Open Post | Tuesday, May 11th
Posted on: May 11, 2021
New Recruitment Factors | Myles Pollard & Cam Williams
– Super K
***Sooners are set to host 2022 DB, Myles Pollard (Brentwood, TN) for the big June 18-20th weekend. Oklahoma was already in pretty good shape with Pollard given Pollard’s ties to guys like Woodie Washington, Grimes, etc.
But a school like Michigan was a factor in large part it seems because of DB coach Mo Linguist. Pollard had already taken a self guided unofficial up to Michigan (something he didn’t do for OU) and has an official visit set for Michigan, as well.
However, news broke this past weekend that Mo Linguist will be taking over as the head coach at Buffalo.
Again, we believe Linguist was really the main area where they had an advantage over Oklahoma. So, without him, I think it makes things tougher for Michigan.
Auburn is the other main school in play here due to the proximity and SEC factor.
***So, while OU may be getting a bump on the Pollard front, there is a new school to contend with on the Cam Williams front. The 2022 monster-sized OL out of Duncanville picked up a Texas offer, recently.
Prior to that OU was in competition with Miami, Oregon, and Texas Tech. Outside of Oklahoma, those were his official visits with a decision date set for July.
Given OU’s pedigree and proximity, we felt like this was a near slam dunk.
But once Texas offered, Cam immediately set up an official visit for the weekend after he visits OU. We aren’t sure how big a factor Texas will be but they will almost certainly be stiffer competition than the Sooners were facing.
Sooners Offer Styles (’23 Athlete)
– Charlie S
The Sooners extended an offer 2023 athlete Sonny Styles (6’4 205) out of Pickerington, OH.
First of all, go watch the film (at bottom of post)…it’s a fun four minutes to include in your day.
I caught up with Styles over messaging and he was pretty excited by the offer which came from Sooners linebacker coach Brian Odom.
As we were talking, I asked him if OU offered him as a linebacker since Odom extended the offer and he said “Coach Odom isn’t so sure right now. He mentioned safety and linebacker, but he’s not sure. He just said he knows I’m a heck of a football player!”
I asked Sonny if he had a preference between the positions (Safety and Linebacker) and he said “I really don’t have a preference, I just want to be versatile in any defense I play on.”
Being that styles is a highly coveted kid from Ohio (who holds an Ohio State offer) I wanted to gauge his interest in Oklahoma and if he planned on taking a visit to Norman. Styles told me “I’m going to try to figure something out to visit this summer. If not in the summer, I may try to get up there in the season.”
Let’s cut to the chase; OU will have a ton of work to do here to have a legit shot at the kid based on Ohio State alone, not to mention all the other programs that are chasing him. But, as the saying goes, you have to be in it to win it.
I just wanted to get this note up to give you guys a bit of enjoyment with his film. A kid that big with that kind of body control and a desire to hit people is always a good time.
I will check in with Styles over the coming weeks to see if a visit comes together and keep you all posted.
Enjoy…
Putting it All together
– James Hale
There is no question that OU is recruiting better, especially on defense, and this year all the stars appear to be aligning as OU comes out of spring ball ranked as the number one team in the country by ESPN. However, while OU continues to be an elite program, they are not the best program in the country, and the Natty continues to elude them.
OU is recruiting pretty well and finished among the top 10 to 12 basically every year in recruiting rankings, but that’s not as good as Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU, and Georgia every year.
Alabama won the recruiting title in 2021, with Ohio State second, LSU third, Georgia 4th, and Clemson 5th. OU finished 10th.
In 2020, Georgia won the recruiting title, followed by Alabama, Clemson, LSU, and Ohio State. OU finished 12 that year.
In 2019, Alabama won the recruiting title, followed by Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, and OU finished sixth that year.
In 2018, Georgia again won the recruiting title, followed by Ohio State, Texas, USC, with Alabama, finished fifth. OU finished ninth that year.
In 2017, Alabama won the recruiting title, with Ohio State, Georgia, USC, and Michigan. OU was eighth that year.
You get the drift. OU is recruiting well but not quite good enough. Alabama is not winning the recruiting battle every year but has finished no lower than fifth. That is showing up on the field, and at the NFL Draft for the Crimson Tide, you can say the same thing about Clemson. Both programs are getting great coaching as they are getting great players and then coaching them up.
I think Georgia is underachieving considering the recruiting classes they are signing every year, and they haven’t won any Natty’s. They are not making it to the Final Four every year. Granted, they have to go through the rugged SEC, but considering how they recruit, they should win few battles with Alabama some years.
LSU had the one magical year, and that team was one of the best teams in college football history, but LSU always seems to be a quarterback short outside of the 2020 year with Joe Burrow. A&M is always a paper tiger, and of course, Texas is going through another coach.
OU is recruiting pretty well but is getting about as much as they can out of the recruiting classes they are pulling in. OU is developing talent, and nobody recruits quarterbacks and develops them like Lincoln Riley and OU. However, if OU wants to take the next step up on a consistent level, they will have to recruit better players.
If you want even to take it a step further, OU has to start recruiting more elite talent if they’re going to make up ground on Alabama and Clemson. OU is not recruiting enough five-stars. In fact, usually, OU signs a bunch of quality four-stars and three-stars, along with primetime quarterbacks, and the Sooners then turn that into an excellent team.
Alabama is not only pulling in a top-three recruiting class most years, but they are signing the most elite five-star talent since 2011. The Crimson Tide has signed 44 five-stars during that time while Georgia is next with 34, and Ohio State third with 25. Clemson is fourth with 20, and USC rounds out the top five with 19.
Surprisingly, Florida State is sixth tied with LSU with 19, then underachieving Texas A&M is next with 14, OU is next with 11, with Texas, Florida and Auburn all with 10. Unbelievably Ole Miss has nine, with Oregon and Michigan next with eight.
It’s easy to see why Alabama and Clemson continue to play in the Final Four and why those two programs are constantly chasing the National Championship as they are recruiting the most elite talent.
Another problem OU has is that, for the most part, their best five-stars are quarterbacks and receivers. In 2021, the five-star for the Sooners was quarterback Caleb Williams. In 2019 OU had their most five-stars in one year with three, and they were quarterbacks Spencer Rattler, and receivers Jadon Haselwood, and Theo Wease. In 2018 it was offensive lineman Brey Walker who thus far has not been able to crack the starting lineup at OU.
In 2016 linebacker Caleb Kelly was the Sooners lone five-star signee. In 2014, it was superstar running back Joe Mixon, and another running back Keith Ford had five stars in 2013, with running back Brandon Williams and wide receiver Trey Metoyer the five-star in 2011.
Out of those players, the verdict is still out on Caleb Williams, but the odds look promising that he is going to be really good. Rattler turned out to be the real deal, and Haselwood and Wease are either starting or playing in rotational roles at receiver at OU. Kelly has been a starter at OU, and Mixon was an outstanding player. Ford never became a full-time starter and transferred to Texas A&M. Brandon Williams never played at OU and switched to cornerback at A&M. Metoyer got into problems off the field at OU and never became a true starter.
“I think the biggest thing we need to do is continue to recruit better players into our program, especially on the defensive side of the ball,” said Coach Riley when asked how OU could close the gap with Alabama and the Clemson’s of the world. “We are recruiting well, and the players we are getting are very good, and players we can coach and they improve while they are here.”
“We have made a great effort in our program recently to go after the very best players at their positions. Now, I want to point out that is off our evaluations and not always the ratings of the recruiting sites. Many times, it all aligns, but there are times we like some players better than the rating services do. We also have to go after four or five at each position because we are not the only ones recruiting these guys.”
“We know to take our program to another level that we have to continue to bring in great talent, and in some cases better talent because in the postseason, we have had some tough matchups that we have not been successful in. I thought in those games that our opponents had better overall talent from top to bottom, and we have to improve in that area to match up better when we get into the Final Four.”
Thus far, in the ChampU22 class, wide receiver Luther Burden is a five-star, and running back Raleek Brown was a five-star and is still very close. The class is currently ranked fifth in the country, and that’s with three three-stars in the class. Again, OU feels all three of those players are better than their rankings indicate.
The goal is for the Sooners to break into the top three in the final recruiting rankings, and right now, OU still has a chance to do that.
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