The Football Brainiacs

Image of Caleb Kelly via @OU_Football

– Greg Rogers: In case you missed it over the weekend, 2017 defensive lineman Greg Rogers (Las Vegas, NV) released his Top 5 schools/official visits.

https://twitter.com/CityBoyGreg/status/762109577076674560

Since our first interaction with Rogers, USC has seemed like the school to beat. And in a related note, in terms of OU’s DT recruiting, Texas has put themselves in very strong positon with five-star prospect Marvin Wilson. In fact after speaking to a source over the weekend regarding Wilson, it sounds to me (K) more and more like if Texas shows some improvement on the field in 2016 the Horns will be pretty tough to be in terms of Wilson’s commitment.

OU is still in the hunt for both, but obviously this visit from Rogers for the Ohio State game is going to be critical. Fortunately, the Sooners couldn’t ask for a better game/weekend to host the big man. – (Super K)

– Elijah Conliffe: Another 2017 defensive lineman to keep an eye on is Elijah Conliffe (Hampton, VA), who also holds an OU offer. TFB spoke with a friend close to the Alabama program who told said Conliffe camped in Tuscaloosa and thoroughly impressed the staff on his way to earning from the Tide.

The OU coaches have been recruiting Conliffe for a while now, and while he’s yet to settle on an exact date Conliffe tells TFB he does plan to use one of his official visits to see Oklahoma later this fall. – (Super K)

– K’Lavon Chaisson: This past weekend, 2017 OLB/DE & OU offer K’Lavon Chaisson visited Texas. Chaisson doesn’t speak to the media much, but TFB was able to catch up with someone close to him regarding his trip to Austin.

From what we were told, these other visits have been more about Chaisson doing his due diligence on other schools before announcing his decision. In fact the source I (K) spoke to said the visits had more to do with his family wanting to ensure that before Chaisson commits that he’s ‘checked everything out.’

It’s obviously tough to know for sure, but I still get the sense the Sooners lead here. – (Super K)

– Team Note | More On Neville Gallimore: Last week we mentioned the redshirt freshman defensive lineman as someone we’d been told was standing out in these first couple practices. And after speaking to a couple additional sources, we continue to hear good things with regards to Gallimore’s play.

According to what TFB has been told, Gallimore is playing at multiple positions along the line. In the spring, we saw him some at DE/DT but don’t be surprised to see him at nose guard on occasion as well.

Even early on it’s clear Gallimore had a tremendous summer, and that all the hard work he put in is paying off. The biggest thing we’ve been told is that he still needs to work on disengaging with his hands/finding a secondary move once an offensive lineman latches on to him. But again, we’ve been told the expectation is he will likely play quite a bit this year up and down the line. – (Super K)

– Team Note | Linebackers: Was told the group of Caleb Kelly, Jon Michael Terry, Mark Jackson and Kapri Doucet are among some of the more athletic linebackers the Sooners have had in quite a while.

While Kelly is the only one of the new LBs that is running with the first team — at the SAM when the defense isn’t in nickel — it’s pretty clear the coaches are excited about what these guys bring to the table in terms of their athleticism and overall talent. – (Super K)

– Team Note | ‘Obo’ Putting it Together: Ricky DeBerry and Mark Jackson are currently running behind Ogbonnia Okoronkwo at the ‘Jack’ LB position. TFB asked a source if either DeBerry and/or Jackson had a chance of dethroning ‘Obo’ and was told the redshirt junior is really starting to take that next step the coaches have been hoping for.

Okoronkwo has always been something of a physical specimen, but there have been some issues in the past with respect to his ability to be consistent and assignment sound. According to our source, however, things sound encouraging in terms of the early reviews. It sounds like ‘Obo’ is “locked in” and impressing early in fall camp, being more focused and consistent. – (Super K)

– Team Note | Offensive Line: We also mentioned last week that Ben Powers had struggled some at the starting RG spot, and that Oklahoma has been looking at both Bobby Evans and Quinn Mittermier at RT. Which is something we will continue to keep an eye on/ask about, because we get the strong sense the possibility of having Evans at RT and sliding Dru Samia inside to RG is where things feel they are headed.

Don’t get the sense anything has been decided as of right now, but one would assume a decision would need to be made relatively quickly. Mostly because the staff will want that first team unit to have a chance to gel as they continue to prep for the opener against Houston.

Another thing to keep in mind is something we’ve mentioned here before when talking about defensive pressure. On the offensive line, pressure on the edges is bad (duh) but pressure up the middle is even worse. Pressue up the middle is far more disruptive and can blow up both the pass and run game. So if Powers can handle things, or Alex Dalton can put a cast on his hand and get out there, then it could allow Samia to stay at RT. But if the coaches aren’t confident in either of those options, they may have no choice but to move Samia inside. – (Super K)

– Team Note | Cornerbacks: More of the same with the CBs since our last update, Dakota Austin continues to run with the first team along with Jordan Thomas. TFB has been told Austin is having a ‘solid camp.’ Maybe not anything that will ‘wow’ you necessarily, but showing the consistency OU’s coaches expect is what we were told.

Behind Austin is PJ Mbanasor, and the sense we get there is something of a “to be the man, you’ve gotta beat the man” (if we can channel our inner Ric Flair) type situation. In other words, “consistency” on Mbanasor’s part probably won’t be enough to dethrone the senior.

Behind Thomas, meanwhile, is Michiah Quick, who we’re told is steadily getting better after what was apparently a pretty rough first day (which shouldn’t surprise anyone).

I think the best thing I’m hearing from folks I talk to about the cornerbacks is that they’re building a legit two-deep. The past couple years it has felt like the Sooners were just one injury away from being in big trouble at the CB spot. But with Mbanasor and Quick, along with the other freshmen, it sounds like Kerry Cooks is building some depth in the secondary. – (Super K)

– UPDATE (4:47 pm):

I am told former Notre Dame DE, Grant Blankenship has transferred to #Oklahoma #Sooners

— Super K (@SuperK_TFB) August 8, 2016

– UPDATE (4:53 pm): #BoomAlert