Open Post | Weekend, April 3rd – 5th
Posted on: April 3, 2020
Update | Sooners Linebacker Commit | Kobie McKinzie
– Charlie S
A bunch of you have asked about the status of Sooners linebacker commit Kobie McKinzie. As many of you know, Kobie was originally a class of 2022 recruit who committed to the Sooners back in January.
Back in February, McKinzie stated that it is his intention to graduate a full year early and reclassify to the 2021 recruiting class if all goes well.
Many of you have inquired as to if that is still the plan and I was able to get in touch with his father, Will Truby, who graciously shared a few minutes of his time with me.
I asked Mr. Truby if the current situation with the pandemic has changed any of those plans for Kobie at this point. Mr Truby said “That is a fair question. The only change we’ve made for him to potentially graduate early is to his 20-21 school schedule.” He continued, “If this deal goes on too long, it may have some effect. It will just be another factor though. It’s one of those things that has to be right for everyone. Kobie, OU, etc…everyone”.
I brought up a scenario in which the College (and High School) football season is a casualty of the pandemic and asked him if that would have a potential impact on the decision one way or another. I was looking to get his thoughts on if losing a year of highs school ball would be even more incentive for Kobie to push for his plan to come to fruition.
Mr. Truby said, “If this fall is canceled, then he can pretty much spend the majority of his time doubling up on school. Online school can move more rapidly than brick and mortar school. With that said, moving fast at the expense of actually learning is lousy long term preparation”.
He concluded by saying something I think we can all relate to: “Kobie without football gets super bored. We need there to be football!”
So right now, regardless of what is happening in the world around us, it looks like Kobie is plowing ahead with his plan to reclassify from the 2022 class to the 2021 class.
Throw Back | Mike Gaddis – The One That Almost Got Away
– James Hale
One of the most enjoyable recruiting tales that I’ve heard involved former OU running back great Mike Gaddis.
Gaddis died last August due to kidney failure and those that were around him and coached him or played with him still bring him up to this reporter from time to time. Out of Carl Albert High School in Midwest City, Oklahoma Gaddis was a prime time recruit back in the day and considered a must get for the Sooners.
When healthy Gaddis was one of the best running backs to ever play for the Sooners rushing for 2,622-yards over three seasons in 1988, 1989 and 1991. Gaddis missed the 1990 season due to a torn ACL and he was not quite as explosive when he returned but proved that he was still plenty good rushing for 1,344-yards at 5.6 yards per carry and 17 touchdowns.
Gaddis had a breakout game in 1988 when he nearly matched Oklahoma State Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders yard-for-yard in one of the greatest duels this reporter has ever seen with Sanders rushing for 215 yards and two touchdowns while Gaddis finished with 213 and two touchdowns in a Sooner 31-28 win in Stillwater.
Gaddis was potentially on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy in 1989 as he was the nations best running back and was emerging as the best player in college football rushing for 829 years and 10 touchdowns in a little more than five games. Against Texas, he had broken through the line and was in the open field when his knee all of a sudden buckled and he fell to the turf. He was not tackled or touched but he had blown out his knee and injuries would haunt Gaddis the rest of his playing career.
You would think being 25 minutes up the road Gaddis would have been an easy mark for the Sooners in recruiting, but he turned out to be everything but easy and OU had to sweat signing him all the way until signing day.
OU coaching great Bobby Proctor was responsible for recruiting Gaddis and another great recruiter, Scott Hill, was the running back coach at the time. Gaddis seemed all OU until he took his last official visit to Southern Cal the week before signing day. That visit to USC all of a sudden made things dicey with Gaddis and he certainly wasn’t a sure thing coming back from LA.
A USC coach had flown back with Gaddis from LA, which was standard practice back in the day in recruiting and that set off a firestorm at Carl Albert. Coach Proctor had been recruiting the state of Oklahoma for a long time and he had contacts at several schools all across the state and at Carl Albert, he had several that would call him or he would call them to help him keep up with a prize running back like Gaddis. Monday morning, two days before signing day, I happened to be sitting in the OU coaching office when Coach Proctor came out of his office and yelled at Coach Hill that they had to get to Midwest City in a hurry because USC in there and all of a sudden things were getting nervous with Gaddis.
It was a janitor at the school that had alerted Coach Proctor that he needed to get down to Carl Albert so he and Coach Hill race to Midwest City. Because of the coach’s connections with the local school, they are able to get Gaddis out of class and they take him into an auxiliary classroom that was the band room at Carl Albert. Coach Hill is doing most of the talking but to embellish his talk he decided to start drawing up plays out of the wishbone and the I-formation that they would use for a player of Gaddis.
On the chalkboard the band director that dawn the band formation for Friday’s game complete with names of the band members and where they would be standing for the band’s presentation that day. Well, it looked like bird scratch to Coach Hill so he just erased it and started drawing plays as he talked to Gaddis. The conversation and the play drawing went on for about an hour or until the band director wanted to get into his room. As you might expect the band director wasn’t happy with Scott Hill or Bobby Proctor and he didn’t care if they were OU coaches or not they had erased his band formation for Friday’s game and was mad as a hornet.
Despite the board issue when the meeting ended the OU coaches felt they had regained the lead. Gaddis was playing basketball at the time and the Titans had a game on this night at Guthrie. Coach Proctor suggested that they go to the game but it was a couple of days before signing day and Coach Hill had made other plans so he headed back to Norman. Coach Proctor was so nervous about singing Gaddis that he decided to go to the basketball game by himself. So, he goes back to Norman with Coach Hill, gets his coaching Polo on and dresses up a little bit, and heads to Guthrie for the game that night just two days before signing day.
When Coach Proctor walks in he sees three USC coaches sitting a couple of rows behind the Titans bench. Coach Proctor said hello to the three Trojan coaches and then sat right behind them the whole game. Every time he looked over, Gaddis saw the three Trojan coaches but he also saw the smiling face of Coach Proctor who had been recruiting him for over a year.
“The game’s over,” Coach Proctor said, “I go to his coach and said, ‘You’re going to take him right home?’ And he said he was and I said good. I said, just tell him that I’ll be at his house when he gets home. I check into a motel down there about a mile away from his house. I go to his house and his mom opens the door and starts talking and visiting. We’re all talking and about 20-30 minutes later he comes in and we’re sitting there, she’d fixed us some bologna sandwiches and Kool-Aid and we talked until 11 o’clock.”
Coach Proctor left and promised to be back at the Gaddis house early the next morning and he arrived at 6:30 A.M. only to find that Gaddis is not there. Coach Barry Switzer tried to switch up his plans but he couldn’t get to MWC and Coach Proctor still in the same gear that he had on the night before because when he checked into a hotel in Midwest City he did not have time to go back to Norman and change. However, Coach Proctor received another jolt when he arrived at the Gaddis house early the next morning.
“I didn’t want USC bunch to come in before me in the morning,” said Gaddis. “So, I wake up and I go back to the house, his brother comes to the door and I walk in casually and say, ‘Where’s Mike?’ His brother says, ‘He’s gone to school. He wanted to turn in a lesson plan.’
Coach Proctor feared the worse, that Southern Cal had stolen him, had convinced him to go and meet them at the high school early but he had no choice but to sit at the home of Gaddis and wait because he had already played his card.
“I’m thinking, damn, Switzer is going to fire my ass if I let Gaddis slip right out the door,” said Proctor. “I’m thinking that USC had got him. You have to have a great relationship with the parents in recruiting as well and so I’m sitting on the couch just visiting with his parents and I hear an old truck coming up the driveway. The janitor had been helping me throughout the whole recruiting process and he often picked up Mike and took him to and from school. The janitor had made sure that Mike got back to the house before the USC coaches could get to the high school and since they had not set up a home visit for him they could not find him at the school.”
“I started talking to Mike and his mom as soon as he got through the door and I said let’s just go ahead and get this thing over with and I convinced them to go ahead and sign the papers and I would hold them until it was time to turn them in the next day. His mom was all for it and they signed. I felt I was the luckiest man in the world.”
“I was so scared that we weren’t going to get him but when he and his family signed the paperwork we just sat around talked for another hour or so before I headed back to Norman. Mike was a great kid, quiet, but what a great football player and super individual to boot. Sad what happened to him in football and in life. Passing away at 50 is way too early but he lived a great life and had no regrets and my life is better off because he was in it.”
Gaddis was drafted by Minnesota in the sixth round of the 1992 draft and was earning a spot on their roster but as he was running wind sprints with the team his knee buckled again and he had torn his ACL again. Gaddis never played a down in the NFL. Gaddis was not seen very often around the OU Football program and he didn’t like to talk about his career much but make no mistake, he was one of the greatest players to ever put on a Sooner uniform. He settled in with his family in the Oklahoma City area and had a successful career as a Farmer’s Insurance Agent.
Quick Hitters | Sturdivant & Rawlins-Kibonge
– Charlie S
*** Checked in with 2021 priority wide receiver target J.Michael Sturdivant (6’2″ 183) out of Flower Mound, TX to see how things are going throughout the mandated dead period for him and OU
Sturdivant visited Norman back on February 1st and picked up an offer on the trip. Since that point, he has been a focus for Oklahoma and he has also picked up a number of additional offers from the likes of Stanford, Notre Dame, Miami and a half a dozen or so others.
Sturdivant tells me that he and Oklahoma communicate three or four times a week and ‘Coach Gundy and Simmons are definitely some of the hardest recruiters’.
J.Michael also mentioned that Cal, Notre Dame and Missouri are also recruiting him hard right now.
I got the sense that the Sooners are in a good position with Sturdivant right now and I don’t think it would be a stretch to say they are the leaders. I would keep an eye on Notre Dame as the main competition at this point.
*** Also checked in with 2021 Edge defender Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge (6’7″ 240) who picked up an offer from the Sooners upon the arrival of OLB/DE Coach Jamar Cain.
Rawlins-Kibonge was scheduled to visit Norman in April, but as you all know that had to be pushed off due to the pandemic.
Nathan tells me he talks to Coach Cain quite often. He said, “We’ve had good constant communication”.
Look for Rawlins-Kibonge to reschedule that visit once things open up and should visits be allowed in the summer, I would not be shocked to see him pop in for the Champ U BBQ.
Glancing Ahead | 2022 RBs
– Darius Terrell
With the entire sports world on pause, I figured now would be a good time to get a jump on the competition. Last year, I released multiple “watch lists” for 2021 prospects weekly as a part of my Thirsty Thursday columns. You guys seemed to really enjoy it and we love to keep the people happy here at TFB. This time around we’ll give the younger guys a little bit more of their own shine. Today we’ll focus on the guys that tote the rock.
Klein Cain RB Jaydon Blue (5’10 200)
(Photo Cred: Click 2 Houston)
On the hoof: This guy is a natural runner of the football. He shows an understanding of how to change speeds to set up blocks and defenders and makes moves with his next counter already in mind. Blue consistently runs through contact and explodes through arm tackles on his highlights. The clips are particularly impressive because there weren’t huge holes for him to run through. He had to squeeze through creases and elude guys in small spaces forward and laterally before he could show what he has in the open field. Blue has terrific balance. He doesn’t get asked to catch the ball much in his high school offense, but Blue shows off some impressive hands and route-running ability for his 7on7 team in the spring and summer. He’s the top back in the class right now for me.
Offers: Texas, TCU, Oklahoma St., Arizona St., Mississippi St., Arkansas
Highlights:
Denison RB Jadarian “JD” Price (5’10 175)
(Photo Cred: Herald Democrat)
On the hoof: Price is a guy that I’ve wrote about previously on the Texas side, but I really like this kid’s game and he has a tremendous story. Price reminds me a lot of current Oklahoma Running Back Kennedy Brooks in the sense that he doesn’t look like he’s really doing anything special, yet he continuously eats up yardage on a game by game basis. He’s a long-strider with deceptive speed. A starter since his Freshman season, Price is also a standout off of the field.
Offers: Ohio St., Texas, USC, Minnesota, Baylor, Oklahoma St., TCU, SMU
Highlights:
Nolan Catholic RB Emeka Megwa (6’0 200)
(Phot Cred: Twitter)
On the hoof: Megwa is a guy whose name has been a popular one with recruiting junkies for over a year. He has offers from all of the national powers. He’s a bit of a man amongst boys at the private school level in Texas. Megwa is really filled out and thickly built to be so young, bringing about some slight concerns about his long-term potential and flexibility. He’s a do-it-all type that can be effective in all three phases (running, catching, blocking).
Offers: Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, LSU, Texas, Florida, Ohio St., Georgia, Auburn, Michigan, Nebraska
Highlights:
Tyler Lee RB Jamarion Miller (5’9 170)
(Photo Cred: Tyler Paper)
On the hoof: Miller is the younger brother of 2017 Texas WR signee Damion Miller, who is currently at Tyler JC. Jamarion is much shorter but has the same type of speed and home-run ability. Despite his size, Miller shows an ability to run through arm tackles and he has ball skills to be a weapon in the passing game. Miller could potentially be recruiting as a Cornerback.
Offers: Oklahoma St., SMU, UTSA
Highlights:
Dallas Skyline RB Qualon Farrar (5’8 170)
(Photo Cred: Dallas News)
On the hoof: Farrar has juice. Speed and quickness are the name of his game. He’s diminutive and you have to be creative with him, but Farrar has a skillset that FBS programs covet. He reminds me of 2021 Texas prospect Montaye Dawson.
Offers: Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Utah St.
Highlights:
Lewisville Hebron RB Isaiah Broadway (5’11 180)
(Photo Cred: Texas Football)
On the hoof: Broadway made this list because he earned 6-6A Newcomer of the Year honors last season after logging major snaps as a Freshman. Broadway didn’t appear to take a step forward during his sophomore season, but he has multiple offers and will be a guy that I pay close attention to during his Junior year.
Offers: Baylor, North Texas
Highlights:
Quick-Hitters | Sooners Make the Cut & Cyrus Moss
– Super K
***Earlier this week 4-star Louisiana WR, Destyn Pazon (Edna Karr) announced his top five which included the Sooners along with Alabama, LSU, Florida State, and Florida…
I spoke with a source on the OU side and was surprised to find out that Pazon actually unofficially visited OU prior to the Corona shut down.
Source didn’t rule out landing Pazon. Said Pazon loved his visit to Norman. However, added that it’s obviously going to be tough to take a kid from Edna Karr from LSU.
***Also, Sooners recently offered 2022 NV OLB, Cyrus Moss (Bishop Gorman). This is going to be a big one to watch in the future.
Moss not only hails from Bishop Gorman (DeMarco Murray connection), but he was actually planning on coming out this way to visit schools before the Corona virus shutdown.
His father coaches at Bishop Gorman (great guy!). He tells me that once this is all cleared up, they will be out to visit.
Moss is going to be one of the most highly coveted pass rushers in the next class.
Keep an eye on Damond Harmon
– Super K
I’d love to see Oklahoma go after 2021 DB Deuce Harmon but being under 6’ makes the chances of that pretty unlikely.
However, there is another Harmon (not related as far as we know)…
The Sooners recently offered 2021 DB Damond Harmon (Highland Spring) out of the Richmond, VA area.
It just so happens I recently saw Harmon. I went by Highland Springs about a month ago to see Sooners 2021 DL target, Kelvin Gilliam. And while at the school, they mentioned Damond Harmon.
At the time he hadn’t had much contact with OU but I spoke to him anyway. I can go back and review my notes to see what may be of interest to you all.
But I did check with him after the OU offer and he said Grinch made the offer. Harmon is a Grinch type DB. Tall, long guy who can probably play multiple positions.
As you know, his teammate, Kelvin Gilliam was supposed to visit OU in April (says he will reschedule). Harmon says the chances of him visiting OU are very high. Gilliam told me he thinks OU’s chances with Harmon are great.
Perhaps a package deal in the works? We shall see.
JoJo Earle | A Decision Looming | The Latest
– Super K
Yesterday, I spoke with 4-star 2021 WR, JoJo Earle (Aledo) about where things currently stand in his recruitment.
***You will recall that Earle released an initial top five list which included: LSU, TCU, Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma.
***Since then, however, he has visited Texas and he tells me with their hiring of a new wide receiver coach, they have re-entered his group of top schools.
***When I saw Earle earlier this year at Aledo, I got the sense that the schools to watch were LSU, TCU, and Oklahoma. I believe that has changed.
***Yesterday, when I asked him who has been recruiting him the hardest during this dead period, he said: USC, OU, Texas, TCU and Miami.
***I did ask him if that was his new top five and he said he wasn’t sure because he still needs to take some visits.
***He added that coach Gundy and coach Simmons are in touch with him regularly from Oklahoma and he says he hears from Lincoln Riley, as well.
***JoJo says he’s hoping to be able to take his official visits in the summer. His original plan was to commit closer to signing day but now he tells me that if he’s able to take his OVs in the summer, he may go ahead and pull the trigger before the summer ends.
***Otherwise, he tells me, look for a decision in the fall. If the summer OVs are still available, with all the talk of a second wave of Corona possible in the fall, I think you’ll see a lot of guys try to squeeze in June visits and perhaps make an early decision.
***In other words continuing to put in a lot of work during this time is potentially critical.
***My gut tells me that Earle ends up staying close and if I had to bet, I’ll bet this one comes down to TCU, OU and Texas.
UCLA OL Transfer Chris Murray Makes It Official | Norman Bound
– Charlie S
As we mentioned back on March 18th the Sooners were looking to add a transfer along the offensive line.
“I know we’ve talked about a high profile transfer and as I previously noted there was a scholarship issue. I was told that for said high profile player, if he still wants to transfer, it would happen for fall camp.
Now then, I am told that the Sooners do actually have one scholarship but it’s being held for an offensive linemen.
It sounds like OU has already identified the lineman and I’m told he will have two years of eligibility.
It’s clear from this and from the recent presser with coach Riley that he and Bedenbaugh were not happy with the offensive line performance last year (rich people problems ammirite?). So, moves are being made to ensure that the line is back up to Bedenbaugh’s standard.”
In the comments of the post, we told you that it was, in fact, Chris Murray from UCLA.
This is a nice pickup for Oklahoma as Murray will have two years to play after he sits out (unless he gets a waiver) and he started 24 games for the Bruins.
Monkell Goodwine | Sooners Surprising Omission
– Super K
I have to say this one came as a surprise and it’s hard to sugar coat but Sooners DL target, Monkell Goodwine has released his top 5 and the Sooners did not make the cut.
The top five included LSU, Bama, Penn State, Texas A&M and Maryland.
When we spoke with Goodwine before the Corona virus shut down he was planning both an official and unofficial visit to Oklahoma.
I reached out to him via text for comment and he said, “To keep it real, I’ve kind of seen behind the fake. Trust me, it was cool but I’m 100% sure that they wouldn’t need me. Just got to do what’s best for me”.
I interpreted that to mean that the Sooners may have slowed down the recruitment of Goodwine.
I was able to get some clarification from Goodwine. He said that he “never once talked to coach Cain which is my position”. He said his communication was only with coach Thibs and he noted, “he coaches D tackles. I’m a DE”.
So it sounds like the Sooners may have been telling him he would be a DE (or that was his assumption) but he realized that his primary recruiter was the DT coach and not the DE coach.
Update | 2021 OL Bryce Foster Getting Closer
– Charlie S
Lot’s of talk out there about Sooners top offensive line target Bryce Foster leaning towards OU so I caught up with him to bring you the latest.
*** As you know, back on March 24th, K talked to Foster about the schools that are recruiting him the hardest during this coronavirus induced dead period and Foster mentioned that OU was the leader in that category:
‘Bill Bedenbaugh is doing work…
I checked in with 2021 OL, Bryce Foster, yesterday. I asked him, as well, which schools have been recruiting him the hardest during this Corona Virus dead period.
As you know, Foster has a top five of OU, Texas, TAMU, Oregon and LSU.
His answer on which of the schools have been recruiting him hardest during this, what he called “Coronocation”…
“Oklahoma has definitely been the leader in that category”.’
*** Even prior to that, back on March 11th, following a last-minute visit to Norman for the Sooners one and only spring practice, I mentioned that OU was pushing all the right buttons with Foster:
‘Sooners are certainly doing everything they can do in this recruitment and as I mentioned yesterday, it feels as though it is starting to pay off by giving them a legitimate shot at a coveted recruit who many (including myself) felt it would be a forgone conclusion that he would be heading Texas A&M where he is a legacy.
To be clear, there is still a long way to go here, but OU is pushing all the right buttons right now with Foster.’
*** We can go even go all the way back to September 16th, 2019, when Darius mentioned there was reason for the Sooners to be cautiously optimistic:
‘With so much attention being given to A&M and Texas, I can’t help but feel like Oklahoma could be the middle ground in his recruitment that everyone can agree on and be happy about. Lincoln Riley and Coach Bedenbaugh have made it clear to Bryce how he would fit into their system and continue their run of OL being drafted, as well as continuing to win Big XII titles and compete for championships. Foster is a bright kid that strikes me as the type that will do what he feels is best for himself. That very well could be Oklahoma.’
*** So with all the recent rumors and talk about Foster being an OU lean, I caught up with him earlier this week to get a feel for where things stand.
The Sooners have the benefit of being in the clubhouse with the elite lineman having taken his last visit to Norman.
Oklahoma is in a very good spot.
Foster dropped his ‘Final Five’ back in February. The list consisted of LSU, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma.
After speaking with him recently, I came away with the impression that he has narrowed that list down a bit. I can tell you that OU is firmly in that top group and will remain so right up until he makes his decision.
The other teams I would keep an eye on are Texas A&M and Oregon. If the race were to be won today, I would feel pretty good if I had placed my wager on Oklahoma.
Super K will have more on Foster in the near future as he has also been in touch with him. K will be able to go over why those schools mentioned above may appeal to him in more detail, but right now, as we have mentioned over and over, the Sooners are sitting in about as good of a spot as you could wish for.
