Logo with 'TFB' in gray and 'OU' in red inside a speech bubble. Open Post | Weekend, October 26th – 28th By: TFB Posted on: October 26, 2018

Marcus Stripling | Live in Action Thoughts + Recruiting Update
– Super K

As promised, here are a few notes on what I saw from Sooners 2019 DE target, Marcus Stripling. Also, I’m adding a recruiting update to last weeks post.

***It does appear that Marcus will not take his official visit to Oklahoma this weekend. This past Friday, Stripling noted that he would likely push the visit back to the Oklahoma State game. In fact, we aren’t expecting any official visitors on campus this weekend (OU is going to have a lot of visits left for the 2020 class in the spring!).

***I also mentioned that Stripling told me Alabama is standing out for him. However, Alabama landed 2019 FL DE, Braylen Ingraham (St. Thomas Aquinas). Speaking to my sources on that side, it sounds like Bama will likely be in a wait and see on their defensive end numbers once Ingraham announces.

On a side note, you’ll recall Ingraham visited Oklahoma back in the spring. I spoke to him last time I was in Florida and he had said his communication with OU had ceased.

***In terms of what I saw in the game from Stripling, I’ll say first, Stripling is a defensive end or even an outside linebacker in my opinion. I think there are some who believe he can move inside the tackle. I could be wrong but I don’t see it. He’s down to around 250 lbs right now. I do think he could get up to 275-280 lbs but his arm length, his height and his hand size just don’t scream inside the tackle to me…at all.

***There are exceptions to that with guys like Ed Oliver but Oliver has powerful hands. He’s strong, plays with great leverage and he’s generally a thicker built human being. The other thing Ed has is a motor that won’t quit.

***Stripling has a great burst off the ball…when he wants to use it. He can separate when he wants to.

But the key is, “when he wants to”. I’d like to see Marcus dominate his opponent much more regularly. I believe he can. And I like to see him finish plays with more regularity. I will say, it probably get’s old having teams run away from you.

***Marcus is a guy you’ll want to move around. You get him exchanging gaps and isolate him on a guard and I think he’ll give you penetration a lot. He’s a hat in the crack defensive lineman. If he plays in a scheme where he’s going to play technique all game, I don’t see him being nearly as successful. You have to utilize his quickness and his overall athleticism because he’s undersized.

On one play they had him loop inside and he threw the interior lineman away and was in the back field in no time. I also saw him cause a critical fumble coming from the read side.

***If he ends up being a 5 technique, he’ll need to continue to work on setting the edge and not letting it be set for him and then separating and making a play. Same thing I mentioned earlier, you want to see him dominate the smaller guys he goes against on every play and that means firing off the ball, shooting his hands and either squeezing his man or getting rid of him, depending on his assignment and the call.

***Again, as a pure athlete, it doesn’t get much better at 6’2 250 lbs. He can run, he can bend, he’s quick. But whoever gets him just needs to really understand that he’s probably not going to be your interior guy.

 

 

Sooners Set To Host 2019 5-Star Offensive Tackle For Official Visit
– Charlie S

– Touched base with Sheila Neal, the mother of elite 2019 offensive tackle Evan Neal, and we can confirm that Evan and his family will be taking an official visit to Norman on November 9th to November 11th for Bedlam.

As we reported earlier, we had spoken with a source regarding the 5-Star offensive tackle and were told that the Sooners are still in regular contact with Neal.

In speaking with another source, the feeling is that Alabama currently leads for Neal, but his connection to EJ Ndoma-Ogar and his relationship with Coach B could put the Sooners in a very strong position with Neal.

Getting him on campus is a huge score for the Sooners as there are not very many better closers in the recruiting game than Lincoln Riley.

 

 

KSU Pregame | Class Is In Session
– The Professor

Oklahoma is back on track and looks to stay that way against a Kansas State team that really isn’t very good. The Wildcats come into the game at 3-4 on the season and are really struggling to move the ball. Usually, the best medicine for a team like that is to play the Sooners, but Oklahoma has a chance to change that perception going forward. Here are some interesting stats and facts I found for the game this Saturday.

The History

The history between these two is pretty ugly. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 74-19-4. Oklahoma as a ranked team has faced an unranked Kansas State 41 times and has 41 wins. From 1935 to 1992 Oklahoma went 55-2-1 against the Wildcats. Somehow, they still have a better record against the Sooners than Oklahoma State.

Historically, Kansas State is one of the worst college football programs in history. The Wildcats have had 30 seasons in which they had a winning percentage of .250 or less. Oklahoma has only had one such season. It was in 1895 and the only game they played was against “The Oklahoma City Town Team”.

The Coaches

If there is a bigger contrast in coaches, I can’t think of it. On the one hand, you have a traditional “run first…run second…and then only pass it when you have to” philosophy of Bill Snyder. On the other, you have the innovative “run it…pass it…hell just snap the ball and decide later” philosophy of Lincoln Riley.

Kansas State has run 63.1% rushing play this season. Only 16 FBS teams have a higher rushing rate than the Wildcats. Even 3rd and long is no guarantee for the Wildcats to pass the ball. On 3rd and long, Kansas State has rushed 20 times and passed 25 times.

There’s also a far more obvious difference between the two coaches. When Bill Snyder started his first season at Kansas State, Lincoln Riley was starting kindergarten. Bill Snyder is in his 27th year as a head coach. Before that, I’m pretty sure he was the knight that guarded the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones.

 

The Players

In likely every other season in the history of the Heisman Trophy, Kyler Murray would be a runaway favorite to win the award. Here are Murray’s numbers compared to what we used to think was something that may never be repeated.

Murray is putting on a show and I, for one, am enjoying every minute of it.

The Kansas State offense is less impressive. Despite rushing the ball over 60% of the time, Oklahoma has nearly 200 more yards on the season. The Wildcats have scored just 163 points on the season which is less than half of the Sooners’ total of 340. Kansas State could go out and score a touchdown and extra point on 30 consecutive offensive plays and Oklahoma would still have a better points per play than the Wildcats.

One bright spot for the Wildcats is running back Alex Barnes. He’s averaging nearly six yards per carry and nine touchdowns.

That’s it for this lesson. Hopefully, you’re a little more prepared for Saturday. I’ll be back next week for the postgame.

 

 

New Wave 19 | When Will They Be Enrolling at OU?
– Charlie S

Below is the list of current New Wave 19 commits.

I reached out to all the commits and I have added when they plan on enrolling.

Will update the list as the last two let me know!

 

Jacoby Jones – January

Austin Stogner – January

Theo Wease – January

Trejan Bridges – January

Derek Green – January

Jamal Morris – January

Woodi Washington – June

Joseph Wete – June

Spencer Rattler – June

Arjei Henderson – May

Marcus Alexander – June

EJ Ndoma-Ogar – June

Jaden Davis – June

Kori Roberson – June

Stacey Wilkins – June

Marcus Major – June

Marcus Hicks

Jonathan Perkins