Open Post | Monday, August 7th By: The Brainiacs Posted on: August 7, 2017

– Dashaun White: Yesterday was a tough blow in terms of linebacker recruiting for Oklahoma. 2018 Richland (TX) LB Dashaun White chose A&M over OU. The story behind that is quite interesting and should leave Sooners fans with some hope that White may end up with OU in the end.

First, Oklahoma was playing from way behind in his recruitment to begin with. So much so that White was once a silent commit to A&M and had no intentions of visiting OU. It was really right before the BBQ that he decided he was going to come up and partake in the events that day. Once he did, that is when the whole thing for White really went kind of haywire; to the extent that White had Oklahoma in the lead and was planning on committing to the Sooners, rather than Aggies. The one thing Oklahoma doesn’t have, though, is very vocal guys from the state of Texas in his ear. That is where A&M succeeded in this. Guys like Leon O’Neal and 2017 signee Anthony Hines played a crucial role in his recruitment for the gigem.

When word got out that White was leaning towards OU, that is when his friends, and current Aggie commit and current A&M player, Leon O’ Neal and Anthony Hines stepped it up for them. The one advantage that OU had on the aggies is stability. White kept going back to that word quite a bit when talking about his decision. OU had the stability, whereas A&M doesn’t with Kevin Sumlin on the hot seat. That is when his friend, Anthony Hines told White that, no matter what, A&M was going to have a good coach because of the school’s money. That seemed to resonate with White quite a bit. Even with folks around him, and directly involved in his recruitment, telling him, “They could get a good coach, but what if that coach doesn’t think you fit? The new coach didn’t recruit you, but Riley at OU did and he will be there.” That is where White really started to lean in Oklahoma favor once again.

As the day of the commit video recording drew near, White was set on OU. He had OU gear ready to go, but a weird and sudden change of heart once again led him to bring A&M gear too. We shot two videos that day: one for OU and the other for A&M.  As the shoot ended, it still seemed like OU was the school, but he was obviously having second thoughts. Fast forward two days before the video was to drop and he was back to being an aggie lean. White then went radio silent and both staffs were having trouble getting him on the phone (it’s dead period, so recruit has to call). White finally called both staffs the night before and, as he went to bed, it was back to him using the OU video and committing to the Sooners. White asked if he could sleep on it and see how he felt in the morning. Sunday morning came and he informed us that he was going with A&M and that was final… for the moment.

Now, we tell you all of this because we have spoken to White and sources at OU. Make no mistake, this one is far from over. OU is still recruiting White hard and he is listening. If A&M has a bad season, and Sumlin is gone, this one will get interesting. Stay tuned here. Like we said, it is FAR from over. – (Brandon)

– Jadon Haselwood: A guy that we have wrote about on here a lot is 2019 Cedar Grove HS (Ellenwood, GA) wideout Jadon Haselwood. Haselwood is a Georgia commit, but don’t let that get you asking why he is a big deal here. As we have told you before, Hasselwood comes from a family that is massive OU fans. His dad, Jeremy Haselwood, went to OU before transferring to Georgia Southern to finish his college up. Haselwood also has family that still live in Oklahoma and, like his father, are massive Sooners fans. Jadon grew up watching OU every Saturday and cheering on Oklahoma, as he told me, and that has stuck with him into his high school years.

Yesterday, Oklahoma and Hasselwood FaceTimed and, from talking to him, things couldn’t have gone better. Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley and outside wide receiver coach, Dennis Simmons, both talked with Hasselwood during their FaceTime conversation. He said that Riley showed him around his office and they spoke to him about an upcoming visit to OU on October 2nd for the Texas Tech game. This will be Jadon’s first visit to Norman in years, he said. This visit has long been talked about, but it is finally coming to fruition and that is something that Oklahoma was really hoping for. Hasselwood said he has no plans on any other visits, but did say that it was really a race between UGA, who he is committed to, OU, and Ohio State (visited March 4th).

A few months ago, when OU really started pushing him during spring evals, I asked Hasselwood if OU was a school he would look into, despite his commitment to UGA. His response, “Of course! There is still love for the Sooners.” The stronger that relationship with Dennis Simmons and the staff get, the more that “love” shows. If the October 2nd visit happens, UGA fans could get a little on edge.- (Brandon)

– Trejan Bridges: Another 2019 wideout that Oklahoma FaceTime with was Hebron HS (Carrolton,TX ) star Trejan Bridges. Bridges was excited enough after his talk to tweet out, “I have made a decision”. We talked about that tweet and Bridges explained, “it’s something I have been thinking about for a bit now, but I’m not sure when I will announce yet.” It’s obvious that Oklahoma is the leader and Bridges won’t deny that fact. Bridges took an unofficial to OU on July 25th. That same day, Bridges picked up an offer from the Sooners. Bridges already has another visit planned for Oklahoma’s first game versus UTEP on September 2nd.

Bridges has stayed in contact with Oklahoma, even during the dead period, and with OU having locked down one to the top quarterbacks in the the 2019 class, Spencer Rattler, landing a guy like Bridges would definitely put OU on a hot start with Austin Stogner and Jeffery Carter also already committed. – (Brandon)