Open Post | Tuesday, April 2nd
Posted on: April 2, 2019
Weekend Visitor & Practice Notes
– Super K
Still out of the country on a little vacation but got back to my hotel room and reached out to a few people. I spoke with Princely Umanmielen and also spoke with someone who was at practice with Princely.
***Person who was on the visit with Princely, who is himself a former college football player had some really complimentary words to say about coach Grinch…
“That DC is the real deal. The real deal. He is Lincoln Riley. This dude is intense. I mean intense. Most defensive coordinators are but this dude is a little bit different…Everyone looked like they were having fun, they were flying around and they were together as a unit. When someone did something good they were celebrating together.”
Tone in the voice can’t be really captured in the quote above but it was state with a lot of emphasis.
*** Spoke to another source about Saturday’s practice/scrimmage and was told ”
*** On the QBs, was told, “Jalen was no question better”. Obviously they’re just seeing one day. So, take that for what it’s worth.
*** “CeeDee Lamb is a man but that’s not news”.
*** As far as the visit goes for Princely, OU hit a homerun. He said the visit was much better than he expected. He had just left the visit so he was on a post visit high but OU put themselves in a nice spot.
***He says he is likely done with unofficials. So, it’ll now be about taking the OVs. Said OU will definitely be one.
***Some of what Princely said was off record but I’ll just emphasize to you that the visit went very very very well.
More later…
Fast Five | Additional Practice Notes From Saturday
– The Football Brainiacs
*** Was told due to the weather, the team was forced to move inside which didn’t allow them to have the full-on scrimmage which was planned for the day. The team still got in a lot of live work though so the purpose was served.
*** While Jalen Hurts is the current poster boy for OU, Tanner Mordecai is showing off his talents and comprehension of the offense.
*** As K mentioned Hurts was really good, hitting his short passes and making some plays but he is still learning the offense as it is still so early.
*** Sounds like Mordecai also was good and flashed some really good stuff as he really has a plus arm and can make adjustments on the fly a bit easier as he is so familiar with the offense.
*** Word is that CeeDee Lamb and Charleston Rambo also had good days which is not surprising as they turned some small plays into big plays.
*** Looks like the center position was manned by walk-ons Ian McIver and Clayton Woods which gave the offensive line a bit of cohesion as they are true centers who have played the position for a long time and know the proper calls and adjustments. That all gets sorted out when Creed gets back.
If you would like to read the rest of the sourced practice notes from Saturday, please check the Donor Board!
Quick Hitters | Visitor News
– Charlie S
*** As you know from his post earlier, Super K has spoken to 2020 DE and weekend visitor Princely Umanmielen and he will have much more on where things stand between him and the Sooners later, but as we mentioned coming into the visit, it was important for the Sooners to make an impression and it appears they did just that.
*** 2020 defensive back Dontae Manning also made his way to Norman and while I have not yet spoken to him about the visit, a source tells me that the Sooners feel like the visit went very well and they feel good about where they are with him.
*** Another visitor who made his way to town was 2021 DE Quintin Somerville out of Scottsdale, AZ (Saguaro)
Not only is he currently high school teammates with Sooner 2020 defensive back targets Jacobe Covington and Kelee Ringo, but as I mentioned on Friday, he was born in Norman and his brother was born in Tulsa and they grew up as ‘Die-hard’ OU fans.
I touched base with Quintin Sunday morning, and while he picked up a bit of a cold this weekend, it sounds like the visit could not have gone any better.
When I asked him about what stood out this weekend, Quintin said “The coaches are amazing people and that really stood out. Coach Thibbs definitely made the biggest impression on me which was great.”
Somerville also mentioned how impressed he was with the practice he was able to see and by the intensity and speed that the OU defense is playing with.
I will have more on Quintin once he gets home and settled in but he did mention he plans on getting back to Norman for a game this season at the very latest.
Sooners Hosting 2021 QB Brock Vandagriff
– Charlie S
*** Touched base with 2021 Quarterback, and Sooners offer, Brock Vandagriff out of Bogart, Georgia, and he let me know he will be visiting OU this Monday through Wednesday.
*** Vandagriff, who was offered by the Sooners back in January, is the only 2021 quarterback who holds an OU offer at this point to my knowledge.
*** He holds offers from all the major players in his region so OU getting him on campus this early is a very good thing.
*** Talked to Brock on Monday as he was leaving Arkansas and heading to Norman for the evening. He and his family are very excited to see what the Sooners have to offer.
Quick Notes From Monday Open Practice Period
– Charlie S
Touched base with James who wanted to share a couple of quick notes…
*** Ronnie Perkins was back working with coach Thibbs today on the defensive line. He had been working with Coach McNeil at the Rush spot for a portion of the spring, but today he was back with Thibbs.
*** LaRon Stokes was also working with Thibbs today
*** Ryan Jones was working with the 1’s at Rush and James said he was the first one to go in every drill at that position
*** James also noted that the QB reps seem to be split evenly (as expected) and both QB’s looked good for the brief time he saw them.
*** Freshman WR Jadon Haselwood in a boot and did not participate obviously and as he has mentioned throughout the spring, Jalen Redmond is just an observer.
James will have more throughout the week!
Snippet From: Hale Raiser: Monday Notebook | Sourced Notes, News, & More
– James Hale
Building that wall
*** Spring football is really interesting because on most days, each unit usually does some good things and some not so good things, and both sides leave happy and a bit disappointed about how things go.
*** That has been the case this spring as the Sooners break in new quarterbacks, a new offensive line and are leaning a new defense so it seems like every practice both sides of the ball is getting some good work in and winning some battles, but leaving a little disappointed and angry as well.
*** However, I am told that since spring break the offense has done a better job because of some subtle moves to try to bring more stability to the unit. OU’s salty offensive line Coach Bill Bedenbaugh is a master at building great offensive lines but even he admits that he has never had to break in four new starters and go into spring with five new guys because his best player, sophomore center Creed Humphrey (6’5, 315), is out following minor surgery.
*** The good news is that I’m told junior left tackle Erik Swenson (6’5, 320) was able to return to practice after the spring break so his injury was not as bad as first thought. He has missed three workouts but is one of the most experienced guys on the offense line appearing in 10 games all in backup duty. Swenson was the backup left tackle all last season and the thought was he would be the leader in the clubhouse coming into the spring.
*** With Swenson back and sophomore Adrian Ealy (6’6, 326) continuing to build on his case for a starting role in the fall at right tackle, OU has two solid tackles to work with this spring.
*** However, it was a move Coach Bedenbaugh made once back from spring break, that has given the offensive line enough stability for the Sooners to have a chance against Alex Grinch and his ramped up Sooner defense. After experimenting at center through four practices before the break he went with natural walk-on centers Clayton Woods (6’2, 296) and Ian McIver (6’3, 324) following the break and all of a sudden calls were being made correctly, snaps were on target back to the quarterback and all other talented players were allowed to move back to their natural places.
*** “Over the last couple of practices we have been able to get the snap back and get into our offense,” said a smiling Lincoln Riley. “For a while when we would have a bad snap or a bad offensive line call every other play it was tough getting into a rhythm on offense and getting any kind of consistency, but Coach Bedenbaugh is the best at what he does and he figured things out. Now things are going pretty well for us on the offensive side of the ball.”
*** Coach Bedenbaugh experiments with his personnel every spring and last year that earned Cody Ford the start at right tackle. That turned out pretty well as Ford is still projected as a first-round draft choice in the 2019 NFL draft.
*** Without Humphrey, Coach Bedenbaugh has worked sophomore Tyrese Robinson (6’3, 322) and JUCO transfer Finley Felix (6’5, 311) there, and since both players have never played there before they both struggled with the snap and making calls.
*** Now that natural centers Woods and McIver are in charge of the center position while Humphrey is out, the offense is able to get into a series of plays and things are running more smoothly on the offensive side of the ball.
*** “From the first day it has really improved a bunch how much better we are playing up front,” said Coach Bedenbaugh. “We didn’t have a great starting point, but the last few days I’ve seen a higher rate of progress than I did early. We have gotten better every day in the last few days and I have seen some things that give us hope.”
*** “We have talented dudes it’s just about them putting in the time and working to understand what we do in the meeting room, and what we do in the field is never enough, and it’s starting to show up on the field.”
*** The moves at center put Robinson back to his natural position at guard and even though he’s now working at both left and right guard learning both of those positions he feels good about where he’s at.
*** “It has helped me playing center,” said Robinson. “I have a lot to learn there and that’s a tough position but at guard, I don’t have worry about the snap nor the calls most of the time. I do feel I can help the center make the calls now, or at least I have a better understanding of it, but there is no question that I’ve benefited from playing a few practices at center, and I will continue to work on the snap and things so just in case I’m needed to play there I will be ready.”
*** I’m told that Sophomore Marquis Hayes (6’5, 332) has made his move in recent practices and is working at both right and left guard. He is a road grader and is an excellent run blocker, that has good feet and can be a good pass blocker as well.
*** Word is that in recent practices, Felix has worked at his natural position of tackle, and has worked more at left tackle and sophomore David Swaby (6’9, 320) is also getting some reps at tackle.
*** What is interesting is that Coach Bedenbaugh is getting a look at redshirt freshman Brey Walker (6’6, 336) and Darrell Simpson (6’7, 340) at guard. Both players played tackle all through their high school career, but Coach Bedenbaugh wants to see what they look like at guard.
*** “Brey is a freshman and he has not played much, but I think he can play any position,” said Coach Bedenbaugh. “I don’t know if he could snap and play center but certainly with the talent that he has he can play any position out there. Right now I think his best position is at guard because he has a center right next to him that can tell him what to do. We have a little bit more experience at tackle so those guys can help him out. They can help Darrell out too as I’ve moved him to left guard. I’m still moving guys around a little bit and I want to continue to try to do that as much as possible but we have to do some things so that we can get through practice.”
*** Up to this point Coach Bedenbaugh likes what he has in his offensive line.
*** “We have talented guys, we just don’t have any experience,” said Coach Bedenbaugh. “We don’t have a senior. I don’t know how many offensive lines that I’ve coached that don’t have a senior, and we have only one junior, and then obviously Finley is a junior as well. We have one person that has been here and everybody else is a freshman or a sophomore so inexperience is our biggest problem.”
*** “I like what they are doing right now. Now the first day I wasn’t so sure, but right now I feel a lot better after these past three days. So, it is exciting now with the improvements that I have seen, however, it is just like I told them recently you have had a little bit of success but they can’t rest on that. They have to keep working and understand the success that they have had up to this point is because they worked at it, and studied it, and had the right mentality.
*** “If they keep working at it then we have enough time before we play the first game that I think we will be pretty good.”
*** Coach Bedenbaugh is a modern day coach for sure, but has enough old school in him that he will get after his guys some times. I have had guys that have played for him tell me that they would work their butt off all day in an effort to make sure they did not hear the aggressive tongue of Coach Bedenbaugh. In this day and age where yelling at players and getting in their face is an act of violence in some circles, Coach Bedenbaugh does not hesitate letting his players know they are screwing up, especially early in spring ball.
*** “They have obviously responded well to whatever I’m doing but they saw the tape and that told them as much or more than I could tell them,” said Coach Bedenbaugh. “I don’t have to tell them every time. Heck, sometimes I just turn on the tape and don’t say a word and they know enough about what should be happening that I don’t need to say anything. They can watch the tape and see.
*** “Now, obviously I did tell them and I was nice about it, but they want to be good players. They know they are going to get coached hard and that it’s going to be tough and when they do good like the past few days we tell them they did good.”
*** “It really doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters now is when we come into meetings how do you approach your next practice and how do you get better. That’s the only things that matter, are you getting better going forward. Learn from your success, and learn from your failures and move onto the next day.”
*** It’s one practice at a time for the OU offense and each practice this unit is getting better.
This piece was a snippet from James’ Monday Notebook. If you would like to read the rest of James’ Monday Notebook, or his Friday Notebooks, please check the Donor Board.
Sooners Visitors For The Week & New Name To Know
– Charlie S
*** As we have previously mentioned, the Sooners are scheduled to host a handful of targets this week
2020 OL Turner Corcoran (Lawrence KS) mentioned he was planning on heading to Norman for an unofficial on April 5th. That may change due to the shakeup in his recruitment with dropping Ohio State, but as of right now, he told me he hasn’t made any adjustments to his schedule. I will check in with him later this week.
2020 WR Mookie Cooper (St Louis, MO) told Super K he plans on being in Norman on April 6th and we still believe that is the plan. Cooper recently de-committed from Texas after having been briefly committed to the Horns. As K mentioned in his post, an unofficial visit to OU while committed to Texas could have been a sticking point which contributed to his decision to open things up.
2020 OLB/DE Dahlin Mesake (Las Vegas, NV) told me he plans on being at OU on April 6th for an unofficial visit. Mesake is currently committed to BYU and his recruitment has begun to pick up with interest from OU, UT, and Oregon.
2020 Linebacker Kourt Williams (Bellflower, CA) told Super K that he planned to unofficially visit the Sooners on April 6th as well. Willimas is a guy that K was really high on after seeing him in person and his recruitment has really blown up. I will check with K to see if anything has changed, but getting him on campus for an unofficial is a big deal and a nice opportunity for OU to take a big step forward here.
2021 QB Brock Vandagriff (Bogart, GA) is heading to Norman today as I mentioned last night and he told me he plans on being in Norman through Wednesday. One note, which I didn’t add to the note last night was that when I asked him about being recruited by Lincoln Riley he said: “It’s really a dream come true. Not just Coach Riley specifically, which is awesome in itself, but the fact that he is so highly known when it comes to developing quarterbacks and the fact that he believes in my abilities and wants me to come to play for him is awesome.”
*** So the title tells you there is a new name to know…
That name is 2020 defensive tackle, Octavious Oxendine out of Radcliffe, Kentucky.
The 6’3″ 310 lb defensive lineman let me know that he will be visiting Norman for an unofficial visit.
Octavious will be in Norman beginning Monday evening.
Oxendine said that Sooners DL coach, Calvin Thibodeaux is his lead recruiter and he holds a high opinion of the Sooners.
I asked for his thoughts on OU, coming from Kentucky and Octavious said, “I think OU is nationally well known with all the success of Coach Stoops previously and now with Coach Riley. I think anybody in any region knows about Oklahoma Football”.
As for his relationship with OU and if he feels that an offer is coming, Octavious said “We have been talking for a bit now, and I am never sure if an offer will come or not. I just want to embrace the overall visit, check out the facilities, and check their academics to see if my choices of majors (undecided yet) fits in with their program.”
*** My take is that the Sooners wanted to get the young man on campus and see him in person before deciding to cast their hat into the ring with an offer. He currently holds offers from Kentucky, Purdue, Tennesee, and Louisville among a few others.
*** Shortly after his arrival, Octavious received that offer…
Sooners Spring Practice Report | Monday, April 1st
– James Hale
*** OU Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch was not happy with how his defense performed today. He mentioned that there were too many ugly plays today to really call it a success for the defense. He said he was disappointed in several guys and that if this continued he would be very disappointed, but he doesn’t feel the defense will continue on this course and that the defense will continue to get better.
*** Coach Grinch said this was the first day of the spring that from the get-go that the guys could go out and actually play football. In other words, this was tackle football and he said he was disappointed in that a lot of guys didn’t seem ready for that kind of action. He felt his defense was very immature today and that disappointed him.
*** Sophomore Patrick Fields is having a good camp and making his fair share of plays. Currently, OU only has three scholarship safeties and only three scholarship corners and again Coach Grinch talked about how thin OU is in the secondary. Of course, if junior Robert Barnes and junior Jordan Parker were healthy he would not feel that way about the secondary.
*** Of course, the addition of the full-time nickel back has made the corner position rather thin. Sophomore Bookie Radley-Hiles had an interception today and Fields got another. Bookie is battling junior Tre Norwood for the nickel back job and it is a real battle. Norwood is going to be on the field somewhere and from what I hear this will come down who the coaches like better: Bookie at the nickel or senior Parnell Motley at corner. If they like Bookie better then Norwood goes back to corner and starts opposite of junior Tre Brown, but if they like Motley better at corner then Norwood will be your nickel back. At least that is how it’s shaping up in the spring.
*** If the players really plan to play the defense that Coach Grinch wants them to play, then from the vibe today the defense still has a ways to go. Yes, the defense is hustling to the ball and making an effort, but they are not doing that as a total unit and that’s not the standard for the defense yet. Coach Grinch doesn’t know if the guys playing on defense appreciate yet that there is a play that needs to be made on every play.
*** It’s easy to see under Coach Grinch that to play for him you have to be totally committed to what you are doing on defense. No matter what is going on with your life you have to always be thinking about what you are doing in this defense. You have to be willing to be thinking about it morning, noon and night. This probably is not true to the letter but he does want his guys thinking about his assignments on defense more than just when they are on the field.
*** Senior linebacker Caleb Kelly says he feels great at the WILL backer position and today if they were letting him hit the quarterbacks he would have had at least three sacks, and probably would have gotten the big hit award. As it is he felt sophomore Delarrin Turner-Yell probably could get that award in every practice because of how aggressive of a tackler that he really is.
*** Interesting in that Kelly doesn’t think that he’s having a great spring, but he does feel he’s getting better every practice. That was a brutally honest assessment of how things are going for him, but he does feel he is improving at the WILL backer. He feels the linebacker group is doing well and said that Kenneth Murray, DeShaun White, Levi Draper, Bryan Mead, and Brian Asamoah are all doing well at different times and that OU has a good linebacker unit.
*** Kelly feels that the O-line has great size and are tough to move around. He feels both quarterbacks are good, but he said as the offensive line keeps coming along and they are getting better every practice. He said when they get their hands on you that they will move you and make things tough on you.
*** Senior Neville Gallimore feels that the Grinch defensive style is tailor-made for his abilities and what he can do. He did admit that he has dropped about 30 pounds and that he wants to work hard in the off-season to put six or seven pounds back on the right way. Gallimore feels with his skill set (4.78 forty) that this aggressive style will make him a better football player. Coach Grinch said that Gallimore has a chance to be a high draft choice in the 2020 NFL Draft class.
*** Tre Brown said that when the defense makes turnovers Coach Grinch rewards the player with candy bars. Brown said they aren’t small candy bars either but huge ones, the giant size candy bars and he gives the award-winning player his choice of candy bar that he wants. The players aren’t sure if this will be a game-day ritual or not, but thus far in camp, Fields, Bookie, and Norwood have earned the most candy bars.
*** Gallimore feels that the defensive line group is doing well. He really likes JUCO transfer LaRon Stokes who is very active and really works to get things done. Gallimore also said that Kenneth Mann and Ronnie Perkins are having great camps.
*** Bookie said that he thought he was always an aggressive player, but now that he is playing for Grinch he has learned that chasing the football is an unselfish way to play the game and that you just have to be unselfish and always chase the football.
*** Bookie said that early the offense and their way with the defense, but about halfway through the defense started to match the intensity of the offense and once they did they started to make some plays that got them a few three-downs-and-outs.
*** Motley says that Coach Grinch always brings up the Chicago Bear 46 defense from 1985 because he feels each player on that defense always gave maximum effort and that is the way he wants the Sooner defense to play.
Sooners Spring Game Visitors List
– The Football Brainiacs
The visitor list for the spring game is ridiculous. We currently have more than 20 recruits telling us they plan on taking official visits and the list is growing.
As with every big visit weekend, the list will change as kids get added and some planned visits fall through.
Below is the list we have assembled and verified on our own.
Expect to see this list change as the weekend of April 12th-14th approaches.
2020 Officials and Unofficial Visitors:
Marcus Dumervil – OL – Ft Lauderdale, FL – 2020
Akinola Ogunbiyi – OL – Sugar Land, TX – 2020
Sedrick Van Pran – OL – New Orleans, LA – 2020
Brady Ward – OL – Mobile, AL – 2020
Roger Rosengarten – OL – Littleton, CO – unofficial visit – 2020
Seth McGowan – RB – Mesquite, TX – 2020
Chris Tyree – RB – Chester, VA – 2020
Gary Bryant – WR – Corona, CA – 2020
Derek Bermudez – DB – Jacksonville, FL – 2020
Brian Branch – DB – Tyrone, GA – 2020
Major Burns – DB – Baton Rouge, LA – 2020
Jacobe Covington – DB – Scottsdale, AZ – 2020
Lathan Ransom – DB – Tucson, AZ – 2020
Bryson Washington – DB – Houston, TX – 2020
Ryan Watts – DB – Little Elm, TX -2020
Bryan Bresee – DT – Damascus, MD -2020
Warren Brinson – DT – Bradenton, FL – 2020
Jason Harris – DL – Higley, AZ – 2020
Alex Huntley – DT – Columbia, SC – 2020
Antwuan Powell – Edge – Portsmouth, VA – 2020
Jase McClellan – RB – Aledo, TX (OU Commit) – 2020
Mikey Henderson – ATH – Carrollton, TX (OU Commit) – 2020
Drew Sanders – ATH – Denton, TX (OU Commit) – 2020
DJ Graham – ATH – Keller, TX (OU Commit) – 2020
Trevon West – WR – Arlington, TX (OU Commit) 2020
2021 Unofficial Visitors
Bryce Foster – OL – Katy, TX
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