Open Post | Weekend, December 17th – 19th
Posted on: December 17, 2021
Kobie McKinzie & Will Truby | The Long Journey Home
– James Hale – Posted on: December 15, 2021
Will Truby is McKenzie’s father and gives TFB an idea of the wild ride for the family.
“It has been hectic,” said Truly. “Something that I want to say first is that there are people in the world that have real problems, and things changing in regards in regards where a high school football player is going to play college football is not at the forefront of people’s issues and people’s problems. So, we are blessed, happy, healthy, and have opportunities for Kobie to go to college for free. We are at the bottom of the list that people have to worry about.”
“The last two weeks have been hectic. It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were lying around watching NFL Football. I started to get texts and alerts on my phone that this is happening, and I don’t even know what people are talking about. I get on Twitter to see that Coach Riley is rumored to be going to USC.”
“Kobie was not at the house at that point, but he texted me and asked if I was hearing this? I said yeah, and I asked him if he had talked to Coach Odom? He said he had texted him and that he had not heard back.”
“Fast forward to later that day, and the news was becoming more official. We talked to Coach Odom that night, and he had no idea what is going on. There was a staff meeting, and Coach says he is going to USC, and that is all that I know.”
“That is a kick in the gut! Kobie knew for two years where he was going to go to college. He was going to go to OU and play for Coach Riley, Coach Grinch, and Coach Odom, and all that changed that day, and that sucks!”
“The next day, Kobie starts hearing from other folks. He starts hearing from OU folks telling him to hang tight and not to worry. He starts hearing from Coach Riley and those guys, and now all of a sudden, they are talking to him about USC. Then he started to hear from people he had never heard from like Missouri, Texas, and Michigan State. I mean, there is a list of schools that suddenly just reached out.”
“That is their job as kids start to become available, teams will begin to reach out to them. Texas was the school that reached out to him most aggressively, and Kobie expressed a desire to go and see the program. We did and had a good time. You know, I am 42 years old, and I am not terribly good at being patient, and when I was 18 years old, I was even worse at being patient.”
“We are a real close family, and we were telling him to be patient and wait, that OU was going to hire a great coach. Coach (Cale) Gundy and Coach (Bob) Stoops came to see us and told us they were going to hire a great coach and hang with them. This was before it was Coach Venables, and from his perspective, and ours too, how do we know the new staff will want me? How do they know if I am a linebacker that fits what they want a linebacker to do?”
“You don’t know those things, so too not look at other programs was not what we thought was in Kobie’s best interest. Something everyone has to remember is that we didn’t go on visits. Before two weeks ago, Kobie had taken one official visit ever, which was in June to Oklahoma. He didn’t take other visits because he was going to go to Oklahoma.”
“Two weeks ago, we went and saw Texas, and as you can imagine, it is a beautiful stadium and campus, and the coaches are telling him that they want him and that he will get to play early. Everything seemed great and cool, and when that was over, we advised Kobie to chill and see what Coach Venables had to say.”
“Kobie was pretty excited and wanted to commit to Texas. Kobie is 18 years old and bigger than I am, and gets to decide some things. Fortunately, Coach Venables and Coach Gundy flew to Lubbock and saw us. Coach Venables was able to tell him man-to-man to his face that he wanted him.”
“Coach Venables has a pretty good track record coaching linebackers and coaching defense, and that’s something as parents that we told him that ‘hay, you want to play linebacker for Brent Venables. That’s legit.’
“All this was going on as Kobie’s high school season was still going. They are still playing football, which is more important than any of this as his team is trying to win a state championship. This past Friday night we played football in Abilene, and we got beat, so we are in Abilene, Texas at 11:30 on a Friday night, and he’s disappointed, and it’s the last game of his senior year. I’m scared, and I wonder if he still agrees to go to Norman because we wanted him to have all the information in his hand before he made his final decision.”
“I know that people are saying on the internet that I am a pariah and that I am deciding for him, and that is not true. Our job as parents is to ensure that he has all the information available to him to make the most informed decision. So, he agreed to go to Norman, and we got there at 3:00 AM this past Saturday.”
“Kobie went over to the facility early that morning, and I had another son that was playing basketball in Edmond. So we went up there and watched basketball, and Kobie got to spend a lot of time with Coach Venables. I think it was the most valuable thing for him throughout this whole recruiting process. He got to sit in a room with his coach and was shown, this is what I do with linebackers, and I want you to be one of those linebackers.”
“They spent four to five hours together on that Saturday, and on Sunday morning, they spent another two or three hours. They called Coach (Ted) Roof and talked to some former Clemson linebackers that Coach Venables had coached. We took separate cars to Norman, and we went home super early Sunday, while Kobie stayed and came home later. He texted me later that day and said he really loved Coach Venables, and in the text, he said that was who he wanted to play football for.”
“I texted him, and I said I was really proud of him. As a family, that was the decision that we wanted you to make. Still, I wanted him to have all the information that was available to him about all the schools before he made the decision, and that is all our job can be, that he knows everything before he decides. That is what we wanted him to do, and that is what he did, and we think he made the right decision.”
Truby went on to say that Danny Stutsman talked to Kobie a lot when he was in Norman, and he got a chance to talk with the entire linebacker corps. They told him they really wanted him to e part of their group. That made a big difference in his decision to come back to OU.
McKenzie signed with OU at 8:00 this morning.
Confidence Growing | Trending Pick
– Super K – Posted on: December 14, 2021
Yesterday I picked OU as trending for Jovantae Barnes (here). I said the following:
It’s Demarco vs. Lincoln.
Barnes was at USC this past weekend for an official and I’m told SC feels pretty confident but…
I think I’m still going to say this one is trending slightly OU. Something tells me Demarco can pull this one out.
I’ll go 58.75 OU and 41.25 USC.
After speaking with a USC source and hearing that they feel it could go either way, it makes me more confident that the Sooners confidence is warranted.
So, I’m going to up my confidence on this one some to 75.333 OU to 24.667 USC.
’22 DL Notes | Thomas and Moten
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 14, 2021
***Touched base with ’22 DL R Mason Thomas (6’2 215) out of Fort Lauderdale, FL (Cardinal Gibbons).
Thomas is currently committed to Iowa State but the Sooners recently offered and new DE coach Miguel Chavis did an in home with him last week.
He let me know that he currently does not plan on signing in the early period and is planning to get to Norman for an official visit following the dead period.
That is a good thing…just watch his film. Reminds me a bit of a young Ogbo.
***On to Ahmad Moten (6’3 290 out of Fort Lauderdale, FL)
As I mentioned previously, Moten also does not plan on signing until February.
K did a little digging on Moten and got nothing but rave reviews about his ability. Source around that region told K he had the ability to dominate the games, and in that region, that is no small compliment.
He also found out that Venables had him camp with him while at Clemson so he is very familiar with him already.
***So with Tarber and Roberts already in the fold, the possible additions of Moten and Thomas would give the Sooners quite the salty DL class.
One thing is certain, the ‘numbers’ will not be an issue as OU is being very aggressive along the DL and I would expect a couple new names to pop up along the way.
Film Don’t Lie | Sooners WR Commit Jayden Gibson
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 15, 2021
Ok so the Sooners hosted wide receiver signee Jayden Gibson for an official visit 5 days ago.
We hadn’t even heard his name until about 7 days ago.
Today he is officially a Sooner.
Wild how that came together so quickly.
Now, I didn’t plan on doing much of a deep dive on him until I was out to lunch this afternoon with my wife and I accidentally clicked on his HUDL when I opened my phone.
Needless to say, the wife did not appreciate those lost 7 minutes as I just watched the film with my mouth hanging open.
The dude is good. Reallllllllly good and he has a very high ceiling.
Usually, when I hear a WR is 6’5 and lanky, I expect him to be a bit awkward in his get-off and route running. Typically high school kids who are that tall have an issue putting it all together while still in high school. Generally, when a kid is that big, you are looking at his potential.
That is not the case with Gibson in my opinion. This guy is pretty polised and he is very, very smooth for being such a tall kid.
He will not be a WR converted to a TE…this kid is a legit wide receiver.
Also, for those of you thinking ‘Jefferey Mead’…this kid ain’t him.
He has ample speed to not only get separation but to pull away from kids in an area that has a lot of really fast and twitchy kids, which is displayed in his film.
Gibson also displays some good hands and when you couple that with his height and leaping ability, it comes out as an impressive display of high pointing the ball. He shows good instincts in timing and location in that regard as well.
The other thing I noticed was his ability to work through press coverage. Again, when you’re his size, you have a lot of moving parts that generally take a little while to get in sync. That is not the case with Gibson…as I said above, he is very smooth.
The best way I can describe him is: He looks like a basketball player playing football. Pretty shifty, gets ‘skinny’ easily, and looks pretty fluid in his hips as he doesn’t allow anyone to get a clean shot at him.
He isn’t a ‘filler’ by any means and I think he has a chance to make an immediate impact in the rotation next season so long as he puts his head down and lets Scmidty help him get closer to where he needs to be physically.
This kid really has a very high Roof ?
Love the third play…only needed the first 3 to fall in love with this kids talent.
Super late add for OU and he may be the best ‘true’ WR OU had committed at any point this cycle. I’ll let you guys debate that, but I really am a fan after initially not paying much attention to his film aside from watching him run a bit.
Film Don’t Lie | DT Signee Alton Tarber
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 16, 2021
The new Sooners staff looked at their commit list and knew they needed help along the defensive line.
DE Coach Miguel Chavis and Head Coach Brent Venables wasted no time in making Tarber a priority for Oklahoma.
Following what amounted to a week long recruitment by the Sooners Tarber signed yesterday with OU and he will be enrolling early.
While Tarber was a new name for us and Sooner fans, Venables and Chavis were already very familiar with him as K noted HERE.
‘***This isn’t just some last minute space filling offer. Both Venables and Chavis are very familiar with Tarber and apparently liked him a lot while they were at Clemson.
***Tarber’s coach told me that Tarber camped at Clemson and coach Venables and Chavis worked with him. So, they’ve already had a chance to evaluate him in person.
***Tarber was one of the first defensive linemen that coach Venables went after.
***Tarber is also an early enrollee which is great for the Sooners to have him ready to go for the fall.’
Now, every school is going to take glowingly about their kids…but don’t forget, K made some pretty stout connections down in Florida over the years, and most recently he expanded those connections as we covered one-time Sooners RB commit Jaylan Knighton who also went to Deerfield Beach.
Those sources tell K that Tarber often dominated the competition (Deerfield Beach plays very good Florida competition) and felt that Tarber had been one of those guys that definitely had been ‘flying under the radar’. OU also got an assist here as Miami couldn’t/wouldn’t get their &$@* together enough to focus on this recruitment.
So let’s look at the film:
***First let me state that the indicators in the film are off a bit and you’re likely going to be looking at the wrong player at first. Look for #58.
***His film shows the good burst you hope to see off the line
***He uses his leverage and strength very well on the bull rush.
***When he gets through the line, he shows a really good ability to change direction and remain pretty light on his feet for being such a big fella.
***For most of the early film you pretty much see him bull rushing or working in one direction or another. Later on around the 3:40-3:50 mark you start to see some real pass rush moves coming into play.
***You can see his growth throughout the year with different techniques and use of his hands.
***He looks like he has arms that are 8 feet long…very good length and with his natural strength, he was often a mismatch behind the line of scrimmage for the opposition.
***In the second video, you see him in a camp setting.
***The reason I included this is that I think it does a good job of showing how well he stays over his hips and feet. The first rep of this camp work is his worst as he gets a bit over his ski tips and the OL washes him outside. He’s good enough to keep his balance and proceed upfield.
**Each of the reps that followed, like at the 12, 17, 27, and particularly the 39 mark…you see him use really good footwork and stay away from getting washed. Love seeing growth in real-time.
***Really like his body type and natural athletic abilities. I think Schmidty will have a huge impact on him if he buys in early and with him being an early enrollee, I would not be shocked at all to see him be able to work his way onto the field for OU in ’22 for some reps.
***Really nice late add for OU here.
Sourced | Lebby’s Role at Ole Miss was Major
– Super K – Posted on: December 16, 2021
I had an interesting conversation with someone very well connected in SEC country.
I was told, and the source emphasized that this was absolute fact, that there were some boosters in the Ole Miss market that would have preferred to have removed Kiffen and promoted Lebby to head coach in order to keep Lebby.
Source said that Lebby was not only running the offense but was basically acting as the head coach while at Ole Miss. He was apparently handling a lot more responsibilities than an OC normally would.
I say that to say, it looks like Oklahoma didn’t just get a darn good OC, they also got a guy who now has some experience essentially running a program.
