Open Post | Tuesday, July 21st
Posted on: July 21, 2020
Snippet from: Monday Notebook | Recruiting Rolling Along
– James Hale
As expected, Oklahoma got a verbal commitment from three-star Caleb Johnson (6’0, 180) of Greenville, Texas. Johnson, who can really run, and had blown up in recruiting. Since May 1st, he has received offers from LSU, OU, Texas A&M, Georgia, TCU, Florida, Missouri, Florida State, Tennessee, and Alabama. Those are some college football heavyweights and a better indication of how good the player is than a rating from a recruiting service.
Johnson was skinny as a sophomore, but he is beginning to fill out, and his speed is off the charts. He is a sub 4.5 and a 10.5 100-meter guy and if you are not 6’1 to 6’3 then you better be able to run or OU will not recruit you in the secondary anymore.
As you know, we also feel that OU is in pretty good shape for defensive back Damond Harmon (6’1, 178) of Highland Springs, Virginia. Harmon is also a three-star, but his offer list is even more impressive from top to bottom with OU, Georgia, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, USC, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Georgia Tech among the schools that have offered,
Harmon talks to and knows OU quarterback commit Caleb Williams (6’1, 210) of Gonzaga, High School in Washington DC. He is also a teammate of four-star defensive end Kelvin Gilliam (6’3, 250) who recently included the Sooners in his top ten with Penn State, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, LSU, Cal, Kentucky, and South Carolina
“I feel very good about OU,” said Gilliam. “They hosted a great virtual tour specifically designed for me. Their staff speaks very highly of me, and I have a chance to come in and play right away.”
Big man camps have begun to spring up all over the country, and Gilliam has not disappointed as Charlie mentioned yesterday.
Harmon is going to announce on August 1st, and he and Gilliam have always dreamed of playing together, and right now, that pair is trending OU’s way and Gilliam is set to announce his choice in August as well, on the 22nd.
OU dropped out of the recruitment for four-star Tommie Hill (6’1, 185) of Orlando (Edgewater), Florida, who committed to Arizona State. Where does Oklahoma stand with DBs in the 2021 recruiting class, and just how many players can the Sooners take?
Currently, in the class, OU has four-star Latrell McCutchin (6’1, 176) of Austin (LBJ), Texas, and three-star safety Jordan Mukes (6’4, 192) of Choctaw, Oklahoma and now Johnson. After that, if Harmon chooses Oklahoma on the 1st, that’s four DB’s in the class and three corners. Does OU feel they need another safety in the class?
If so, I think OU is trending with three-star Daymon David (6’1, 172) of Reisterstown (Franklin), Maryland, but he’s still recruiting just receiving an offer from Mississippi State.
OU needs to sign a decent-sized DB class every year, but they have numbers in the secondary as we have been saying:
Safety:
Junior Pat Fields (5’11, 199)
Junioir Delarrin Turner-Yell (5’10, 193)
Redshirt Freshman Woodi Washington (5’11, 192)
Freshman Bryson Washington (6’2, 193)
Senior Chase Sylvie (6’0, 195)
Corner:
Senior Tre Brown (5’10, 186)
Junior Tre Norwood (6’0, 189)
Junior Justin Broiles (5’10, 193)
Sophomore Jaden Davis (5’10, 182)
Freshman D.J. Graham (5’11, 194)
Freshman Kendall Dennis (6’0, 174)
Freshman Joshua Eaton (6’2, 175)
Nickel Back:
Junior Brendan Radley-Hiles (5’9, 186)
Redshirt freshman Jeremiah Criddell (5’11, 198)
Junior Justin Harrington (6’3, 214)
Harrington is showing in the OU student database and is expected in Norman soon. If he does make it in OU will have 15 DBs on the current roster and would be able to have a three deep at each position in the secondary. You add four and possibly five recruits, and that’s a ton of DBs on a roster.
That’s really by design by the Sooners as they work to change the culture in the secondary and upgrade their talent in the secondary. To do that you have to sign players that you like and feel can make a difference and be an upgrade, and do that over several years. Check out Alabama and LSU, and that’s how you do it in the secondary.
Competition in the secondary is going to be intense with a ton of young talent on the roster that when OU recruited, they felt they were upgrades in talent. Depth is always fleeting, and if or when the Sooners play this year, there will be guys that get upset and disenchanted with their position on the roster. Players aren’t patient, and if they believe they should be playing but aren’t often, they will look for what they feel is a better situation elsewhere.
Quick Hitter | Recruits In Norman?
– Charlie S
A lot of buzz was generated this weekend as a pair of recruits sent out tweets with their locations showing them in Norman.
***Sooners 2022 linebacker commit Kobie McKinzie sent out the following tweet on Saturday evening…
Have confirmed he was in fact in Norman, but it was for personal reasons, not football or program-related.
Still…never a bad thing for your elite linebacker commit to give a shout out to his future home when he is in town.
***The other tweet of significance that many of you asked about was from 2021 defensive target Kendal Daniels…
Still working on this one, so right now, we cannot confirm what he was in town for or even if he was in town for that matter.
As you know, last week, we were first to report that the Daniels to OU recruitment was not the slam dunk it appeared to be at one point and we could not say that OU is even the clear front runner at this point.
Now, even if he was in Norman, due to the extended dead period, he is not allowed to meet with OU staff.
We did report we were expecting OU to speak with him over the coming days however, we still believe this would be an uphill climb for the Sooners if they continue to recruit him at this point.
The Latest | About The Eyes
– Charlie S
As you know, last night, Lincoln Riley flashed the eyes, signifying the Sooners had received a verbal commitment.
Initially, we suspected it may be the 2021 DL who K mentioned had silently committed.
However, while that recruit is silently committed, we heard from sources in Dallas the commit last night may in fact be a 2022 kid.
Overnight, we were able to confirm it is in fact a 2022 player from the greater Dallas area. Sources tell James the wait shouldn’t be that long for this commit to go public, but there is no specific date we are aware of at this time.
