Open Post | Weekend, December 27th – 29th
Posted on: December 27, 2019
Recruiting Update | 20 Deep : To Do List | Merry Christmas!
– Charlie S
With early signing day behind us and Christmas and the Peach Bowl in front of us, wanted to get a note up on the Sooners ‘to do list’
*** OU grabbed 21 signatures which are public during the early signing period
*** We believe there are a couple signatures which have yet to have been announced because the players would like to announce them in their own way.
*** The Sooners filled many of their needs and there are a few remaining targets out there which Lincoln Riley and his staff will focus on.
*** At QB, the Sooners are currently focused on Chandler Morris. I have checked in with Chandler and he confirmes he will make his announcement at the Under Armor game on January 2nd. Since it is the dead period and Morris will not be able to take any additional official visits…you have to like the Sooners odds here.
*** Along the defensive line you have Sooners 2020 commit Reggie Grimes who chose not to publicly sign during the early signing period. We have little doubt he will wind up in Norman so that leaves you with chasing Alfred Collins and/or JUCO DL Dre Butler.
OU is currently in a good spot with Collins, but they will have to withstand a push for a yet to be determined newly assembled defensive staff in Texas along with Baylor who surged in his recruitment late.
As for Dre Butler, his recruitment will really start to take off in the spring when he is able to take his official visits. He will have to work quickly as he is a May graduate and I am very confident OU will get one of those officials should they push. OU got in early on the coveted JUCO player, but there will be a lot of big time programs who will be pushing for him as their numbers sort out.
*** Then you have speedster Corey Wren. Wren is being heavily pursued by OU at this point and as we have mentioned before, he only has one official visit remaining. The real battle for Wren will be about determining who gets that visit. Right now, we like OUs chances but he has picked up some recent offers from USC and Texas and they will have to continue working to get that official. Wren is being recruited as a running back by OU and we also have mentioned that the Sooners have been in contact with 2020 running back Kevontre Bradford out of Lancaster, TX.
Feels like OU will find out what is going to happen with Wren before they push elsewhere.
*** OU will be looking to add a big bodied wide receiver. Now that could come from a number of places, whether it be a late High School target, JUCO product, or transfer portal guy…they are going to be looking.
After the semi-final and perhaps championship game, we will be working to track down those names for you and follow the recruitments.
*** At defensive back, many of you have brought up Dontae Manning, and yes he would be a take for the Sooners still, however, we believe he is headed elsewhere.
Does that mean OU is done at defensive back this cycle? Most likely, but…it would not surprise us to see another target pop up should attrition occur following the upcoming games. Again, we will be monitoring this position as well, but right now, without any additional attrition, it looks as if the class is complete.
One on Ones | Peach Bowl | LSU vs Oklahoma
– Charlie S
Ok guys, time for a couple of the individual matchups I will be paying close attention too which I feel will have a major impact on the College Football Playoff semi-final between OU and LSU.
With the suspension of Sooners DE Ronnie Perkins, that took out one of my focal points as I felt his performance against the LSU OL would be a win for the Sooners. Now we will have to watch and see what his replacements can muster in terms of both pass rush and stopping the run and while I think they will do ‘ok’, I do not feel as though that matchup is a game-changer at this point as defensive coordinator Alex Grinch will likely get creative with how he uses the personnel and may tweak a few things with Ronnie being out.
So, that leaves us with a couple of other matchups to focus on.
One on One number one:
LSU QB Joe Burrow vs Oklahoma LB Kenneth Murray
When looking at the Sooners defensively this season, I generally go back to the game where I felt they really broke out and showed us something that we hadn’t seen in quite a while which was…a dominant defensive performance. That game was the Texas matchup in the Cotton Bowl back in October.
The Sooner defense recorded nine sacks and a massive amount of tackles for losses. It was such a fun game to watch. Obviously, not having Ronnie Perkins and the injured DTY for this matchup changes some things but the reason I am very inclined to revisit that game as the Sooners prepare to take on Joe Burrow and the LSU offense is simple…I view Sam Ehlinger as a poor mans Joe Burrow.
Burrow won the Heisman Trophy for a reason, he had a tremendous year and he can hurt you in a multitude of ways. He is a very accurate passer from the pocket and he is also a very formidable opponent when he rolls out and creates time and space in the passing game.
LSU is going to get their yards through the air. To think the Sooners will be able to completely shut that down is being naive. What I am going to focus on is how well OU, and Kenneth Murray in particular, limit the underrated improv game of Burrow.
Burrow doesn’t carry the ball as much as Ehlinger does, it’s not even close, and he is not the focal point of the run game as Ehlinger is. However, he is incredibly slippery and while it was important for the Sooners to get their shots on Ehlinger in order to slow him down, it is equally important for OU to get Burrow to the ground when they have their opportunities.
Murray will likely be tasked with being Burrows shadow and he cannot afford to miss his opportunities when presented with them. Over pursuit could be a killer for OU in this game because the more time Burrow creates for himself, the more time the extremely talented LSU receivers will have time to work themselves open and once they do that, if Burrow has time, he will find them.
Kenneth Murray will get his chances. The Sooners need him to make the most of those chances if they want to find themselves in a position to advance in this year’s playoffs.
One on One number two:
Sooners Offensive Tackles RJ Proctor & Adrian Ealy vs LSU Edge K’Lavon Chaisson
This is a matchup which I think will be very important in regards to how successful the OU offense can be…but maybe not for the reasons you may be thinking.
Chaisson is a talented player who lines up on the boundary side of the LSU defense and generally rushes the passer from a stand-up position.
He has a great first step and is really fast and athletic. The Sooners need to use that against him and I think they can.
Chaisson is a lot like Kenneth Murray in a way…he can get way out in front of himself.
I went back and watched a bunch of film on Chaisson, in part because I wanted to see why his stats weren’t as eye-popping as I thought they would be at this point in his career and partly because I was concerned about his speed of the edge. This year his stat line reads as 52 tackles with 11.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.
What I saw on the film was a guy that gets upfield quick (which will be a problem for the heavy-footed OU tackles) but a guy who also has a tendency to run himself out of a play.
The inside run game (QB keeper included) could be very effective for the Sooners so long as the interior of the OU offensive line gets their hands on the three down linemen of the Tigers.
If Swenson/Proctor/Ealy can keep Chaisson on the outside, there could some huge holes opened for the Sooner ball carriers.
Chaisson’s talent could play right into the hands of Lincoln Riley and Jalen Hurts if they can use that talent against him.
Obviously there are other matchups which are going to play a big role in the game like CeeDee Lamb against the LSU secondary and the LSU WR corps against the thin OU secondary, but I feel pretty confident in saying that if the Sooners win the two I pointed out, they will have a very good chance of being in this game in the final moments and have an opportunity to punch their ticket to play for the national championship.
What matchups are you all focused on? Interested to hear your thoughts!
Corey Wren Recruitment Picking up Steam
– Super K
Corey Wren has seen his recruitment really explode in the last 24 hours. He started out with an OU offer, last night.
That offer was followed by an offer from Texas. Then, the USC Trojans put their hat in the ring.
Year in and year out we see these explosive, fast, smaller players wreak havoc on defenses. Guys like Hollywood Brown, Kavontae Turpin, Pooka Williams and the list goes on of undersized players that have a specific type of skill set that is very difficult to defend.
And still we see some coaches pass on these smaller weapons.
Wren told me this afternoon that he actually only has one more official visit left in his recruitment. It looks like he took a few official visits last spring (Houston, TCU and Arizona State). He also took an official visit to Maryland, this fall.
Wren said he hasn’t decided who will get his final official visit. But in terms of the battle between the schools who are offering now, the battle won’t happen on the official. The battle will be about who gets the official visit.
From there we believe it’ll be between that school and Arizona State.
