Open Post | Weekend, July 16th – 18th
Posted on: July 16, 2021
Chris McClellan | My Take
– Super K
Two or three weeks ago, I was in Owasso and spent a little time with Sooners interior DL target, Chris McClellan.
This wasn’t a formal interview. We were chatting a bit off the record though and I wanted to offer my thoughts.
I will say that this conversation with Chris was just before his visit to Ohio State but it was obvious even then that Ohio State was going to be as competitive as Ohio State wanted to be.
These were my takeaways…
***I got the sense Florida was probably ahead of OU at the time we spoke. But I wasn’t sure how much that mattered given he had had only taken an unofficial to OU. His visit to Florida was an official.
***I did feel like coach Turner at Florida had impressed him. He said he has a good relationship with both Thibs and coach Turner but did note that coach Turner has that “pop pop” type vibe as an older guy. Seemed like Chris liked that.
***I do think part of it is that Florida was a new flavor. It was something different than Oklahoma.
***Having said that, he’s clearly looking for more of a college town. He had come off his official visit to USC and based on what he told me, he basically crossed them off the list.
***As I said above, he was very excited about the Ohio State visit and his respect for their DL coach, Larry Johnson was obvious. Johnson’s resume, thanks in part to Urban Meyer, is pretty impressive.
***It can’t hurt that Josh Proctor is up in Columbus as well and having some success.
***At the time, Chris said he wanted to take his time. He was still looking at a possible in-season OV to LSU or Alabama. And, he added he wants to see these places during the season at a game environment.
***I don’t yet know if the Ohio State visit changed any of his plans but if his timeline sticks, I think that’s a good thing for OU.
Visit Note | ’23 Athlete Micah Tease
– Charlie S
Checked in with Sooners in state ’23 DB offer Micah Tease yesterday.
Reached out to congratulate him on the USC offer he earned and during the conversation he let me know that he will be in Norman on July 31st for the Sooners end of summer event.
Tease had a big June in regards to his recruitment as he picked up offers from Notre Dame, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Florida, Tulsa, Missouri, and USC to go along with his offer from OU.
As I mentioned previously, I really liked this early offer, and the fact that OU continues to get Tease on campus for events and visits is a very good sign for the Sooners and the Booker T Washington standout.
I commend the staff for the way they are approaching this recruitment and I believe it will pay off for them.
Interior Defensive Line | Top Four Targets
– Super K
***It sounds like the Sooners are looking to take two edge guys and two interior guys. One of the interior guys can obviously be a guy like Gabriel Dindy who can rotate inside and out.
***While the Sooners had offered 2022 TX DL Jadon Scarlett a while back, it wasn’t until recently that they seemed to have turned up the heat. When I saw Scarlett earlier in the year, the Sooners weren’t really recruiting him, I gather more so now. I am told he is a take now.
***So you’re looking at your top three guys at the moment of Chris McClellan, Gabriel Dindy, and Jadon Scarlett.
***As I mentioned earlier in the week, I think your major threats for McClellan are Florida and Ohio State.
***For Gabriel Dindy, I know a lot of people feel it is Texas A&M given the fact that Dindy’s father has accepted a position in the College Station/Bryan area. But I don’t see it that way.
***As I said fairly recently, I get the sense that the family would like to see Dindy at OU. So, in my estimation, it’s going to be more about winning over Dindy himself.
***And to that point, I actually see Alabama and perhaps Clemson as the bigger threats. Alabama is the one though that I’ve really got my eye on. The Dindys tell me they will visit Tuscaloosa for his OV this fall and I think that’s going to be the one to watch.
***For Jadon Scarlett, you’re looking at Texas A&M being the biggest threat. Unlike OU, TAMU has been pushing for Scarlett a lot longer and they have built a strong relationship with Coach Price over there.
***Hero Kanu out of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, is another option.
Kanu visited OU earlier this summer with the international tour for an OU camp that James was on hand for, and OU has been recruiting him harder of late.
There is talk of an official visit to Norman in the works, and Kanu recently included OU in his Top Schools list.
***The Sooners are hoping to pull two out of four above.
Jacob Sexton Interview
– James Hale
I had a chance to talk to Sexton today on my radio show Total Sports on Sportstalk1400 KREF in Norman, and he is pumped about being a Sooner.
“I am very excited about my commitment to OU,” said Sexton. “I started getting recruited by OU all the way back to my freshman year. That was before COVID, and everything and I was able to go to game days and eat those meals with the coaches. I got a chance to talk to them, and that is when I started to get in touch with Coach (Lincoln) Riley and everybody on the staff.”
“That was really great to get to know those guys, and I started building relationships with them. From that point on, I went to four or five games and started to feel really comfortable at OU. I always knew that they were among the top three on my lists, and that was really consistent, and I just felt at the end that is where I really wanted to go.”
“I am glad they hung in there with me. OU is close to home. I think it is only 50 minutes. I came up once when they played last year during COVID. My older sister goes there, so we made it a family day and went to the game.”
Sexton didn’t go to the BBQ and told people that he was not invited, but OU had a plan all along just for the big man from Edmond.
“That is really what it came down to at the end,” said Sexton. “I had just come off all my other visits. I had taken all my other officials, and Coach Bedenbaugh told me the BBQ was for the out-of-state guys they were trying to get to commit.”
“Once we got there on that Monday, we had more time to spend with the coaches. They told me they liked the fact that I was on an unofficial because they could spend more time with me. I got to do everything that I would have done on an official visit, but we just put it all in one day.”
“I got to do everything that I wanted to do, and it was great. I had a great time, it was exciting, and I knew what I wanted to do after that visit.”
Sexton visited Alabama and Texas and admitted the visits were eye-opening.
“Going into that first visit at Alabama, I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Sexton. “I knew that everybody was going to have great facilities, and the coaching staffs were going to be great. I knew that relationships were more of what I was looking for, and I thought that was more important.”
“Once you got out there and you started to see those places, they are somewhat similar. They all have pretty nice facilities, and everyone has new technology in the weight room. They have great nutrition stations, so it really just came down to what I wanted to be and who I wanted to be with.”
Sexton’s early relationship with Coach Bedenbaugh is what made the difference for OU.
“He is just like my dad,” said Sexton. “If you do something wrong, he is right there telling you what you need to do to get better. He is just really informative, and I just felt I had a really good connection with him. I have been talking to him for a really long time. I guess it’s been about three years. I have gotten to know him really well and really think a lot of him.”
Sexton thinks he will be an offensive tackle at OU but admits he has played guard quite a bit at Deer Creek.
“I am a fundamentally sound player,” said Sexton. “I am a dominant offensive lineman at times. I hurt my ankle last year, and that set me back a little bit. I hurt in one of the first few games, so I focused on technique a lot more. My pass game really improved, and towards the end of the year, my ankle started to feel better.”
“My ankle feels great now, but because I had to focus on technique so much, I am a better player now than I was then. I would have preferred not to hurt my ankle, but because I had to work on other things while I was hurt, it made me a better player. You can’t control injuries, and you have to just push through it, and focus on things that you can control.”
Sexton is working hard this off-season. He has an experienced offensive line returning with him at Deer Creed and an inexperienced QB, so he hopes that they are pretty good.
“We are working hard this summer, about two to three hours every day,” said Sexton. “I really haven’t been to any camps this summer because I knew where I wanted to go. We have a great weight program here at Deer Creek, and I have been working with my teammates. I can’t wait to get to OU, but I’m going to enjoy my last year here at Deer Creek.”
Sexton likes the offensive line class that OU has put together so far.
“It’s a great group so far,” said Sexton. “I got to meet Jake Taylor at Alabama, and we got to hang out and get to know each other. That was really cool, and I had a good time. I got to see Hunter at the Under Amour camp, and when I talked to him, he had just committed to OU.”
“I know they are still recruiting another offensive lineman or two, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this class really is when it all comes together.”
Be sure to stick around this weekend. Y’all should be getting some good news regarding the future from your buy Denzel!
