Open Post | Weekend, Mar. 11th – 13th (UPDATE Sun., 3:53 pm) By: The Brainiacs Posted on: March 11, 2016

– Tre Brown: 2017 CB Tre Brown (Tulsa, OK) is set to announce his decision today, although he has told TFB there is no specific time for said announcement. And while there are certainly multiple contenders, there are a number of folks around the OU program who feel good about where things stand with Brown and the Sooners. – (Super K)

– Stephan Zabie: Last weekend Oklahoma hosted 2017 offensive tackle, Stephan Zabie (Austin, TX). While in Norman, Zabie picked up an offer from Oklahoma to add to others from Texas A&M and Missouri. I spoke to Zabie and his father after the trip, and it sounds like the Sooners made an excellent impression.

Zabie’s father said the Sooners were “ridiculously good in their approach. Bedenbaugh and the staff are very impressive. We spent time with Bedenbaugh and Bob Stoops, and there was no pressure or anything. They just wanted to get to know us.”

Zabie and his father both told me they came away very impressed with the presentation of the renderings and the work being done on the stadium and OU’s facilities as a whole. Which really stood out because they had just visited Texas A&M the week before and came away rather impressed with that the Aggies had to offer as well. So naturally a comparison between the two came up. “Oklahoma’s will be the same if not better. The new facilities will be ridiculous.” The younger Zabie said OU’s plans to include ‘a Nike store’ was definitely a selling point in their favor.

There is no timeline set on a decision, but Zabie’s father said that “if he (Stephan) feels real strongly about a particular school he can commit. But we don’t want him committing and decommitting.” The impression I got from both Zabie and his father is that Oklahoma and Texas A&M are the early leaders right now. I will add, though, Zabie has ties to the University of Texas, so should the Longhorns get involved things could get a lot tougher. But as it stands today, this one appears to be an early battle between OU and TAMU. – (Super K)

– Sooner Squad 17: If you’re on Twitter, you may have noticed references by recruits and others to “Sooner Squad 17.” Which obviously refers to Oklahoma’s 2017 class, and the OU staff has made a concerted effort to really facilitate the recruits taking ownership of theri class and helping to build what they will all be a part of. This effort has been led by guys like Levi Draper and Robert Barnes, and more recent commits like Justin Broiles and Trajan Bandy are doing as much as anyone to help recruit for the Sooners.

The interesting thing is the commits have a group text message they are all apart of, and that group text also includes some of OU’s other top targets. Among the guys who are in said group message and actively being recruited by the current members of “Sooner Squad 17” – Baron Browning & Marvin Wilson.

The Sooners had a hard fought battle against Clemson in the bowl game last year, but at a certain point it became obvious Oklahoma was simply out-manned at certain positions. As such, I’m told Bob Stoops has made it very clear to his staff that recruiting, and specifically a renewed recruiting strategy and effort, will (and already have been) be a major priority this year. And it would appear the early result reflects the benefits of those efforts. – (Super K)

– Player Note | Antoine Stephens: I know most of the talk regarding the cornerback battle this offseason has been about PJ Mbanasor and Dakota Austin, and for good reason. Mbanasor is seen as the biggest threat to Austin, the latter of whom is still currently holding strong with the 1’s. But while Stephens may not have been talked about as much, I’m told he’s quietly starting to pick things up.

In fact, Stephens had one of the fastest 40 times of all the defensive backs during winter workouts and is a big athlete with natural ball skills. Stephens is currently running alongside Mbanasor with the 2’s, but I was told that yesterday Stephens helped his cause pulling in an INT during practice.

While this still appears to be a battle primarily between Austin and Mbanasor, it sounds like Stephens is a guy who could certainly provide added quality depth and potentially also become a factor in things down the road. – (Super K)

– Team Note | Mark Andrews and Prentice McKinney: Apparently things got a little chippy yesterday between these two during some 1-on-1 drills. Told there was some shoving back and forth going on, but in the end “it was all good.” And we only mention it because to us it signified a couple things. (1) As we’ve mentioned several times now, Andrews is continuing to gain confidence every day in this offense. And (2) both sides of the ball are loose yet very competitive with one another.

In fact one source mentioned the staff doesn’t have to prod guys as much this offseason as they may have in years past. It seems that playoff run last year, and the fact there is a clear cut QB leader heading into the season, has the whole team’s eyes set on what now appears to be a more attainable prize…a national championship.

– UPDATE (Fri., 11:21 am):

– UPDATE (Sun., 11:25 am):

– UPDATE (Sun., 3:06 pm):

– UPDATE (Sun., 3:53 pm):

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