Open Post | Weekend, August 3rd – 5th By: The Brainiacs Posted on: August 3, 2018

Quick Hitter | 2019 Elite DB Hearing From Sooners
– Charlie S

– Was checking in with 2019 elite safety Noa Pola-Gates out of Gilbert (AZ) for an update on how things were going between him and Texas, who has been recruiting him hard for a while now when I came across some interesting information in regards to the Sooners…

Before I could even get into the Texas info, I was making a little small talk and asked Noa if he knows Spencer Rattler and he confirmed he knows him and then added…”Oh yeah, OU has been DMing me”

Obviously, I changed lanes and dug a little deeper for some info on the OU side of things and I asked him if he had interest in OU and if an offer came, would he be open to the Sooners.

Pola-Gates said, “I hope they offer and yes this would be a very important offer to me as well because I’ve always liked OU, even playing as them on video games”.

Noa Pola-Gates is a dynamic athlete and if the Sooners can crack open the door at this point in his recruitment, they have a chance to become players as he does not plan on committing until January 24th at the Polynesian Bowl.

Just one to keep an eye on as the recruiting plan for the remaining DB spot(s) clear up the Sooners.

 

 

Ohio State News Already Creating Waves For OU
– Charlie S

– Super K was recently out in Florida and met 2019 Safety Jordan Battle while filming Jaden Davis’ commitment

– Battle, a 6’2″ safety who is currently committed to Ohio State, was actually in Jaden’s video.

– He has already been in contact with the Sooners.

– We have been told by sources that he is currently setting up an Official Visit to Norman

– I obviously do not need to tell you that OU already has some serious ties to St. Thomas Aquinas.

We will have more on Battle and OU soon.

 

 

OU Media Day Wrap Up | Redmond & Transfer Rule
– Michael Kinney

Freshman out for season

One of the incoming freshman the Sooners were hoping to get o the field this year was defensive end Jalen Redmond. The 6-foot-3, 265 pounder out of Midwest City has shown flashes of talent during spring ball.

However, Redmond developed blood clots over the summer and had to be admitted to the hospital.

“We found out two or three weeks ago, we found a couple of blood clots with him, which is obviously a serious and scary situation for him and his family,” Riley said. “Jalen’s doing very well now and we feel like it’s something that we’re past. He’s doing great, but he will miss this season because of those. We fully anticipate that we’ll have him back here in the future and this will just be a redshirt year for him. First and foremost, we’ve got to make sure that that’s completely under control with the severity of a complication like that. Jalen’s doing great. Our medical team has done a tremendous job with him, and he’s going to be able – we feel like – to do quite a bit this year and should be able to play for us after that. More than anything, just thankful that he’s doing okay.”

Redmond joins Michael Thompson (knee) as another highly rated freshman on the Sooners defensive line who is now out for the season.

 

Transfer rule

While Riley seemed to be ecstatic about the NCAA’s new changes to its redshirt rule, he was less than overjoyed with the transfer policy.

The new rule now allows college athletes to transfer without the permission of the university or coach. The school also must enter the athlete’s name in a national transfer database within two business days.

“I get it. I’m not jumping up and down screaming either way. I do think there is going to be some unintended consequences. We’re probably going to create five or 10 more rules in the future to address those,” Riley said. “But I get that the fact the players feel they need to have some freedom to. I think if we just stomp our feet against it we’re going to look archaic. I get it. But I do wonder if we’re giving them a little bit too much power in that you don’t want guys doing things too early that they really don’t want to do or making on just a quick emotional burst. And that is the one thing that scares me. We get riled up about something and we want to make a quick decision right then. As you get older, hopefully, you learn to steady it out a little bit more.”

The transfer rule goes into effect Oct. 15.

 

 

Sooners Going After the top QB in Cali | DJ Uiagalelei
– Super K

When you talk to people in the know out in California about the 2020 quarterbacks in the area, you hear a lot of good things about recent USC commit, Bryce Young.

Is he the best quarterback in California? I’d ask.

He’s probably second or third best. I’d hear.

So, who’s the best?

The same answer, every time. DJ Uiagalelei.

DJ has a cannon for an arm. He’s built like a defensive end at 6’4 240 lbs. Who knows how big he’s actually going to be? And he can move.

Uiagalelei has the athletic lineage from both sides of his family. His mother’s uncle Rolland “Bay” Lawrence is a former pro-bowl cornerback who still holds the Atlanta Falcons career interception record.

DJ’s father was, as DJ describes him, “A crazy athlete” who played on the Samoan national basketball team. DJ says that at 350 lbs his father could perform a 360 degree dunk. His father also played some left tackle at West Texas A&M.

Recruiting

In terms of recruiting, DJ says he is still open and still a ways from making a decision. While some quarterbacks are beginning to shut things down, he says he doesn’t want to make a quick decision. He said he certainly won’t make a decision during the season. With OU recently offering, that’s obviously a good thing for the Sooners if they hope to get DJ on campus for a visit.

And if they do, I have little doubt Lincoln and co. will impress the big man.

As of right now, DJ hasn’t scheduled a visit to OU. It does sound like he’d like to make a visit to Norman but it obviously takes some planning coming from California and with the season starting up that can be even trickier.

Over the summer DJ took a few unofficial visits with his coach which included stops at Alabama, Georgia and Clemson.

I asked DJ if a commitment to USC was still possible even though Bryce Young is also committed to them (sources on the USC side tell me they’d take DJ anyway) and he said, “no, I want to get out of California for college”.

For Super K’s thoughts on DJ and the Sooners, click the Donor link!

 

 

Quick-Hitters | Evan Neal, Kendall Milton, JUCO OT Visiting 
– Super K

***The Sooners are in pursuit of 2019 5-star OT, Evan Neal (IMG Academy). It looked like Miami had this one all sewn up but we are being told that Neal is more open now than he may have been previously and is listening to Oklahoma.

One source said, “I definitely think he at least visits Oklahoma”.

OU OL commit, EJ Ndoma-Ogar is close to Neal and says he’s been recruiting Neal and he agreed that it is likely Neal with at least visit the Sooners.

***I just spoke with Sooners top 2020 running back target, Kendall Milton (Clovis, CA). Milton is an elite running back. I mean, he is absolutely elite.

And the Sooners couldn’t have brought Viney back at a better time. Both Kendall and his father are very close to Chip Viney. I’ll have more on Milton later but they will absolutely be visiting Oklahoma and I can tell right away the Sooners are going to very much be in the mix here.

***I also caught up with Sooners 2019 JUCO OT target, Anthony Whigan (Lackawanna CC). I’ll have a full write up on him as well but wanted to quickly note that Whigan plans on taking his official visit to Oklahoma for the UCLA game. At least, that is the tentative plan at the moment. A visit will absolutely happen.

Oklahoma is a big threat here. He actually gave me his top three and Oklahoma was in it despite having not visited yet.

For a sourced defensive note, please click the Donor link!

 

 

Jermaine Johnson Commits To Georgia
– Charlie S

Last night, JUCO DE and OU offer Jermaine Johnson committed to Georgia.

This is not a totally unexpected turn of events as Super K detailed just two days ago.

“According to Johnson, the list was in no specific order but it looks about where I suspect things are right now with OU somewhere in that top three but behind UGA.

Johnson has visited Oklahoma. I spoke with a source over at Independence about Jermaine’s plans moving forward and it’s pretty simple, the plan is for Jermaine to take official visits to his top five schools (listed above) and then make a decision shortly thereafter. At least, according to the source, “that’s the plan on paper but you know how rapidly things can change”.

While OU is going to continue to recruit Johnson, I do think the offer to Jacoby Jones tells us that the Sooners do feel they are a spot or two back with Jermaine.”

With Johnson committing to Georgia, this will only serve to intensify the “Red River” battle to secure Jacoby Jones’ commitment.

 

 

The Jeffery Carter Story
– Super K

As everyone knows by now, 2019 CB Jeffery Carter was expected to be in Norman this weekend and the thought was very much that he would commit to the Sooners. The Carter family ended up taking a last minute trip to College Station on Friday night and never made it to Norman.

The reason stated publicly by Jeffery was they found a nail in the tire…

Only four hours after that tweet, Carter posted a commitment video. The video clearly wasn’t shot that day…

https://twitter.com/jcarter2133/status/1023328057606766593

This led a lot of people to believe that Carter’s stated desire leading up to the OU BBQ to get to the BBQ was disingenuous and that he was planning to commit to Texas A&M the whole time. What makes it seem worse is that the Sooners staff was not only expecting him to make it in, but were given the impression OU was where he wanted to be. So, no attempts were made to push to bring in other defensive back prospects.

It was very clear the matter didn’t sit well with the staff.

In this world, it can sometimes be difficult to ascertain who is telling the truth. I spoke to Carter’s father twice that day. The first time I spoke with him he told me very clearly that they were planning on returning to Dallas Friday night right after the A&M BBQ and came out to find a screw/nail in their tire. So, they spent the night in College Station. Carter went out that night with the other recruits (I know that from a source who lives there and saw him out) and the rest was history.

When I spoke to Carter’s father Saturday morning the tire was fixed and he was looking for Jeffery and the plan was still to make the trip to Norman. In fact he said, “my wife will kill me if we don’t make it up there”. Obviously…that did not happen.

I personally believe that Carter’s father was being transparent.

The question, of course, is the video…

I was told that the video was actually shot a month ago and that even the folks who shot the video believed that Carter had changed his mind. At the time the video was shot, yes, everyone expected Carter to end up at Texas A&M. Things changed, however, about two or three weeks ago and began trending heavily back to OU. I don’t believe Carter meant to cause any harm to the OU staff. I think he was genuinely interested in Oklahoma and genuinely planning on making it the BBQ. And I even have very good reasons to believe he was going to commit to OU last weekend.

But the last minute trip to Texas A&M changed his mind. He’s demonstrated that in the past. Carter was committed to OU at one time and then decommitted.

I absolutely believe that wherever he ended up visiting that weekend, whether it was TAMU or OU was where he would’ve committed. It just worked out for TAMU that he didn’t make it back up to Norman

 

 

Sooners Offer Elite 2020 WR Jalen McMillan
– Charlie S

– Last night, the Sooners extended an offer to elite 2020 wide receiver Jalen McMillan out of Fresno, CA.

I caught up with the 6’2″ 180 lb. receiver shortly after he tweeted out his offer.

To say he was enthused by the offer would be a disservice to his true level of excitement.

I asked him how the offer went down and Jalen said “Coach Riley offered me. It’s a dream come true! I would watch their offense on YouTube every day. To get an offer from them means so much”.

I asked him if he had any connection to OU, like any current friends or acquaintances who are already in Norman and he said: “Coach Viney recruited me at Nevada, but since he moved, he wants to make me a Sooner”.

There’s that guy again…

I cannot stress just how much impact that hire by Lincoln Riley will have on the Sooners recruiting efforts going forward. If you have not yet noticed the number of times Viney’s name has come out of recruits mouths since he has been back…less than a week…then you have not been paying attention.

Back on topic, Jalen and I have arranged to speak again in the near future and I will keep you updated.

 

 

Reminder | Stacey Wilkins Announcing Today
– Charlie S

2019 offensive tackle Stacey Wilkins (Camden, AR) will be announcing his commitment to the school of his choice today at 3:30 CST…

https://twitter.com/Wilk_65/status/1021278075298959360

May want to be around at like 3:30 to see which school he chooses…just sayin.