Open Post | Wednesday, April 18th By: The Brainiacs Posted on: April 18, 2018

– 2019 DB, Chris Steele (Bellflower, CA) took his long awaited official visit to Oklahoma, this past weekend. While on his visit, he also announced his decision date.

Steele made the visit to Norman with his mother and his father. I exchanged a few texts with Chris and his father, Troy, while on the visit and I knew the visit was going well when Chris said the following…

After the visit, I spoke with Steele’s father, Troy, over the phone about his expectations of the trip, “I knew going in it was going to be nice. It’s a legendary program. But I tried to go in with no expectations. I did follow them (OU) last year. I rooted for them in the playoffs. I like their quarterback (Baker Mayfield). The man has swagger.”

The visit went well for Chris and the family and perhaps most importantly, the Sooners addressed things that were most important to the family, “It was off the hook. I liked it a lot. I liked everything about it. You can go there and be whatever you want to be. They’re big on emphasizing life after football and I think they have to be because out there you can become a celebrity and then not know how to cope”.

Perhaps the most critical point of emphasis for Troy is he would like Chris to get his degree within three years. So, he was looking for Oklahoma to have a plan for that, “Chris wants to be a three and out guy if possible but we want him to be a three and out guy with a degree and Oklahoma was one of the only schools that talked to us about a plan to do that”.

Troy went on, “Wherever my son goes, the school needs to be able to show me a plan to help him graduate in three years”.

Bookie and Chris

While on the trip, Chris was hosted by another California native, Bookie, “we’ve known Bookie for a long time. Chris grew up watching Bookie in Pop Warner. Bookie was always that dude.”

https://twitter.com/KinggChris7/status/985882733787283462

Steele was with Bookie and the players for a large portion of the time, “we really didn’t see him that much. This visit was for Chris”.

Bookie had great things to say, it seems, about Oklahoma but also, according to Troy, emphasized the opportunity that is there for Chris, “Bookie feels like knowing Chris he can go into Oklahoma and play right away”.

Moving Forward

As previously noted, Chris plans to announce his decision on July 7th.

This was Chris’ first official visit and Troy tells me that the following additional official visits have been scheduled…

They will take an official visit to LSU this upcoming weekend and then they go to Florida on June 1st to visit the Gators.

Troy also added that they will take an official visit to South Carolina, though the date hasn’t been set. It’s worth noting that they have already visit South Carolina once before and Troy has a good relationship with South Carolina DB coach, Tavaris Robinson.

One of the things Troy emphasized is how important it is for him to find someone he can trust to take care of Chris as a football player and as a young man. This becomes especially true if he leaves the state, “We know Chris has to go do what he has to do and a coach doesn’t have to call me all the time or recruit me. But you want to at least have some communication with the position coach. You want to know what kind of man is going to be coaching your son”.

On that note, the family spent some time with both coach Cooks and coach Riley, “There was a lot of kids there and the coaches were also trying to coach but Kerry spent time with us and we had a meeting with Lincoln. I like those guys! It was a good visit”.

Wrapping Up

No leader was named but I certainly like where the Sooners are in this race, at the moment. Obviously Chris still has some visits remaining before his decision. Also, USC is an in-state school to watch. The family has a great relationship with that staff and it’s close to home, which always a plus for parents.

But I will say that both Chris and his father have noted to me how much better they believe the football is in the Big 12 and SEC than the Pac 12, in general.  Chris is an incredibly talented but also competitive young man. So, the Big 12 appeals to him.

The Sooners made the impression they needed to here. If they can stand up to these upcoming visits, they may hear their name on 7th. – (Super K)

 

 

– Elite 2019 Wide Receiver and Sooners legacy, Jadon Haselwood took an official visit to Norman this weekend. I have spoken briefly with Haselwood and we are set to speak again soon.

Haselwood told me that he loved the visit and it was a really good selling point for his mother who had never been to Norman.

A source I spoke with echoed the sentiment that his mother was blown away with the family atmosphere. The source also stated that Sooners Wide Receiver coach, Dennis Simmons, made her feel at home. The source added, “Jadon’s mother has only been on two visits, OU and UGA, and she was clearly feeling at home. Even made the statement that the coaches seem to care about the person Jadon is, rather than the football player.”

That again speaks volumes to how Riley, much like Stoops, runs a very family oriented program. That family atmosphere seems to be a calling card for the staff because Haselwood’s not the only visitor to state such sentiments.

 

– Another big target on hand was Princeton (NJ) offensive lineman, Caedan Wallace. Wallace says he was most impressed by the fan attendance; “It was a great atmosphere. Even though it was cold, thousands of fans came out.”

This was Caedan’s first time in Norman and getting to be around the whole Oklahoma coaching staff and seeing the facilities left a huge impression on him. Wallace made note of it, “I enjoyed being around the whole staff. The coaches were great to me and I was very blown away by the facilities. They were great.”

From just the brief amount of time he and I spoke, I could tell he came away with several things to make him think of Norman as a potential destination. Was it enough to solidify the Sooners position in his recruitment? I hope to find out more on that later on this week. – (Brandon)

 

 

– Recently, the Sooners offered 2020 Elite Safety Darius Snow, Carrollton (TX) Hebron HS.

https://twitter.com/dsnowzy23/status/986066745436798978

The 6’2″ 210 lbs. safety is one of the fastest rising prospects in the nation for the class of 2020 and he already holds offers from some of the most prestigious programs in the country. The Sooners join Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Stanford, to name just a few, who have extended an offer to Darius.

The Sooners do have a connection the others are not so fortunate to have as Snow is the teammate of one of #NewWave19’s most influential recruits, Trejan Bridges. I was able to catch up with Darius shortly after he announced his offer.

When I asked Snow about how his offer came about, he said “Coach Cooks offered me. I had called him and we were talking about my life story in a sense. After talking about my recruitment a bit, he told me he would like to offer me.”

As the conversation continued, he told me “I went up to Norman last year, but that was for a basketball team camp. I’ll definitely be up there sometime to really soak in the football aspect of the campus.”

I asked Darius which schools really pique his interest and he replied “All of them really. I don’t prefer any school over the others as of yet.” As for the impact the Sooners offer had, he said “The first person I told was my Pops, as always. I was speechless man, that offer is huge.”

Naturally I asked snow if Trejan was pushing him towards the Sooners yet. He told me “I mean Trejan has always boasted OU, but I’m sure he’ll really be on me about it now.” – (Charlie)

 

 

– One time 2019 Running Back commit, Isaiah Spiller, did not make it to Norman for his unofficial visit for the Spring game. Leading up to the weekend, he and his family had indicated that they would be making the trip.

Brandon was able to touch base with the Spillers and was told that they were not able to make it to Norman due to some family issues that had come up. It should also be noted that the Spillers did not attend the Texas A&M game as that seemed to be a possibility as well.

– As to where the Sooners will turn to at the running back position this cycle, it would appear that Marcus Major has stepped to the forefront and is a priority. Coach Boulware and the staff are putting in the work as we have reported and things are continuing to move in a positive direction.

– OU continues it’s pursuit of Noah Cain as well. Cain will be making his decision in December at the time of the early signing period so there is a lot of time left in that recruitment. If you recall, Noah visited OU earlier in the spring and by all accounts the visit went very well. He will be visiting Texas for their spring game this weekend and we feel that Texas is in a very good spot with Cain at this time.

– Another name we keep hearing is Tyrion Davis out of Baton Rouge, LA. Davis is an LSU commit but he did visit OU for one of the Junior Days back in February. It’s always a huge hill to climb to pull a kid from Louisianna away from LSU, but we do know that there is still a good amount of conversation taking place there. – (Charlie)

 

 

– Then there is this..

As you are all aware, Sooners Head Coach Lincoln Riley dropped two more pairs of “Cookie Monster” eyes last night.

While we cannot share the names of the two commits, we can say that both of them are top targets for the Sooners at each of their respective positions, one on offense and one on defense!

While we are not certain of the timing of one of the announcements, we expect to see one of them become public today at the very least! – (Charlie)