot of plays in crucial points of the game, and he would put a lot on us and expect us to make plays, and we did.”
“Our coach taught us how to watch film, and now that we have learned how to do that the game is becoming so much easier. When you are watching film and studying the game, you can play any position on the field. We have a great coaching staff here at Highland Springs, and our coaches are teaching us how to improve on and off the field. So, I can play nickel, corner, free safety, and strong safety. I have been able to play a lot at Highland Springs, and have been able to improve my game here.”
Harmon was impressed with his future team and the Sooners ‘Speed D’ in their 48-0 win over Missouri State.
“The defense was amazing,” said Harmon. “You know Oklahoma always has a potent offense and a great offense, but it was the defense that I was looking at. It was great, and they got that shutout. They played fast like always, and the DB’s did their thing. The linebackers came up and tackled and played boom. They created sacks, and everything that they did was great.”
Harmon says he goes back and forth about playing this spring, but he will continue to work on his game if he decides not to play.
“I am going to get bigger, stronger, and faster,” said Harmon. ‘I just want to be ready when I walk through the door in Norman.”
It’s not lost on Harmon that cornerbacks and defensive backs are making big money in the NFL, and are becoming stars in the college game. Harmon is a student of the game, and he has his favorite players in both the college and the pro game.
“I would say I watch Jalen Ramsey (LA Rams) a lot,” said Harmon. “I just feel like I play like he plays. A lot of people in the DMV area or Virginia area they see it a lot. I think it’s also a comparison because of the way I talk. He talks trash, and I talk trash on the field. I like to back it up.”
“Jalen Ramsey and then Stephon Gillmore is a student of the game. He doesn’t talk much, but he’s great when you do research on him or go to YouTube stuff. Just breaking down his film and watching his technique is why I like to watch him.”
“In college, I would have to say, Jeffrey Okuda, who I watched a lot when he was at Ohio State. I also like Derek Stingley Jr. a lot (LSU).”
Corners have to be cocky. They are always on an island, and the good ones are always challenging the receivers, and many times they are talking trash all game long.
“When you come out saying you are the best, you have to back it up,” said Harmon. “Quarterbacks want to throw at you because we are attacking him. I’m telling the quarterback that I”m going to be here all day. You are telling him that he’s not going to throw it over here. If he does throw it over here, then that is my time to make the play.”
“I want the quarterback to throw at me because that’s how I have to make plays so me and my team can succeed. I want the quarterback to be throwing at me the whole time during the game. I have that respect that they don’t throw at me, but I really want them to throw at me because I have to make plays to keep the ballgame live.”
We now know he talks trash, and he admits he is an aggressive player as well.
“I’m very aggressive and very physical,” said Harmon. “I like to get into people’s head. Overall, I would call my playstyle aggressive. I don’t look to bat balls down, I look to intercept them. I look to score when I get the ball in my hands. I like to catch the ball, and then I like to get to the house.”
“You can expect me to be a great ball player, and a student of the game. I will try to lay a hit down on them. I’m very aggressive on the field. The fans can expect that when I get to OU.”
OU five-star quarterback Caleb Williams (6’1, 210) of Gonzaga High School in Washington DC is the 2021 class ringleader, and he and Harmon have been in touch.
“Oh definitely, we have talked,” said Harmon. “We are in a group chat together and we talk all the time. We talk almost every day. We are definitely recruiting right now. We are trying to get Jalil Farooq on board with us. Hopefully, he will make the right decision. Tristan Leigh, we want him to. We want everybody, so hopefully, they will make the right decision. We are talking to them, and hopefully, they will come down to it.”
With no football this fall, Harmon will start to get ready to play college football at OU.
“I want to get bigger,” said Harmon. “I want to weigh 190 or 195 when I get to Norman. When I walk through the door, I will probably weigh 185 pounds. Right now, I am working with my trainer, and he’s working with me to put on weigh naturally. So, I think I will be 185 when I get there. I’m on a meal plan right now, and yeah I will weigh 185 when I get to Norman.”
Harmon joins an outstanding DB class that includes four-star cornerback Latrell McCutchin (6’1, 176) of Austin (LBJ), Texas, three-star Caleb Johnson (5’10, 170) of Greenville, Texas, and three-star safety Jordan Mukes (6’4, 192) of Choctaw, Oklahoma.
Kansas State COVID News at Beginning of Game Week & OU Testing
– Charlie S
As I mentioned yesterday, Kansas State was hit hard by the virus and contact tracing protocols last week as 30+ players missed their game.
The Sooners are scheduled to play KSU on Saturday at 11:00 am and right now, things appear as if the game will go on.
However, there are still multiple testing days to get through so all that could change in a minute.
The 2020 season is a wild ride and it looks like the early parts of each week will revolve around getting an assessment of where things stand in regards to being able to play the game and at the end of the week, there will be a lot of finger crossing.
*** As for OU…
NORMAN — Below is the latest COVID-19 data from tests performed on University of Oklahoma student-athletes and staff:
From Sept. 13-19, 2020
Total student-athlete tested: 583
Total staff tested: 177
Total positive test results: 8
Active cases among student-athletes: 20
Recoveries among student-athletes: 143
Active cases among staff: 3
Recoveries among staff: 7
The positivity rate for student-athlete tests over the past three weeks has gone from 9% to 4% to, this last week, 1%.
***Note: The numbers include ALL OU Athletes tested, not just football. Currently, we are only aware of one positive football test (of course we don’t pretend to know every single positive test) but the numbers above are not solely football numbers.
