A Few Thoughts on Dru Samia
Posted on: August 10, 2014
Image via Scout.com
Last week 2015 offensive lineman Dru Samia (Danville, CA) flew into Norman for an unofficial visit. He came to campus without an OU offer, but left with one in hand and was very excited about it. Samia currently holds offers from schools like Arizona, Cal, UCLA, and others. I’ve had a chance to catch up with Dru so we’ll have a recruiting update about him this coming week, but for now I wanted to give y’all a few thoughts on Dru’s game.
At a NFTC event last spring, Dru measured in at 6’6″ and nearly 300 lbs. So he’s got great size for a kid who hasn’t even entered his senior year yet. He looks like a surefire tackle prospect to me. However, he looks a bit more comfortable in pass protection at this point than in the run game. But I love how active he is. The kid really plays hard. He’s always hustling and chasing the ball. He’s a very raw prospect who needs some upper body development and more mass on his hips. At 300 lbs he looks much more like a kid who’s 260 or so. That being said, he has the frame to add 20 pounds and be a monster at 320. I can see why Coach Bedenbaugh likes him.
1. While he’s not going to wow you with athleticism, he’s plenty athletic enough to play the tackle spot.
2. He’s an extremely hard worker with a great frame that you can mold on both points.
3. The infrastructure at Oklahoma, with nutrition and strength in conditioning, would be something he would flourish in.
In talking to Dru, he strikes me as the kind of kid who comes in and works his butt off to turn into a player who makes you ask yourself ‘where did he come from?’ when it’s all said and done. Bedenbaugh loves these kind of prospects who have the right mental mindset and fits a physical mold that’s needed to be successful.
Samia is a Right Tackle to me. If he can come in and continue to develop his athleticism and technique, he may be able to play the left tackle spot. But for now I’d project him on the right side.
Would really like to see Oklahoma fight off some of the schools out west to win Dru’s commitment. He’d be a great addition to the class and ensure that OU ends this year with at least two high quality OTs. Add him and Bobby Evans to Orlando Brown and Kenyon Frison from year’s last class, and you’ve got some really good young talent that give OU depth/competition at the tackle spot and rotation in the coming years.
58 Comments
Nothing like a relaxing Sunday afternoon reading JY’s thoughts on the OLinemen! Great write up and look forward to the recruiting report to come soon!
Talked to JY yesterday and I think y’all are gonna like where things stand with Samia.
Thanks to JY and the TFB crew. Monday is already sounding better. Evans and Samia at tackles, Barnett and Hearne at guards-that would be the cake. Add Mr. Ford and Mr. Danley as the icing and it would be time for the party.
Any time sir, any time.
Gotta love Super K always throwing out teasors! LOL!
Moving forward, was just reading about this guy after he left OU. Sounds like you are right on the money, JY, as usual. Nasty, good in pass protection but has the tools to be a physically dominant OG or RT. Seems I also read he is a Poly kid and met Coach Bob and Coach Jerry at the All Poly camp. Maybe their work at that camp will get the seed planted and some Poly kids will want to come to OU. Link to article showing test results from NFTC camp.
http://www.oregonlive.com/recruiting/index.ssf/2014/07/dru_samia_bursts_on_to_scene_o.html
Gotta like the people skills that both Monty and B bring to the table. Every recruit we talk to rave about both of them.
Hey JY- Your always quick to embrace Coach B and Monty with compliments. How would you quantify the improvement they have made to the program in terms of who they replaced. Don’t hold back any punches.
I believe the All Poly Camp attendance will pay big benefits. Also OU hired a coach (A.J. Ahou-sp.) who has a connection with the poly athletes. Thanks for the article like the mean streak in this kid.
He’s a former OU player.
Glad we could help out Doob!
Great write up didn’t expect this kind of a post today. But glad to hear we are in good standing with him. The oline is filling up even though there are still 4 spots available I can imagine seeing a couple quick commits if ford is thinking of flipping soon.
I think JY hit the nail on the head. Quality rotation keeps everybody at their best effort.
Talked to someone recently and they confirmed that OU won’t take more than 6. So I could see a class of Evans, Hearne, Ford, Samia, Barnett and then possibly Danley. OU is working Wariboko again and I know his options have dwindled a bit in general so it would be interesting to see what would happen if all 6 were committed by the end of September.
Why have Wariboko’s options dwindled? Did he not do well at some camps?
Waiting too long and he’s a guard not a tackle.
So do guards normally commit early because schools are less willing to wait?
They probably should. I think somone mentioned it is easier to go from tackle down to guard than vice-versa. Would that make sense.
If they want to have the bigger name schools as options
Let’s say we have six firmly committed on the O-line without Wariboko. Then he (Wariboko) decides to firmly commit. Does Oklahoma except his pledge? I Think they make room for him. I have a feeling you are going to say they tell him it’s too late, the board’s full.
I think if they got 6 “FIRM” Commits beforehand like you said then it becomes a numbers game Do they take a 7th OL, or a 2nd WR, a 5th LB, or a QB (IF Gibson was to somehow want to commit then it could take a little flexability away to go long on some other spots) and if anybody was planning to leave early for the NFL(maybe Green-Beckam goes or if Tapper has a HUGE year) or somebody trasnsfer it would play in to it but after they hit their target number it becomes difficult for the last 2-3 spots in the recruuiting class
That’s a tough question. There are so many factors involved. Maybe 5 million a year would clear my mind. I think our coaches deserve every penny they get by the way. I’m positive i couldn’t handle 125 kids every year plus some sports reporters.
Right on, and that’s what I meant by “making room.” After missing on Madison, I’m not so sure we are going to have the luxury of turning down a seventh one. It’s amazing how TT beat us out on a legacy kid.
Ok gotcha. I will wait until your recruiting update on samia. I don’t wanna ruin a possible nice surprise.
Btw Zack, your read on Madison’s twitter was unfortunately correct.
I couldn’t remember if I said that about him or not. I know I’ve though haughton was a tech lean. He just retweeted fehoko saying “haughton gonna be that dude if he joins me at ttu”
Until he commits elsewhere I’m predicting tech all the way.
Can you or someone address the ‘commitable offer’ thing in a little more detail? Have long heard that term and someone said a school cannot extend one until the SAs senior year? In other words, these JRs that have an ‘offer’ don’t have a ‘true’ offer until they receive an official offer letter from the school? Which means the school can leave them behind, too. It all makes sense in a senseless sort of way with all the ‘de-commits’ their JR year.
From what i read it seems that an offer is just an offer. August 1st of a recruits Senior year is the earliest that a college can send out an “official scholarship offer” to said recruit. This scholarship offer tells what they will offer like room & board, books, tuition, etc. It seems like it stated stuff like the offer depends on students grades, school standing, etc. It also said something like this offer depends on the position offered is still avaliable. Basically it’s a piece of official letter that states what the school offers and what they expect of the athlete. As we all know and everybody says until that LOI rolls thru that fax machine all recruits are fair game. That’s about all I remember or what I could understand-too many “happy hours” have come and gone.
Not a slam on Danley by any means but since we got Frison and Brown last year and in this scenario we have Evans, Ford, & Samia this year I would a whole lot rather have Wariboko for 4 years than Danley for 2 years. JMO though coaches know best! A class of Evans, Barnett, Wariboko, Ford, Samia, & Hearne would be unreal!
I agree, 3 tackles and 3 guards for 2015 and then it’s on to 2016. Plus , and this is just my own personal opinion. Keeping Barnett and Wariboko (Oklahoma boys) at OU is a no-brainer.
Danley can play 2 positions OT & OG. Even if he doesnt end up starting at tackle, he could slide inside and play guard next year, a position that loses 5 guys
Oh no just when I had it all figured out. OU just needs to take 7 and convert 1 to a slot receiver.
Yeah if we end up with Danley and not Wariboko then that’s ok too! Just think with guys like Daimler, Farniok, & St. John at T & Kasitati, Alvarez, and Paul (who is listed as a OT but at 6’4″ 374 is primed to move inside) all have a couple years with Coach B and in the system plus some rotational playing time this year they would have an advantage on a starting job over a JUCO not saying he couldn’t win a job but who knows these recruits will straighten it all for us by next Feb.
Great point doobie. I agree although we have to have guys on campus that can step in next year and improve each week. And wariboko and Barnett playing guard may not have to redshirt. They have size and if they can get on campus early for the spring, then they may be ready as true freshmen.
Doobie, I like your thinking.
Glad somebody does! I may refer my wife to this comment from time to time! 🙂
yeah, it could get pretty crowded pretty quick
I see what you mean. Say Ford and Samia in the next 30 days and the door for Barnett’s spot is there, OU only has 1 spot left. Somebody good will be left out.
Came to TFB looking for an update and found an OL evaluation instead. Great read. Samia sounds like the perfect OL prospect for OU. Thanx.
thanks for checkin’ it out
I don’t know if this has been posted here yet but Cody Ford’s twitter profile looks promising!
First time I’ve seen it Steve. Looks Great for us. Although if I was the TCU coach and seen this I’d have to pull his offer. I find it strange that Ford hasn’t officially “re-opened” up his recruiting.
Live this.
Nm
TCU can not like the looks of this /
But I like it alot. Sorry Hornytoads!
Great stuff JY. Thanks to TFB for keeping us informed on all these great young men and where OU stands with them.
Our pleasure Ed. We enjoy doin it.
Nice write up, JY. I was wondering about this kid when I read that he had visited. Appreciate the work you put in! Hope you’re prepping that man cub of yours for his first OU game!
Thanks Toats! He’s getting ready. We’re getting rested up right now, but come kickoff time he’ll be good to go!
You need a conditioning program for the lad.
ICYMI
https://twitter.com/diegog20/status/498636096071151617
Nice!
Hard to not say something nice about a man that took you to the woodshed.
FYI these comments (amongst others) were made well before the sugar bowl when Bob became the winningnest coach at OU after beating KSU. Just to give context to this
Thanks JY. Good read. I’m confident we’ll end up in good situation. It’s so much nicer here with real fans that aren’t all wrapped up in stars & value direction & what fits for OU – largely due to TFB actually evaluating players as a whole. OT seems to be a position with 2entries this year that can afford to give Dru time to mold.
There’s definitely a lot of depth out there at OL. There are a few kids I really like that B talks to on a regular basis. The O line is definitely in good hands.
Just when I don’t refresh and check the home page, good O’l JY slips in a gem.
Gotta stay on it 😉