Open Post | Tuesday, August 18th
Posted on: August 18, 2020
Visitor Note | Priority Target Heading to Town
– Charlie S
***Add another priority target to the list of recruits who are planning on heading to Norman this weekend.
2021 wide receiver Jalil Farooq (6’1″ 200) out of Upper Marlboro, MD, has confirmed he plans on heading to town.
Farooq is planning on announcing his commitment to the school of his choice in late September as we previously reported.
We feel very good about where things stand here and OU will only benefit from having him in town.
***As we continue to check with the recruits and commits, we can confirm that Sooners 2021 wide receiver commit Mario Williams will not be able to make it into town.
Visitor Note | Another Big One
– Charlie S
Super K has been able to confirm the news which Steve Wiltfong Tweeted out yesterday morning which is that Sooners elite 2021 offensive line target Tristan Leigh (6’5″ 270) out of Fairfax, Virginia will be heading to Norman.
K spoke to a source close to Leigh who informed him that Tristan and family will be in Norman for a self-guided tour which will begin on Thursday and conclude on Sunday.
Leigh is a priority target for Oklahoma and he is close with Sooners QB commit Caleb Williams.
With Savion Byrd confirming with me last week and now Leigh confirming through Super K that they will take a trip to Norman in the middle of a pandemic with no coaches or staff involved, it appears that Bill Bedenbaugh has been doing great work with the pair.
The Sooners continued to dig in on the 2022 class last Friday as they hosted a number of virtual visits once again.
Sources tell us some of the 2022 and 2023 recruits OU hosted included:
***2023 WR Brandon Inniss (5’11” 180) out of Fort Lauderdale, FL
***2022 ATH Dasan McCullough (6’5″ 220) out of Overland Park, KS
***2023 RB Rueben Owens (5’11” 185) out of El Campo, TX
***2022 DL Malick Sylla (6’6″ 230) out of Katy, TX
What Triggered the Opt Out? | Sourced
– Super K
As you know by now, Sooners running back, Kennedy Brooks plans to opt out of this season.
Brooks was someone expected to use this year to catapult himself into NFL draft position. But it appears the very real concerns over Covid altered his plans.
Charlie and James mentioned that there are now other players considering the same route. But why the sudden change?
Based on what I’ve heard, it sounds like this may be tied to a meeting the players had over the weekend regarding the threats of Covid, with doctors.
The unfortunate reality of how the NCAA has handled this matter is there is a lack of uniformity. This is true in testing and in other areas but it also appears to be true in which doctors speak to the various teams.
I don’t know who decides what doctors speak to the kids. But, I can tell you as an example, the doctors that spoke with the players at the University of Texas seem to have left the kids feeling quite comfortable.
Whereas in the case of Oklahoma, from what I gather from my sources, whatever was said in that meeting left the players with some very real fear about the risks related to Covid. I’m not saying the risks are or aren’t real. I’m not a qualified to assess any of that. I’m simply saying that whatever was said to the OU players seems to have had a much different impact on them than whatever students from other universities may have heard.
My personal hunch is that as the players continue to practice and get back into the groove, they’ll get comfortable again and you won’t end up seeing many (if any) additional opt outs. But admittedly that is just conjecture. But again, it seems that the sudden concerns are coming from information that was provided to the players in a recent meeting.
Quick Hitter | 2022 DB Bobby Taylor
– Charlie S
*** Our guy Scott Schrader did us a solid today and checked in on 2022 DB Bobby Taylor while in town.
Yes, we know following the initial question in the video when Scott asked him to list his top schools, he did not mention OU. That was obviously an oversight on Taylors behalf as you can see from the interview.
OU is in a very good spot as he spoke very highly of Lincoln Riley and his staff. He touches on the virtual visit and his relationship with Alex Grinch and Roy Manning as well.
While some have speculated about Taylor making an announcement in the near future, he clearly indicates his timeline for making a decision which could come following his junior season.
Snippet From: Monday Notebook | On The Trail
– James Hale
I find recruiting fascinating sometimes. OU gets five-star quarterback Caleb Williams (6’1, 210) to commit in 2021, and he immediately starts recruiting and is even the driving force for the Sooner Summit, which is expected to take place next weekend. Williams commitment set OU recruiting up in a good spot, and the college football world took notice.
Then Texas goes out and comes up with the top QB for 2022 in Quinn Ewers (6’3, 195) like Williams the number one player for 2022. Early it looked like Ewers would jump on board and keep the pipeline of OU signing the top QB in the country going, following Spencer Rattler in 2019 and Williams in 2021. You can’t blame Ewers for going with the Longhorns because at OU, he would have to work through Rattler, Williams, Tanner Mordecai (6’2, 211), and Chandler Morris (5’11, 175) and that would be tough for him do so as a freshman or redshirt freshman.
When Ewers gets to Austin, Sam Ehlinger will finally be gone, or at least we think he will be, and currently, Oklahoma City native Casey Thompson is his backup. However, the guy that the Longhorns really are high on is redshirt freshman Hudson Card who right now is Texas’ next big thing at QB. Former Okie State OC Mike Yurcich is the new Texas offensive coordinator, and he even gets to call plays this time. He is not the quarterback guru that Coach Riley is, but he did develop Mason Rudolph.
I hope Thompson holds them all off, but you don’t hear that will happen in Austin.
I suspect that Ewers will have the same effect on Texas recruiting for the rest of 2021 but certainly in 2022 that Williams is having for the Sooner in 2021. I mean, since he’s a Texas kid he could clean up on Texas kids that the Longhorns want. We will see if he is as dynamic and as aggressive as Williams is when it comes to recruiting.
The fact, OU lost Burris is terribly disappointing because OU led for him for a good while. It’s not clear what happened, but Texas A&M took the lead about a month ago, and OU didn’t have any magic to go back and get him.
OU is getting better and better at signing quality defensive ends, but OU still struggles to get the prep defensive tackles. Remember when everybody questioned whether OU was going to take JUCO Isaiah Coe (6’3, 305). Yes, this reporter kept saying yes they would take him because OU does not have enough inside defensive tackles to go around, and they need all they can get. Plus, OU still hasn’t shown the propensity to sign multiple high end prep defensive tackles, but they seem to clean up on quality JUCO defensive tackles.
OU has committed four-star Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge (6’7, 240) of Portland (Jefferson), Oregon, and four-star Ethan Downs (6’4, 250) of Weatherford, Oklahoma. The Sooners are expected to get four-star defensive end Kevin Gilliam (6’3, 250) of Highland Springs, Virginia, on the 22nd, and while maybe one or two of these guys may grow up to be defensive tackles not one of them will be a nose tackle.
OU has a great chance to turn their prep defensive tackle recruiting around in 2022. They are early leaders on five-star Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (6’4, 275) of Lakeland, Florida, and are very much in the hunt for four-star Bear Alexander (6’3, 325) of Denton (Ryan), Texas.
If OU’s ‘Speed D’ is every going to really take a step to the next level, they have to start getting the primetime prep defensive tackles.
