Open Post | Monday, October 1st By: TFB Posted on: October 1, 2018

Vernon Broughton in Focus
– Super K

In the 2020 class, Vernon Broughton has emerged as one of the most highly coveted defensive linemen. His move up the recruiting ranks isn’t particularly surprising when you consider the fact that he’s a 6’5 250 lb young man who can run. God didn’t make many of those.

But what may surprise you is the fact that Broughton started playing football…last year.

Broughton grew up in a basketball family. His mother and father both played college basketball. His mother actually coached at the division one level for nearly twenty years.

“I been playing basketball most of my life”, Vernon said, “Then, last year my mom asked me to play one year of football. Just give her one year of football. That was my sophomore year and I was cool with it. So, I played”.

I asked Broughton’s mother, Yolanda about that move from football to basketball, “We transitioned to a new school and I said, give me one year of football. And, he just showed up and he got out there and said, mom this feels good. He felt good with the leverage and his lower body. He felt more grounded on the football field”.

Once Broughton got a taste of football and began to flourish it became hard for her to keep him on the basketball court, “When it began I told him if he played one year, I promise you I won’t ask you to play again. Before you know it, I’m begging him to finish basketball because he wanted to focus on football”.

Broughton’s basketball background and the training he received from his family certainly helped the transition, “We’ve worked extremely hard on his football and he has some exceptional footwork”.

Vernon has also found help from an expert in defensive line development, coach Doug Smith who runs the Dominate the Day organization in the Houston area, “Over the summer I trained with coach Doug” Vernon noted. “We were on the field and in the weight room twice a day working on speed and agility drills. We were working on hand drills.”

Broughton says all that work and the time on the feel has made him feel more and more comfortable. Still, it’s exciting to think that the big man has yet to scratch the surface. Too many times colleges get a kid on campus and find out he’s overdeveloped or they have to break bad habits. While Broughton is building a foundation, his relative newness to the game can be seen as a bonus for coaches who feel the sky is the limit.

Recruiting

Nick Saban has churned out plenty of draft picks on the defensive line. At a camp this past summer, Broughton caught Saban’s attention. “My son called me” Yolanda described, “and said Nick Saban just offered me. He didn’t even know who Nick Saban was!” Yolanda said that Saban told Vernon that he’d take him right then and there if he wanted to commit.

While the Broughton’s weren’t ready to make a decision right then, they would like to get the process done with sooner rather than later, “If he (Vernon) could get the recruiting process over I think he’d like to. We don’t really want it to go beyond spring break. That gives him time to narrow things down. At the end of the day, not much is going to change. It’s about fit. We know Nick isn’t going anywhere. Tom isn’t going anywhere. Jimbo isn’t going anywhere”.

Vernon echoed his mother’s sentiment in terms of the process is more about finding the right fit and less so about specific criteria. Vernon has never followed college football. So, the tradition of a program isn’t as important to him, “Whoever loves me, I’m going to love them back”.

And, unlike many players, being a successful young man isn’t centered around going to the NFL, “if that happens it happens but it isn’t something I’m planning on”. Funny enough, given his raw talent Broughton is probably more likely to make it than most. Yolanda added, “What do I want? It really doesn’t matter. My goal was just to get my children to where they are at BCS level. Now, I’m just here to help him”.

Two of Vernon’s early offers came from Baylor and Oklahoma State. In fact, Baylor was Vernon’s first offer. Those two staffs appear to be recruiting Vernon very hard, “Coach Fran from Baylor and coach Richmond from Oklahoma State are the ones I talk to the most”, Yolanda noted. “It’s not even necessarily just about sports. We talk about a lot of other things”.

Texas and Oklahoma are two schools that offered this past summer and Vernon has had a chance to see both. The family attended the USC game and had a chance to speak with coach Giles and coach Herman. They visited the Sooners this past summer for their ChampU BBQ.

Next up on Broughton’s visit schedule will be the Cotton Bowl in Dallas where they plan to see Texas and OU battle it in the Red River game.

 

 

Kyler Murray is Not Messing Around
– Ryan Lewis

OU fans are used to seeing high production from their quarterback. As such, it can be easy to take players for granted or forget to appreciate something special when it comes along.

However, now is the time to take a look around and realize that, mere months removed from watching the greatest statistical quarterback the game has ever seen, there’s another quarterback in Norman who is having himself a fantastic season. Despite not starting against Baylor, Kyler Murray threw for over 400 yards and 6 touchdowns and took in another on the ground. He was elusive when needed and made a lot of plays. His stats caught the eye of many, as his passer rating of 348 was an OU single-game record – by a lot. 6 touchdowns tied for the second most by an OU quarterback in a game and was one shy of Baker Mayfield’s record of 7.

With that in mind, let’s see how Kyler Murray matches up with recent prolific quarterbacks. The following stats compare Murray first with recent OU quarterbacks, then with recent Heisman-winning quarterbacks through five games.

* Bests in each category are highlighted.

Murray stands out in a few areas. Compared with recent OU quarterbacks, he’s running the ball with more frequency and success, which shouldn’t be surprising. The eye-popping stats are the yards per catch, the yards per attempt, and the passer rating (which uses the first two). Mayfield broke the yards per attempt record last year (previously set by Michael Vick in 1999) with 11.5; Murray is currently clearing that by almost 2 yards per attempt. And the passer rating? Mayfield broke that too, and Murray is soaring over it.

Is it realistic to expect 19.0 yards per catch to continue? Probably not. But buckle up OU fans; Kyler Murray is not messing around.

 

 

Sunday Visitor Notes | Parr, Alexander & Umanmielen
– Charlie S

Couple quick notes on a pair of unofficial visitors from the Baylor game…

 

*** Caught up with 2020 OL offer Logan Parr (Helotes, TX) who took an unofficial to OU for the Baylor game.

I asked him how the visit went and he said, “I had a great time in Norman and enjoyed every second of it!” He continued by saying “We got there early for a campus tour so my mom could check it out because she wasn’t there the first time we toured.

As for the game experience itself, Logan said, “It was crazy to see Oklahoma put up 66 points, which easily could have been 70, in a conference game. It just speaks to how high powered their offense is”.

When we were discussing what really stood out to him, he said “What really stood out to me was how welcome we felt. We talked to all the coaches, former players, and parents of the players.”

He continued by saying “Talking to the former players and parents was very unique compared to other visits I’ve been on and I really enjoyed that”.

I will have a more in-depth write up on Logan Parr in the near future.

 

*** OU 2019 OL Commit, Marcus Alexander (Sunnyvale, TX) made his way back to Norman for yet another unofficial visit. Alexander always enjoys his time on campus and this weekend was no different.

“Awesome time. Feels more like home every time I’m here”

 

*** Caught up with 2020 DL Princely Umanmielen (Manor, YX) who also made his way to Norman for an unofficial visit.

Princely said “I loved it up there. Everything was great. The game was very entertaining>”

I asked him if he got to connect with any of the current players or staff and he said: “You know I had to get a picture with Bookie of course, and Coach Riley and I had a really good talk”.

 

 

Charlie’s Hot Takes | Baylor
– Charlie S

– The offense did what the OU offense does…kills you quickly when given the chance as Baylor loaded the box and played a lot of man coverage on the WR’s which resulted in some long plays for OU. Take what they give you and let the opposition pick their poison. Sooners averaged over 11 yards per play today.

– Thought the OL had some issues early, I’ll leave that up to JY later as that is above my pay grade

– Still, too many tackles left unfinished…wrapping up and finishing appeared a bit better, but need to clean that up

– Kenneth Murray needs to stop taking roughing penalties. Especially as a leader of the defense.

– Tre Brown has an “IT” factor. Needs to play a lot.

– I pegged TJ Pledger as the dude to ascend the RB chart rapidly…while he did come in as RB2 initially…Kennedy Brooks made a CLEAR statement.

– Caleb Kelly may have changed the defense going forward. OU came out somewhat flat in the third quarter (again)…not sure why they stopped using movement up front on the defensive line and they appeared to be playing prevent until Caleb Kelly entered the game. Kelly brought energy not seen in a while ’round these parts as he immediately made an impact when he entered.

Initially, he missed a sack when he left his feet and got a bit out of position in pass coverage, but that may have been because of how hyped he was when he entered. Kelly almost broke Charlie Brewer in half at one point and finished the game with a one-handed sack.

Will be interesting to see how OU proceeds with his Red Shirt…I don’t see that happening right now after seeing how he impacted the game.