The Football Brainiacs

– Ron Tatum: As you all know by now Ron Tatum committed to Texas.

In talking to sources with knowledge of his recruitment and sources close to Tatum’s family I’m told that the primary reasons Tatum and his family preferred Texas over the in-state program are the following:

Oscar Giles: I’m told Tatum’s family felt when it comes to developing NFL draft picks on the defensive line, “Giles has done it before”. Giles was able to point to guys he has coached and developed in the past that went on to receive All-Conference and All-American honors and ultimately end up being drafted in the NFL. Again, I’m told this was important to the family

The Plan: I’m also told that the family came away from their Texas visit feeling like there was a clear plan for Ron within the Todd Orlando defensive front. Tatum himself was quoted in an article saying, essentially, that all their questions were answered. A source close to the family quoting Tatum’s father said, “his dad felt like at Texas they got everything answered but they still had questions when they left OU”.

Stats: Texas and Todd Orlando were able to sell the Tatum’s on the sheer number of stats Orlando’s defensive linemen were able to put up in previous years. As most people know, Orlando is known to get his guys moving in order to create pressure. That yielded some gaudy stats for Houston defensive linemen last season.

To the point above regarding stats, I can share a little story with you about recent Texas Tech transfer, Breiden Fehoko. We covered Fehoko’s recruitment in high school and had a pretty good relationship with him. So, when he announced his transfer from Texas Tech I was able to speak to him for a while about what prompted his departure. He said that due to the style of play at Texas Tech (“catching blocks”) he simply didn’t feel he would be able to garner enough stats to really have a chance to get drafted. I asked him what schools he was interested in and he almost immediately said that if Texas wasn’t in the Big 12, he would have strongly considered Texas because of Todd Orlando’s defensive style. He even quoted individual statistics of last season’s defensive linemen at Houston. I say all that to simply say that Tatum’s family isn’t the only family to note that Orlando’s style of defense lends itself to a lot of individual production for defensive linemen.

Tatum is a local kid so there is little doubt he’s going to be paying attention to Oklahoma and their defense this season. So, the Sooners will have plenty of opportunities to impress the big man and his family and demonstrate their own ability to develop playmaking defensive linemen and of course, win ball games. – (Super K)

– Casey Thompson: I spoke with a source on the Texas side of things and I’m told that Casey Thompson is now telling Texas that he is going to stick with Texas.

I personally still have a hard time believing that if Oregon or OU were to really push for Thompson that he’d stick. If he can be the lone 2018 quarterback commit at an Oregon or OU I’d have to believe he’d take one of those. – (Super K)

– Adrian Martinez: I checked in with 2018 Fresno (CA) QB, Adrian Martinez last night. He was planning on speaking with Lincoln Riley. I asked him if the plan to speak was still a go and he said, “yes that’s the plan but it could happen tomorrow (today)…he’s coming to see me next week I believe”.

In my opinion, the Mike Leach tree guys are the best college QB/system evaluators in the land. Riley will find the right guy. It’s as simple as that. – (Super K)