Open Post | Tuesday, November 19th By: TFB Posted on: November 19, 2019

Princely Umanmielen | The Latest
– Super K

Following the Texas game, the Sooners were receiving a lot of interest from defensive players including 2020 DL, Princely Umanmielen.

Umanmielen decommitted about a week and a half later. The Sooners and Princely were in regular communication.

Then the Sooners had some on-the-field struggles on the defensive side of the ball and I don’t how much of an effect that had on Princely but I’d imagine it had some.

I spoke with a source close to Princely and was told that he is no longer considering the Sooners. Was told that he has decided he doesn’t want to play in the Big 12.

A few weeks ago the Big 12 looked like…

***Powerhouse, OU, undefeated and playing excellent defense…

***Texas rising and their only losses were close losses to LSU and a close (not really) to OU.

***Then your Baylors and Iowa States and TCUs are a nice second tier group that play good defense.

As soon as OU fell, I imagine the narrative above fell apart a bit.

But, to me, it’s just a matter of time. The OU defense will get where it needs to be and will do what they have the power to do…single handedly raise the perception of the conference. The reality is there are plenty of good teams in the Big 12 but they look better as a supporting act to a dominant blue blood.

OU has been dominant in the conference but for the national presence, they need to continue to build the defense. And, again, I believe that despite the bumps in the road, it’s on it’s way.

In terms of defensive line targets, it looks like OU is all in on Alfred Collins and JUCO DL, Dre Butler.

I know many of you have continued to ask about Reggie Grimes. I’ll say what I’ve been saying. After speaking with Reggie, I feel OU can land him if they push for him. I just don’t know how hard they are pushing, right now.

Sooners Sunday Brunch | Baylor
– Charlie S

The Sooners celebrated the largest comeback in the history of their storied program late into the night as they came back from being 25 down to defeat the Baylor Bears in Waco last night.

In a game that started out feeling very similar to last year’s College Football Playoff semi-final against Alabama, the Sooners had to feel like they were victims of a blitzkrieg assault in the first half as Baylor came out roaring and scored on five straight possessions to close out the half with a 31-10 lead. (28-3 at one point)

The Sooners were looking like they had no answers on defense and they looked very out of sync offensively. OU was without star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and the offensive line was having issues with the stout defensive front of the Bears.

Things did not look good for Oklahoma as the third quarter began. However, unbeknownst to many fans watching around the world, there was some of that Sooner Magic in the air in Waco.

The Sooners received the kick to open the half and proceeded to go on a long 5 minute and 44 second 12 play drive which covered 74 yards which culminated with Freshman Tight End Austin Stogner scoring his second touchdown of the night on a pass from Jalen Hurts.

Following that drive, the Bears got the ball back. On the first play of the drive, Baylor running back JaMycal Hasty ran for 32 yds to the Okla 45 and fumbled the ball due to a great hustle play by Parnell Motley who came from behind to jar the ball out. The ball was recovered by safety Pat Fields. While everyone was happy with the turnover, the play leading up to the fumble did little to have Sooner fans believing it was anything other than a freak occurrence as Kenneth Murray once again badly whiffed on a tackle which allowed Hasty to break off the big gain. However, the Sooners were in business as they had the ball in good field position.

The Sooners offense took over and produced another long, time-consuming drive. The 11 play drive whcih took over four minutes featured eight running plays. The Sooners took the ball to the three yard line and on the final play of the drive, Jalen Hurts called his own number and would have scored a touchdown to bring the Sooners within one score…except he turned the ball over as Baylor defensive tackle James Lynch knocked the ball out and forced the fumble.

Many were thinking…man that was a dagger…game over.

Wrong. The bears got the ball at the 35 as there was an unsportsmanlike penalty charged to Marquis Hayes following the fumble. However, the Sooner defense forced a three and out and the Bears were forced to punt. If you are keeping count, that is four offensive plays for Baylor on two drives to start the second half.

The Sooners got the ball on their own 10 yard line to start their next drive. What a drive it turned out to be as they would go the 90 yards in 13 plays which took four minutes and 39 seconds off the clock and culminated with Freshmen wide receiver Theo Wease scoring on a spectacular run after catch from 19 yards out. Suddenly, it was a one score game as OU cut the lead to 31-24.

The Bears would receive the kickoff and begin their drive at their own 22. The Sooners defense again would show up as they forced another three and out. Ronnie Perkins picked up a big sack on second down and the Sooners were in business as Baylor was once again forced to punt the ball away. For those of you keeping score at home, that is seven plays over three drives in the second half for the Baylor offense who gutted the OU defense throughout the entire first half. Seven plays…three drives…zero points.

On the ensuing possession, the Sooners would start with the ball at their own 23 following the punt. Once again, OU ripped off a tremendous drive as they would go the 77 yards necessary on 13 plays while taking another 6:01 off the clock. OU would tie the score at 31 as Jalen Hurts would find Brayden Willis all alone in the endzone.

The Bears would get the ball back and begin their next drive at their own 22. Following a pass interference on Parnell Motley on the first play of the drive, Baylor would reset and begin the drive from the 37. Once again, the Sooners defense would rise up and force another three and out as they stuffed the first down run and Charlie Brewer would follow that up with two incompletions. That would make it four drives in the half for Baylor….which consisted of 10 plays in total and zero points. The Sooners would get the ball back with a chance to take the lead.

OU got the ball at their own 27 to start the drive. Hurts was dropped for a four yard loss on first down but Kennedy Brooks would come up big with a 32 yard run over the left side and reset the downs for the Sooners. In all the Sooners would put together a 9 play drive which covered 59 yards and take 2:30 off the clock to set up a field goal attempt by Gabe Brkic.

Brkic is a great story as he nailed the field goal and remains a perfect 12 for 12 on field goals since taking over the job and the Sooners had a 34-31 point lead with under two minutes to play.

The Bears would get the ball at the 25 following a touchback on the ensuing kickoff. To this point in the half…the Bears had four drives and 10 plays…total.

The Baylor drive started with a Brewer pass which was completed to Denzel Mims for 8 yds to the Baylor 33. On second and two,  Charlie Brewer was sacked once again by Ronnie Perkins for a loss of 3 yards. On third and five, Brewer completed a pass to R.J. Sneed for 9 yds and a 1st down

As the drive continued, on first down, Brewer completed a pass to Denzel Mims for 21 yds to the OU 40. The Bears seemed to have found their groove.

Then, on first and 10 at the Sooner 40, Charlie Brewer again looked to hit RJ Sneed with a pass but Sooner RUSH Nik Bonitto was in the perfect position for an interception to seal the game for OU. Except he dropped it. At that moment, you cannot tell me that the majority of OU fans didn’t feel like that was THE chance for OU to put the game away and most probably felt that Baylor would at least continue the drive and have a shot at a game-tying field goal at the very least.

However…second down happened and apparently second chances were meant to happen as well as Charlie Brewers pass was intercepted by…you guessed it…Nik Bonitto. Icing the game for the Sooners.

For those keeping score at home…on five second-half possessions for the Bears…they ran 16 plays for a total of 69 yards and zero points.

It was truly a historic comeback for the Sooners. The largest such in their illustrious history and it should propel them to the conference championship game (they only need to win one of their remaining two games) where they will likely meet this Baylor team again.

Now…looking at the bigger picture…the Defense was dominant in the second half. Perhaps the best half of defense I have seen OU play since, I don’t know, maybe 2015? Probably not even then. It was about as perfect as you could get regardless.

That performance, which followed perhaps their worst defensive half which I have seen since…maybe Iowa State last week…was quite special as it would have been very easy for the OU defense to crawl into their shell and go quietly in the second half.

They didn’t crawl into their shell. They showed up for the second half and bullied Baylor around. Ronnie Perkins led a very good pass rush and the rest of the defensive line was giving Baylor problems. The linebacked seemed to settle in a bit better and the secondary actually looked good. Something clicked for OU at halftime.

So that leads me to this….the second-half defense looked very similar to the way they played against Texas and West Virginia. Then you had the Kansas State and Iowa State defensive debacles. We were all left scratching our heads and wondering if Kansas State was an anomaly. The first half of the Iowa State game gave everyone some hope that the KSU game was in fact a defensive anomaly…but then the second half of Iowa State happened and once again, things looked bleak.

Following the second-half defensive meltdown against ISU…you had the first half atrocity against Baylor. So if anyone actually thought that OU was going to come out and hold Baylor to 16 plays, 69 total yards, and zero points in the second half…please call me, I need lottery numbers for the week,

I guess the point I am trying to make is that…the OU defense is, in fact, improved from last year. The one thing the OU defense is not…is consistent yet. That will take time. That will take different players. That will take a bit of patience.

But the flashes are there. We have all seen them. What we all want and need to see is consistency now. If OU can ride the defensive wave they were on in the second half against Baylor, there isn’t a team left on their schedule who should be close on the scoreboard. The big question is…can they stay on that wave?

Quick Hitter | Alfred Collins Reacts to Baylor Game
– Charlie S

Sooners 2020 defensive line priority target Alfred Collins was at the Baylor vs Oklahoma game in Waco last night.

I caught up with him through messaging to get his thoughts on the game…

*** After exchanging a few messages, I asked Collins for his thoughts on the performance of the OU defensive line, Alfred said “The Defensive Line did great. They had lots of pressure in moments when they needed it”.

*** It was a good game for Collins to be at obviously. One thing that stood out was the adjustments the defense made in the second half.

*** Pair the fact that Texas lost yesterday and Collins got to see OU pull off a historic comeback in large part thanks to a defensive turnaround in the second half…feels like it was a good day for OU.

Florida Players | Notebook | Smith, Hill & Dennis
– Super K

As you all know, I was in Florida last week and will type up the full updates but here are some quick notes…

***The fastest wide receiver in the country has to be Arian Smith. When I saw Arian last week, he said that he would be taking an official visit to OU this weekend.

However, we have heard that Marvin Mims commitment may have slowed things down. Waiting for final confirmation on whether they will bring Arian in or not. Smith used to play DB and as much as I love Mims, OU doesn’t have a player like Arian on campus…so would be great if they can find a way to work it.

***On 2020 DB, Dominick Hill, spoke to one source who said that following his visit, he was OU bound. As I mentioned, when I spoke with him I got the sense that he knows OU is the right fit but his comfort level at South Carolina (he’s been on campus 5 times) was something he was still working through.

Still, gotta think OU can win this one if they continue to push.

***I saw 2020 CB, Kendall Dennis (Lakeland, FL) a couple of times, last week. You already now I feel he’s a game changer. He’s not the biggest guy. I’d say around 5’10.5 but he’s got some length to him.

I have heard that OU has been in touch so perhaps something will happen here. The state of Florida has been kind to OU. Jaden Davis has played pretty well as a freshman and Bonitto sealed the game last night.

The other thing to note on Dennis is he’s a burner. As fast as Tre Brown but far more fluid and loose.

Quick Hitter | Alfred Collins Update + My Take
– CJ Vogel

I hit the road to Bastrop to talk to top target Alfred Collins this afternoon at the conclusion of his basketball practice. Collins is fresh off a visit to Waco where he saw the Sooners overcome a 28-3 deficit and shock Baylor on their own field in one of the craziest comebacks in recent memory.

Collins told me the OU victory “just goes to show the hard work they’ve been putting in, and what they have been telling me is working.”

While impressed with the come from behind win, Collins said what any of the schools he is considering do on the field this year won’t play too much into his decision at the end of the day.

** Collins said his decision will come in February, likely around NSD2.

** As for this weekend. Collins is headed back to Waco for the 2nd straight week for the Texas-Baylor game. It will be the second straight weekend he will be in Waco, which is something to keep an eye on.

Collins said “it was awesome being hosted by Baylor” this past weekend. With one official visit remaining, Collins said there’s a good chance he OV’s to Baylor sometime in December.

With a target date set in February, Collins will continue to take visits when time permits. He said getting back to Alabama would be difficult for him and wasn’t too sure about a return trip to College Station.

My Take: 

It really feels like Collins favors the Sooners and the lifestyle surrounding the OU football program and campus. Lincoln Riley has done a great job of instilling a “family vibe” during Collins’ recruitment and that’s paying off at the moment.

If I had to rank the top three for Collins (and this is entirely off of my read of him) it’d go:

  • Oklahoma
  • Texas
  • Baylor

Baylor is getting back to back unofficial visits, though this is also a chance for Collins to get one more look at Texas and OU on the field. But the Bears are also likely to get the last OV in his recruitment and can really roll out the red carpet for him as it seems like he’ll OV during a time where the coaches won’t be occupied by game-week and can focus all attention on the 6-foot, 6-inch monster from Bastrop.

Collins mentioned above that on-field success won’t be a big factor in his decision, but he couldn’t help but point out the Bears’ season this year. Not to mention they’ll be hosting him three times in a month. Baylor could make this thing all sorts of interesting.

Sooners Offer 2020 DB Kendall Dennis
– Charlie S

The Sooners have offered 2020 DB Kendall Dennis out of Lakeland Florida

If you have been on TFB and paying attention, you are familiar with Dennis by this point. In a post this morning Super K told you:

“I have heard that OU has been in touch so perhaps something will happen here. The state of Florida has been kind to OU. Jaden Davis has played pretty well as a freshman and Bonitto sealed the game last night.”

Super K first brought up his name back on October 30th in a post found here.

If not, one of the other high school targets that I believe the Sooners are looking at is Kendall Dennis (Lakeland, FL). Dennis is around 6’ tall and ran a 4.40 40 at the Opening.

I haven’t seen Dennis in person but on film, he looks like the best of the bunch. If you’re talking about adding speed and fluidity – he does that. If you want to add some size – he isn’t a 6’2 guy but he’s a 6’0 guy which is bigger than guys like Brown and Davis.

And if Grinch wants guys who actually get turnovers…well, WATCH THIS…

As you know, K was down in Florida this past week and he got the opportunity to see Dennis on the field…

Nice offer for OU as Dennis is a turnover generating machine!

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