Open Post | Tuesday, March 8th
Posted on: March 8, 2022
Late Night Recruit Quotes and Notes
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 5, 2022
Been checking in with some of the visitors who were on campus this weekend and as you would expect, the superlatives are rolling in. No surprise there.
Lots of general ‘Loved it’ and ‘Amazing’ and positive talk about the culture. So it sounds like things went rather well.
I will share a couple notes that I found interesting and go into more detail down the line:
***First, ’23 defensive back Moussa Kane (Blairstown, NJ) brought up the coach’s pedigree. Kane told me ‘I was shocked by the coach’s resumes. All the coaches he (Venables) brought.’ He added ‘The trip was great, I loved it’.
***’23 ATH Anthony White (Abernathy, TX) was able to spend a lot of time with Coach Brandon Hall and he really enjoyed himself. OU sees White as a defensive back. I asked Anthony to rate the visit on a scale of 1-10 and he said ‘Well it was great so I give it a 12’
***’24 defensive lineman Nigel Smith (Melissa, TX) was really impressed with his visit. He gave the trip a 9 and he mentioned that the visit was ‘unique’ and he enjoyed the introduction from the coaches and the activities they partook in over the course of the trip. He added ‘I expected it to be great, but it was even better than I expected’. I asked him specifically about coach Bates and coach Chavis and he said ‘I was around both of them pretty much the whole time and it was great. They both know a lot about football and they are very easy to talk to.’
We have not gotten any indication that any of the recruits pulled the trigger to this point, but I am not saying that did not happen for certain and we will keep digging.
More to come over the next few days.
Visit Updates | Sunday Afternoon
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 6, 2022
Came across a couple additional notes of interest following the big junior day OU held yesterday that I thought you all may enjoy.
***Touched base with ’23 DL Edric Hill out of Kansas City, MO. Super K was out in Kansas City earlier this week and he came away impressed with the big defensive lineman. Hill headed to Norman without an offer from the Sooners and he did not pick one up this weekend. However, that did not take anything away from the trip. Hill told me “It was great getting to meet coach Bates. I also enjoyed the atmosphere and the history of the school’. I asked him if OU talked about a potential offer and he said it really didn’t come up, but he did indicate that OU was a place he would be interested in visiting again. Right now, I would expect the Sooners to get out and see him in the spring and continue to build the relationship.
***Spoke to a coach who made the trip to Norman with a recruit and I really think you are going to like what he had to say. When I asked him about his thoughts on the trip, he said ‘The OU Staff was very transparent and intentional. I saw no gimmicks or games when it comes to those guys. They want to grow young men. It wasn’t about X’s and O’s. It was about how they can grow young men should football not work out. My son is 10, and I would love him to play for coach Venables.”
I know he has been on many trips to many different programs and I asked him if he felt the visit was unique. He said it was and he provided this example: ‘NIL wasn’t even discussed. Coach Venables really stressed the fact that every young man must earn everything that comes to them. He doesn’t just want to hand a kid ‘X” amount of dollars right out of high school. What has he done to earn that? Definitely, one of my favorite schools if I had to choose one.”
Thought you all would appreciate that.
***Spoke to ’23 OL Miles McVay (6’6 358) out of East Saint Louis, IL following his visit.
Coming into the visit, the Sooners were pretty much just a peripheral team in his recruitment. He had an offer, OU was interested, but they were not a real ‘player’ in the recruitment at this point.
Boy, how that has changed.
I asked Miles about the visit and if anything stood out about the trip and he was quick to respond, saying ‘Coach Venables and Coach Bedenbaugh stood out. We talked about life and football, but truthfully, the whole staff was cool and you could feel how much they love OU’.
The conversation then turned to his recruitment. I mentioned that OU seemed like a school that was a nice offer to have but they were outside the top group in his recruitment and if that may have changed following his visit. He said ‘Now that I have had a chance to visit, I would say they are a very serious contender. I loved what I saw down there and it was just an amazing feeling like none other. I will most definitely get down there for an official visit.”
That, my friends, sounds like a big move on a big man for OU and Bedenbaugh.
The fact that Creed Humphrey was back in Norman was not lost on McVay. That impressed him very much and it stuck with him and made another big impression. McVay said ‘It means a lot that his players like him enough to come back. Coach B and I have had some great conversations, I like him as a person, not just a coach.”
Post Visit Update | ’23 LB S’Maje Burrell
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 7, 2022
Caught up with ’23 linebacker and weekend visitor S’Maje Burrell (6’1 215) out of Fort Worth, TX (North Crowley) following his trip.
Burrell thoroughly enjoyed his time in Norman, as did the rest of the family, which I will get into more depth on later.
S’Maje gave the visit a 9.5 on a scale of 1-10 which is quite impressive for an unofficial visit in March.
He said ‘I’d rate it a 9.5! It was a great first impression from the jump and I enjoyed all of it.”
He added ‘What stood out the most to me was the family atmosphere given off and the way the staff actually connected with us’.
He mentioned that he will be making his way back to Norman in the future as well. I didn’t ask him if that would be officially or unofficially, but I after our conversation, I would expect both to happen over multiple visits.
Based on the early returns, and communication with both S’Maje and those around him, it is my opinion that Oklahoma made a massive move here and if signing day was near, I would be confident that the Sooners would land him.
I did not get the feeling that a decision was imminent, but I did get the feeling that OU put itself in the pole position here. We will be out to see Burrell in the near future once the visit high wears off and see where things stand at that point.
