The Football Brainiacs

Image of Jamal Danley via Saturday Down South

Happy Friday y’all!

– Jamal Danley: Last night 2015 JUCO OL & OU offer Jamal Danley tweeted out that he will be making his commitment decision today at 10 am (central). He also said, “I’ve come to the conclusion that I know where I wanna continue playing football. This decision is strictly business preparing me for my future!” Danley told us that he will choose between Miss. State, OU, and Florida.

Earlier this week, Danley told us he would be taking an official visit to OU for the Tennessee game. He has yet to visit OU, but he has visited Miss. State numerous times. Often when a recruit suddenly decides to commit, it may be because a school he is seriously considering tells him they are filling up and a decision needs to be made. Miss. State currently has nearly 30 commits, and we’ve been told they’re taking as many as 33 kids this year. So it’s not inconceivable that Miss. State wasn’t willing to hold Danley’s spot for much longer.

At the same time, OU may receive commitment announcements from Madison Akamnonu and Cody Ford in the very near future. And with a spot presumably being held for Jalin Barnett, OU may also not be in a position to wait much longer.

Regardless of Danley’s decision, we do still expect him to take an official to Oklahoma if that remains an option.

– Dru Samia: Speaking of offensive linemen, yesterday 2015 OT Dru Samia (Danville, CA) was in Norman for an unofficial visit. And the Sooners did extend an offer to Dru. We were able to catch up with him a little on his way to the airport, but we hope to have more with him later. However, even in our brief conversation it is clear OU is going to be a player in his recruitment. He told us, “The trip was amazing, OU made a great impression.” In talking about OU’s chances at landing him Dru said, “I just have to talk about it with my family.”

Our guess right now is this one is going to come down to UCLA and Oklahoma, but again we’ll try to have more with Dru later. Bottom line is when someone flies out to Oklahoma without an offer in order to get one…they’re serious.

– Keke Coutee: It was our understanding that Oklahoma was going to take only one slot WR unless the second was named Ryan Newsome. However, earlier this week Keke Coutee (Lufkin, TX) tweeted out a picture of an official offer letter sent by Oklahoma. The date on the letter was August 1st. We tried to get in touch with Keke to find out when was the last time he’s communicated with OU coaches, but we weren’t able to do so. While Coutee did receive an official letter, it has to be kept in mind that the letter, being dated August 1st, would mean that it was likely sent out before OU had received the unexpected commitment (in terms of timing) from John Humphrey.

Humphrey had not only cancelled his trip to OU last week, but had stated he would be announcing at an All-American game in January. So one might guess that again, OU may not have expected to receive such a sudden commitment from Humphrey by the time the letter was sent out to Coutee. But that’s just speculative on our part.

– Kendall Sheffield: In case you missed it, according to multiple reports Oklahoma made the cut for 2015 CB Kendall Sheffield’s (Missouri City, TX) Top 12. There was a lot of talk about Sheffield getting to OU for an unofficial in the past few weeks, but as far as we know that visit did not happen.

– Amonte Caban: As we suspect many of you are already aware, Oklahoma recently extended an offer to 2015 ILB Amonte Caban (Smiths, AL). We passed his film along to Ace, and we’ll have his thoughts on Caban up shortly. But after watching his film, Ace said he is very high on Caban. In fact, he said he felt it can be argued that Caban may even be a better take than Justin Hilliard (who OU was in on but later committed to Ohio State).

In chatting with Caban a little, he told us that he’s “pretty interested” in Oklahoma. He also said he’d like to take an official visit to OU. Haven’t gotten a great read on Caban just yet, but we’ll continue to try to chat with him and see how things progress.

– DeAndre McNeal: Earlier this week 2015 ATH/H-Back DeAndre McNeal (Mesquite, TX) was in Norman for a visit. He texted us this picture:

McNeal said he had a great visit and told us he will be back to catch a game this season. He may not, however, use an official visit because of the proximity, but again said he will be back to Norman.

– Madison Akamnonu: Just a quick note on Akamnonu. We were chatting a little yesterday and it sounds like Texas is back in his top group of schools that he will be choosing from along with OU and Texas Tech. However, I wouldn’t read too much into it. It certainly doesn’t mean that OU or Tech took a step back and this one still feels like OU’s to lose.

There is no denying he likes, or at least liked Tech a lot. But earlier in the recruiting process, Tech tried to pressure him a little for a commitment (something OU rarely, if ever does) and that rubbed him the wrong way. Presumably that slight breach has been cured, but OU has definitely recruited Madison as close to perfect as possible.

Jarrett Guarantano: Was recently talking to a friend who is very close to 2016 QB Jarrett Guarantano (Oradell, NJ) and he let us know that Guarantano is working on plans to try to make it to Norman for an unofficial visit this fall. Which game you ask? You already know. OU vs. Tenn. We’ll work to confirm if that trip will indeed happen, but there is certainly intent which means there is interest!

Kahlil Haughton: Stud 2015 safety Kahlil Haughton (Waco, TX) had originally planned on making his commitment announcement today, and many felt OU, and for good reason, was sitting in a great spot. However, in talking to Kahlil a few times this past week it became more and more obvious that he felt it was necessary to take his official visits before announcing his commitment. The particular schools Haughton has mentioned to us as possible official visit destinations are OU (Tenn. game), Texas Tech, and Arkansas.

The good thing is that he has already visited both Tech and Arkansas, after which OU was still in a good spot. Game day experience at OU should least match, if not far exceed, the experience at both Tech and Arkansas. So there is a lot of reason for OU fans to be optimistic about landing this talented safety prospect. The lone concern we have is Haughton’s relationship with Coach Norwood at Baylor and Coach Curtis at Tech are very, very strong. It would already be hard enough for Haughton to tell those coaches no, and with the process continuing, and with Haughton likely taking additional visits to both schools, it’ll make it that much harder. Having said that, we still like Oklahoma’s chances.

Will Sunderland: Sunderland tweeted out that he was in Norman to watch practice yesterday. As we’ve said on numerous occasions, this one is all but a wrap.

Tennessee Game: We’re going to start putting together a list of players attending the OU vs. Tenn. game. We’ve just got to go back and review our notes. But we already know it’s going to feature a lot of top players like Neville Gallimore, Gabriel Campbell, Kahlil Haughton, Ricky DeBerry, and many more.

Ashton Preston: If you want to see some of the best technique you’ll find in a high school cornerback, check out the camp clips below of 2015 OK Preps CB and North Texas commit, Ashton Preston. Since last season, Preston has made tremendous strides in his technique and athleticism under the tutelage of the REAL TEXAS DB guru, Clay Mack. We expect Preston to take a big jump on the field this coming season.

UPDATED (Friday, 10:35 am): Jamal Danley was expected to make his commitment announcement this morning at 10 am but has decided to instead postpone his announcement and take his officials. As we said earlier, he will take on his official visits to Oklahoma. Here is the note he tweeted out:

– UPDATE (Fri., 2:25 pm): Pretty big change of plans for 2015 OT & OU offer Madison Akamnonu

I have changed my commitment date to tomorrow at 12 pm on twitter

— Onuegbu Akamnonu (@DreadedDreamz56) August 8, 2014

– UPDATE (Fri., 7:18 pm): OU makes Top 4 for 2016 QB Jarrett Guarantano.

https://twitter.com/Guarantano18/status/497898006528925696

– UPDATE (Sat., 7:04 am): Nothing earth shattering here just wanted to remind y’all that the team will scrimmage today. We’ll see what we can find out. Also, keep an eye out for Madison Akamnonu’s announcement.

– UPDATE (Sat., 12:16 pm): In a bit of a surprise move, Madison Akamnonu selects Texas Tech.

– UPDATE (Sat., 1:05 pm, A few scrimmage notes): Not a lot to report but we did get a little something from a friend. Was told there is not a lot of good news, unfortunately, other than there being no injuries. The whole team in general looked “out of sync.”

The defense struggled so much that they apparently had to run gassers. And even though the receivers made some nice catches, there were still way too many dropped balls.

Jordan Phillips apparently took some reps today. We’ve been told the coaches have been holding him out quite a bit this past week (simply as a precaution as they have said they would do), so the fact they are getting him in there now is a good sign.

Also, Geneo Grissom is really taking to that OLB spot. In fact earlier in the week he had two picks, including a one-handed interception.

It sounds like it just wasn’t the best day but, I wouldn’t read too much into it. It’s the first scrimmage and these guys have been taxing their bodies leading up to it. It’s all a process.

– UPDATE (Sat., 7:53 pm): A couple quick scrimmage updates/clarifications.

Firstly, to clarify, the defense didn’t have as bad a day as we were originally told. It sounds like they played well in the middle of the field but struggled a little on the goal line.

Also, wanted to add that Marcus Green apparently had one of the two picks on the day. Not sure who had the second. I think Marcus is still a year or two away but it’s interesting that we’ve heard his name a couple of times lately. Heard he’s unorthodox but he gets the job done.