Open Post | Tuesday, September 14th
Posted on: September 14, 2021
Recruiting Notes | First Batch from Western Carolina
– Charlie S
We have been in touch with the majority of visitors and people around them from the Western Carolina game and we will bring you those updates throughout the week.
We will start with a trio of commits who were in town…
***Sooners ’22 tight end commit Jason Llewellyn and his family made their way to Norman for his official visit. Llewellyn has been a frequent visitor to Norman since he committed and I asked him if something stood out on this visit as compared to the other trips.
Llewellyn told me ‘Something new that stood out was the creative and recruiting teams. They are just insanely good at their jobs. They are always trying to do new things and explore new ideas”.
He added ‘Another thing that stood out, which is not new, is the fact that every time I have been to OU, it has just gotten better and I cannot get enough of it! I cannot wait to be on campus here soon!”
I asked him about how he and the rest of the commits approached having two high-profile guys in their class on visits who are not committed to OU (Dindy and Campbell). Jason told me ‘We let them and their families have some space and soak it up, but we also hammered them with all of us commits trying to recruit them”.
*An added note on Llewellyn…last week when CJ was out to see Aledo play, Llewellyn mentioned that he is still working on getting Texas commit Bryan Allen to visit Norman. The caveat is that Allen in turn tries to get him to visit Austin as you would expect. I am not sure if either of those visits take place as both players are pretty locked in with their current commitments, but it does go to show that Llewellyn is very engaged in building this class.
***’22 offensive line commit Pancake Hunter and his family made their way to Norman for his official visit as well.
Pancake has been to Norman a couple of times now and this was the family’s second trip up following the June BBQ. They love OU and Coach B and Pancake told me that this weekend was ‘amazing’ and he feels even more confident in his commitment to Oklahoma.
As for what stood out to him, Hunter said ‘I would definitely say the game experience was amazing”.
Pancake is not shy and he made a point of doing some work on the recruiting trail as well. In regards to Dindy and Campbell, Hunter told me ‘Of course I talked for a while to both those guys. Campbell was up at the BBQ so we already had some history’. He added that he feels good about where OU stands with both of them for what it is worth.
***In state ’22 offensive lineman Jacob Sexton also was in town for his official. Sexton has been to Norman many times over the years and is very familiar with most aspects of the program.
While there wasn’t much new for him to see on a game day, he said ‘Man, it is definitely home. That is the overwhelming feeling. Everyone and everything is just how it was before, if not better.”
When I asked about his recruiting efforts this weekend for the big targets, Jacob said ‘We had a great time together and I would enjoy playing with any of those guys!”
***So there is the first batch of notes from the weekend. As I mentioned, we will have more to follow. I can tell you that from the sound of it, things went very well with all the visits and I know K was in touch with the Dindy and Campbell camps last night and he will bring you notes on those visits down the line.
Injury Updates | Sourced
– Super K
***Hearing Billy Bowman is dealing with a hammy issue. Sounds like it’s week to week. You know how those hammy issues can be, if you try to go too soon it can linger.
***Getting the sense Stutsman will be out for a while. Not expecting him back anytime soon.
***Also, hearing that Woodi Washington has been dealing with lingering lower-body pull. Again, it’s one of those things that if you don’t rest it, it can continue to be a problem. Probably safe to say he’s week to week.
***The Sooners may have the luxury to take it easy with both Bowman and Woodi.
Gabriel Dindy | Timeline | Quick-Hitter
– Super K
Should have more on this later but wanted to pass along a fairly significant note regarding Gabriel Dindy’s recruitment.
We are hearing that they are eying a commitment date sometime in the middle of October. So, look for something around the second or third week of October.
Again, I’ll have more on the Dindy recruitment, shortly.
Position Group Progress Report | Game 2 : Western Carolina
– Charlie S
Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooners win against Western Carolina. Coming into the game, OU was the heavy favorite over the Catamounts and they showed why on the field as they won 76-0.
This is the second progress report of the season and I will include the previous game’s ratings for each unit.
Let’s see how things shook out against Western Carolina.
QB: 4* (last week 2*)
What wasn’t there to like?
Rattler went 20 for 26 for 243 yards and 5 touchdowns against no turnovers.
Caleb Williams played almost the entire second half and went 5 for 10 for 84 yards to go along with 4 rushes for 60 yards.
Freshman walk on Ralph Rucker went 2 for 2 for 20 yards.
No 5 star rankings against an FCS opponent unless you’re perfect. Just not gonna allow that.
Overall, Rattler looked ‘better’ than he did against Tulane obviously, but he still did not look quite as sharp in his reads and throws as he did towards the end of last season. Threw a couple of balls just a tick off time and made a few interesting choices on where he chose to go with the ball.
Overall though, he played well and Williams got some valuable experience. Good day
RB: High 4* (Last week 3*)
The Sooners, as a team, averaged 7.3 yards per carry on 38 carries against Western Carolina.
Eric Gray and Kennedy Brooks combined for only 15 of those carries.
Jaden Knowles and Todd Hudson accounted for 13 carries and displayed their ability to spell the 1A and 1B guys when the games are decided.
I really liked Gray’s bounce back week, not because of his production as much as the patience he displayed. He looked settled, which is a good sign going forward.
Kennedy Brooks looked like Kennedy Brooks as he averaged 8.0 yards per carry on his 6 carries.
Jeremiah Hall got a carry and he looked solid in his assignments as well. Again, another good day.
WR/TE: High 3* (Last week High 3*)
17 players caught passes including 13 wide recievers.
Only 2 passes went for more than 20 yards and neither was to a wide out (Willis had a 28 yarder and Knowles had a 57 yarder).
Mario Williams and Jadon Haselwood each had 4 receptions to lead the team.
As a group, they caught the ball well for the most part, but they weren’t incedibly dynamic by any means.
Some of that could be on the decision making at QB as a couple times you saw guys beat their man but not get the ball thrown their way, and some of it could have been the game plan.
Either way, the WT/TE had a solid, but largely unspectacular day. Just above average IMO.
OL: 4* (Last week High 2* and I should have given them a 3* at the very least, but I caved to peer pressure)
Across the board, they looked ‘good’.
Anton Harrison played both tackles spots and Chris Murray really caught my eye on the inside.
Was nice to see Hayes be a bit more impactful this week and TRob wasn’t really challenged in his half of play.
I still say Raym is the better option at center, but Congel gave a much better accounting of himself this week and that could have been because of the opponent or he just felt more comfortable.
Wanya Morris played well in his snaps aside from one holding call, but the big note is that he and Harrison were in the game with Raym at center at points in the second half.
A guy I liked what I saw out of? Brey Walker. He looked to be moving a bit more freely than he had in the past. Glad to see it.
They kept Rattler (and the other guys) clean and opened some nice running lanes. Still not displaying dominance to the level I would like to see, but a very good outing overall.
DL: 4* (Last week High 3*)
The OU front did a really nice job setting the tone in the first half as they held Western Carolina to -4 yards rushing and got some nice pressure on the QB.
Was very impressed by youngsters Grimes and Downs as well as Isaiah Coe.
Thomas and Redmond were menaces in their snaps and Perrion Winfrey had his best statistical game as a Sooner as he recorded 1.5 sacks.
Bonitto was doing Bonitto things but he came up with bagels on the stat sheet.
Not much to complain about at all, Jordan Kelley even got into the mix with a forced fumble on his return to action after missing last week.
Was it a glitzy stat sheet? Not really. Was it effective? Absolutely. Did you feel like they left some things out there? Sure. But Redmond, Winfrey, and Thomas each only got 19 snaps out of a possible 66…and some of them came at the end of the game when they were simply looking to hold the shutout.
It was a very good showing overall.
LB: High 3* (Last week 1*)
Oh, Danny boy.
Danny Stutsman was THE story of the game, and after the game, for OU for very different reasons.
Stutsman looked like the best defensive player on the field throughout the game and I credit a lot of that to his motor. Kid will run through a brick wall to get to the ball and that energy is infectious in my opinion. Stutsman led the team in tackles which included .5 tackles for loss.
He left the game due to injury and will be out for some time unfortunately.
David Ugwoegbu was pretty quiet in his 18 snaps and Asamoah had a much, much better game than against Tulane which was nice to see.
DaShaun White also looked better this week and Shane Whitter got a ton of snaps and flashed his speed on occasion.
Nice jump for the unit this week, but the loss of Stutsman will present a challenge for them in the coming weeks and someone needs to step up to get this unit back to where they were at the end of last season (they were among the best units on the team).
DB: High 3* (Last week Low 3*)
They looked solid.
Saw a few busts and they got away with some thing on a few plays where Western Carolina just was not able to take advantage of them.
To be fair, they are a little banged up at the moment as Bowman went out early and Woodi Washington only played 8 snaps.
Latrell McCutchin got his first start and immediately got put through the wringer as he got caught in the wash on a simple crossing pattern in the beginning of the game. He bounced back nicely and brings a nice physical element to the CB room for OU and I have a lot of faith in him as I predicted him starting before the Texas game.
The safeties were alright and they really were not asked to do too much.
How about ya boy Bryson Washington getting the Sooners first pick of the year? Good for him!
Overall, they were above average. A real workmanlike game for them.
Special Teams: 4* (Last week High 4*)
Brkic hit another from over 50.
Turk dropped a 57 yarder in his first punt as a Sooner.
The KR and PR teams were fine. Caught the ball and didn’t have any turnovers.
The coverage teams did their jobs for the most part as well.
