Open Post | Monday, April 4th (UPDATE 4:17 pm)
Posted on: April 4, 2016
– Isaiah Thomas: 2017 DE/OLB Isaiah Thomas (Tulsa, OK) made a return trip to Oklahoma this past weekend, and this was the first time Thomas’ mother accompanied him on any of his college visits. In talking to her, it’s clear the Sooners made quite an impression. “It was amazing. I enjoyed myself. It’s surreal how college ball is a huge step from high school. OU has a great academic program to athletic nutrition. I was impressed.”
Thomas and his mother will visit Oklahoma State for the first time later today. And Thomas also told TFB that he’ll be back in Norman again very soon, as he plans on making a return trip for OU’s Red/White game this weekend.
Additionally, Thomas did indicate he could be ready to make a decision towards the end of this month. But I think we will know more after his Oklahoma State trip. – (Brandon)
– Addison Gumbs: Spoke briefly with 2017 OLB Addison Gumbs (Hayward, CA), who also made his way to Norman for a visit this past weekend. Gumbs said about the OU visit, “tt was awesome, couldn’t have gone better.”
In talking to a source close to Gumbs, I’m told Oklahoma did indeed make a great impression with the family. But they also really like USC, which is a school Gumbs also recently visited. If the Sooners end up being a favorite out-of-state school, then it could come down to an OU/USC battle but it’s probably just a bit early to tell.
Before Gumbs visited Oklahoma over the weekend, he was in College Station visiting Texas A&M. Gumbs will be visiting Arkansas today and then plans to finish the trip with visits to Ole Miss and Mississippi State. In talking about a decision timeline Gumbs said, “after these trips I’m going to narrow down the list then go from there.” We should know more after these visits are complete.
Once Gumbs does indeed narrow his list, I do expect the Sooners to make the cut. – (Super K)
– BIG VISITOR ALERT | Deangelo Gibbs: I chatted briefly with 2017 DB Deangelo Gibbs (Loganville, GA), who let TFB know he plans on visiting Oklahoma sometime this week. It sounds like it could happen Thursday, but the exact timeline is a bit up in the air at the moment. Gibbs is spending the week in the Dallas area. – (Super K)
– Player Note | Charles Walker: Wanted to pass along a little information about OU defensive end Charles Walker. A source close to Walker said in regards to the news that came out this past weekend about his recent surgery, “He’s ok. He had an old wrist injury that he finally took care of.”
We did not get any information regarding a recovery timeline, but it certainly didn’t sound like anything that would keep him out for too long. – (Super K)
– UPDATE (11:45 am): Your visitor list for this weekend’s spring game.
– UPDATE (4:17 pm):
Forever A Sooner ❤️!!!! pic.twitter.com/nnCHKGC75w
— Buddy Love !!!! (@buddyhield) April 4, 2016
160 Comments
First
https://twitter.com/USATODAYhss/status/716991521430585344
Sounds like he has the potential to be really good.
That’s an understatement lol. He’s got size and real speed to burn. I was pleasantly surprised at his 40 time. Kid has a lot of zip on the ball as well. Qb battle should be great between him, Austin and Kyler.
Just great news…congrats to Robinson.
Leave it to LR and the OU staff to find ‘their’ guy. In the ‘old days’ in Top 40 radio they’d say something like #17 w/ a bullet … shooting to the top of the charts.
Of course they were taking payola so that was why they knew it was going straight to number 1, LOL! I fully agree with what you’re saying, though. Riley and Stoops don’t care if you’re a 2 star or a 5 star- they make their own decisions on who they want and trust their own judgement.
Robison*
what I don’t understand is what’s different about the Elite 11 and The Opening? Are there other QBs at The Opening? Or do the two camps just come together for the 7on7 portion?
Elite 11 is QB only competition. Opening is for all positions. None of the other positions have a specific competition like the QB’s do for elite 11, so its a pretty huge honor.
Matt, Elite 11 is a Nike sponsored QB competition and it takes quite a few QBs but weeds them out to find the elite 11. Then the competition starts again to find out who is #1. Once the competition is over, The Opening starts where all the players who were chosen from all of the regional’s attend. All players go through testing again. Then they break out with 2 to 3 QBs per 7 on 7 team. They play a tourney which is televised by ESPN2. Teams are all named after the new Nike football shoes coming out in the fall. The big men bring their pads and get after it on a ton of drills. All Nike sponsored pro FB players attend and help the kids with their skills.
This all takes place at Nike’s campus. It’s very enjoyable.
Even with Tanner Schafer walk on in the coming years it’s gonna be a tough fight at the QB position and if Cody Thomas does come back hmmm stout
Based on many a recent baseball starting lineup, I feel like the odds of Thomas coming back get greater by the day. But that’s purely guessing on my part.
Better late than never. Good for Chris. Kid deserves it in a big way!
I guess they decided to pull their heads out of their asses after the 2nd MVP.
What’s the word on Jordan Thomas? Why is he not practicing?
Would love to know if it’s 100 percent academics at this point.
BOOMER AND TEXSA STILL SUCKSSSS
SOONER!!!
Quick question…what the status of the numbers at CB and safety? Who do we take between Okudah, Myles Jones, Deangelo Gibbs, Chevin Calloway, Kary Vincent, etc? Seems like every week there is a new name in the hat.
We will take 2 of the players listed above if they want to come. I don’t see us taking anymore than that, but who knows.
with verbals from 3 CBs and a safety I assume we want a safety but I worry that another CB verbal will cause the others to look around
No expert but got to think Okudah is a take no matter what as the top DB in the class and as the #5 Safety Gibbs may be in that category as well. Calloway is definitely the highest ranked out of the rest as the #9 CB available but it is probably more about scheme fit and 1st come 1st serve for the rest
Okudah and Gibbs are cant miss guys , I think its a ” First come First serve ” type of situation.
most so-called ‘experts’ think Okudah is a lock for tOSU ( for whatever reason ) . there may be no “first come first serve” about it. If OU can get Gibbs, call it a day for DB’s and move on……….
Gibbs is no choke dude is a stud and a top rated guy in SEC country. He was at the OU vs Tenn game when we had that crazy comeback.
“Deangelo Gibbs.” That’s an NFL name.
I was dying to see some updates on Trey Sermon!!
I may be over confident but everything on Twitter would suggest he’s ours to lose.
I’m right with you there. After checking Twitter even his coach was amazed by OU. I just wondered if TFB would have anything on him today
I gotcha. I would have liked to hear it from one of them just to reassure my thoughts lol.
Hmmm…..I dunno about that. I read him as a Georgia lean and he’s visited Georgia three times I think.
His Twitter background pic is an OU edit and he’s tweeting at our current recruits and his fav player is AD. Of course he’s going to have more visits to Georgia, I mean he does live in the state. His tweet to Mixon would imply there will be another visit to Norman. Georgia hasn’t won a damn thing in my lifetime, what’s so special about Georgia?
Don’t underestimate hometown roots and it’s appeal. It’s not like Georgia isn’t putting RBs in the NFL and Kirby Smart is their new headcoach. He has strong ties to highschool coaches, an Alabama pedigree, and the promise of building the program into a contender. There a a lot more reason for this kid to stay home than there are to go elsewhere. Lastly, Norman is nice, but it’s certainly no Athens, GA.
When I think of the pros and cons of each school, I don’t really see anything to plays to our advantage that much other than this kid’s idolization of AD. That’s a good thing and getting him on campus was a coup in and of itself, but I don’t see us plucking the #1RB in the state of Georgia away from Georgia, much less the SEC.
Nothing except our history of winning- and their history of losing and talking about how promising their season looks. Other then that the teams are similar! 😉
Fair enough. I’ll save the I told you so for later ?
If that happens, I will welcome it with open arms and sing your praises no doubt! Lol
BUT…..we did it with Mixon, who was a major AD fan, and he was the #1 RB in the country, not just California, so anything is possible. I’m guessing that’s why Mixon hosted Trey. 😉
You’ll be hitting that high C sooner rather than later
Name the Georgia running backs in the NFL. No Googling. I can name two real good ones that went to OU.
Didn’t Gurley just make the Pro Bowl as a rookie?
No idea, I don’t watch the pros. But Gurley is a decent back. The way I read your post though made me think there must be a stable of them.
There are a stable of them. Gurley was just the first Georgia back to have success in the NFL recently but that’s pretty impressive as a Rookie, and they have a stable of them on campus as we speak, just like we do.
“It’s not like Georgia isn’t putting RBs in the NFL”. I’m a little confused. Did you mean Gurley in that statement, or are there a number of RB’s from Georgia in the NFL?
There have been quite a few. Knowshon Moreno, Olandis Gary, Terrell Davis and Garrison Hearst. They haven’t had as much recent success as we have but they’ve had success.
OK, as I said, I don’t follow the NFL and Garrison Hearst is the only name I recognize there. He’s like 45 or 50 now isn’t he?
Most of those backs were prominent in the 90s so probably so.
Reaching for straws. OU has three backs that see playing time not including Rip and Millard who’ll make the Chiefs and Mixon/Perine.
Moreno is a guy OU recruited while in HS in NJ. Believe he has been the most productive RB from Georgia since Herschel Walker …
OU CFB tradition exceeds Georgia’s.
If he doesnt commit within the next couple of weeks Id say our chances start going down dramatically. The luster of the visit will wear off and new visits will over ride it.
Not with all our 17 dudes in his ear. I guess I’m over confident, but I see him in Crimson and cream. He’s all OU on Twitter and so he’s either trolling us to the max or he’s seriously thinking about committing.
No doubt he likes OU a lot but Im not as optimistic as you. That being said I wouldnt be shocked if he ended up committing to the good guys.
I definitely like how our commits are recrutiting their butts off.
Gotta believe ?. Plus, after another playoff run from the Sooners and another 8-4 season from Georgia that will all but seal the deal for us ?
We need to get AD to give the kid a call. I mean, what are we paying him for??
When our prominent NFL guys tweet things about OU football it goes a long way. I would love for big daddy McCoy to tweet at Wilson and Rogers and same with AD at some RB recruits. It’s all a game and we need to be at the forefront of these things lol.
It’s nice to hear Walker’s procedure wasn’t related to his core (lower back, specifically). A small wrist procedure is probably preferred.
Vote for Erin Miller
https://twitter.com/OU_Softball/status/717010552766144512
https://twitter.com/RyanJamesMN/status/717007699704041473
Thanks JE
Where are the guys that got some meat on their bones?
https://twitter.com/TheOpening/status/717019089298788352
Just keep being more and more impressed w/ Bandy. Apparently has a tremendOUs work ethic and seems to have that ‘Chanse Sylvie-type’ infectious personality. OU staff really needs to keep building their relationship w/ him as others are going to continue to recruit him hard.
He is really good on Twitter and I think he likes to hear from Sooner fans. Sometimes I tweet him congrats or just send him sooner fan love. He has always either retweeted or given a ‘like’. I’ve always worried about him being out isolated in Florida, surrounded by all those wolves and bagmen.
He seems like a really good kid and will be a fantastic player, IMO, if we can hold on to him. He loves the honey badger and his tape really does resemble him some….yeah, I’ll take some of that!. Mathieu was on defense at LSU what Manziel was on offense.
Does anyone know if Thomas is being recruited as a DE or OLB for us? Seems he has the height to put on good weight and be a DE
Hopefully a OLB..
Mike likes to use hybrid guys so he could play both. As I understand our current scheme we are basically running a 3-3-4 +1. Where the +1 is a player chosen because of the type of team we are playing. Against running teams the +1 will be either another DL or LB. Against passing teams it’s an LB or S. Against HUNH teams it’s good to have hybrid who are decent at more than one position. That way you don’t have to switch players if they switch formations without huddling.
I believe they have said he would start at OLB but if he gets bigger as his body matures he would move to DE
https://twitter.com/BR_TheFuture/status/717020908494462977
update added
Sweet! Visitor list is much appreciated. Looking good.
Most of the commits. Hope they all make it in w/ along w/ a few un-committed. Will be a chance to build an even stronger bond for SoonerSquad17 and maybe get a few more into the schooner.
edit: esp Hines!!
I know you were updating on trey sermon over the weekend, looked like he was enjoying it. Any post-trip news from him?
Also saw Eno Benjamin will be committing in the next couple of weeks, kinda wondering why OU was never really a factor with him?
Who are the other Running Backs we are recruiting this year besides Trey Sermon?
OU’s current offers for 2017 by position:
http://oklahoma.247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/Offers
This of course also includes commits since they have offers. Just because we have offered a guy does not mean we will still take him. Some have committed elsewhere already and some may be off the list for other reasons.
Thank you , OU plans on taking two RB’s this year?
We already have a top JUCO commit in Marcelias Sutton.
http://247sports.com/player/marcelias-sutton-34030
There is some speculation as to how many we take because of losing both Ross and Brooks to graduation plus both Mixon and Perine are eligible for the draft. We definitely take two and probably should keep conversations going with others given the situation with Mixon and Perine.
Hopefully OU starts recruiting Najee Harris , Joe Mixon & Najee are pretty good friends and plus Najee goes to the same H.S. where Joe went.
I have a feeling that Harris is planning on starting or at least get a lot of playing time as a freshman.
I don’t think he sticks with Bama , I see USC being the biggest threat.
The thing that I found interesting on the the list you provided were the guys that they had listed as cool and warm. There were at least a couple that I would have thought would be listed warm that were listed as cool. Just interesting to compare.
Also I can’t believe how low on the list of CB Bandy was. That kid just looks like he is going to be a star!
Cam Akers is the most recent offer, and he’s a good one.
JK Dobbins
JK Dobbins is a goner I’m afraid. He recently did an interview after a 3 day visit to tOSU and sounded like it was a life changing experience. I think that’d be a super tough pull now.
Yeah, I just said he was a top target.
Kennedy Brooks is another very realistic option
Who will be the next 2017 verbal or the 2018 verbal?
Isaiah Thomas or the TE out of Cali (It’s a Monday and my brain is mush so his name slips my mind)
Grant Calcaterra is the Cali TE you mentioned.
He’s from Tulsa, I thought
Did you guys know that a Wall Street Journal study showed that the average NFL game contained only 11 minutes of actual football action?
You better check with your Dr. if you are participating for four hours, but only get 11 minutes of action.
Kinda like my last marriage.
LMAO! Excellent.
She was crazy I met her.
At such a young age too…
Dang…this year OU will have FOUR commits at The Opening. If memory serves correct, OU didn’t have 1 last year. I hope that really helps recruiting even more.
We had 3: caleb kelly, mark jackson and Valentine
http://www.studentsports.com/football/2015/07/01/theopening2015roster/
none of them were committed at the time though so they weren’t recruiting anyone for OU
true
Technically, Robison has only been invited to the Elite 11 Finals. At the Finals he has to compete against up to 20 other QB’s for a spot at the Elite 11 competition that is held in conjunction with The Opening. It’s still a big deal though!
https://twitter.com/OU_CoachViney/status/717065175153516544
https://twitter.com/CFP_HQ/status/716698629696716801
And he always will be.
And he always will be.
Question – why are they posting this as a Nick Saban-centric fact? Why wouldn’t they announce “Bob Stoops leads all BCS era coaches in quality wins. Nick Saban is second.”?
Was this post made in response to some question about Saban? It seems odd to me that they would make their statement about the second place guy… and, oh by the way, in other news, here’s the guy who beat him.
Nice looking visitor list, it can only be good to have all those committed guys around each other.
so college fans ragging on OU for getting blown out in the Final Four in basketball and football….idiots.
Haters gonna hate!! Sports Envy!
It was a record setting blowout though… :/
who cares? It’s not like they paid their way into the game? Or even made it in based on polls? They won their way there through the tourney. They deserved to be there regardless of the results.
I didn’t say they didn’t deserve it, just that it was record setting. We would be talking about another team getting blown out, so why can’t others talk about OU? Are you that insecure in your fandom?
Agree, Rainy. I’m proud of the team getting to the FF, but losing by a record number of points is, well, no other way to put it, somewhat humiliating. I have been getting completely ragged on by my West Coast friends, but I just tell them. “Wait till football season!”
There’s no other way to deal with it: You can only just agree. It is totally humiliating. I wear my OU Sooner lanyard to work EVERY DAY, so I encounter plenty of scorn/ridicule from haters. Even saying “Wait till football season!” has its drawbacks due to Stoops going 1 – 4 at the championship level … 0 – 4 since 2001. It also doesn’t help me living in Missouri.
Just ask the raggers to name one winning team against a 70-80% shooting team. It was a record night for nova shooting, not a terrible game by us.
The only thing that sucks worse is supporting a team that couldn’t get there.
Led by Paul Finebaum, who if he didn’t have his secret lover Nick Saban to talk about, wouldn’t have a job in reporting college sports. I don’t think he’s ever something remotely intelligent in recent history.
He used to do some decent interviews on radio. Since he’s moved to TV, bleah.
He sounded off on twitter after the game. Looked like total tool. He takes any opportunity to make it sound like Oklahoma isn’t a relevant program.
Like I said, he did some decent interviews when he was local (I live in AL). But now that he is on TV, even his radio program isn’t worth listening too.
He’s based in Alabama and that is his main market. Being the guy on national TV who carries the AL/SEC banner makes him lots of points with the home crowd. And in his business it’s all about the market. He’s actually a Tennessee grad so probably hates AL on the inside, but he sold out to AL for the money.
I listened to a podcast or two which wasn’t as bad since he talked about his teams. As soon as he has talk about anything outside the SEC, it’s just trash talk. Had no idea he was a Tennessee grad though, a bit surprising.
Hope Hines makes it in.
https://twitter.com/OUDailySports/status/717079976529387521
Its 4.02 and texsa s-cks as always!Great reading today ,love the visitors list.
Cant get enough of the Hines vid!Metz out——-
update added
Nice gesture by Buddy to we fans.
I hope we can find out more about LB Bryce Youngquist if he still attends to sign and possibly play at Oklahoma soon.
None of our business
Seriously, people hunting for details. Let it go. If the family wanted to release the info they would have done so by now. Time to move on.
I am a ass but, it’s intends. Yes, I’m still an ass but the shorthorns still suck.
As Buddy says he will always be a Sooner and thanks us, we Sooners from years ago will always appreciate what he did for OUr school and in its name.
No doubt. Message board fans mean nothing to buddy he knows who loved him. Boomer
Thanks Buddy for all the great memories. We are all looking foreword to watching the next chapter in your life play out. All the best brother!
Just about to head over to NRG stadium. I hope we win tonight.
Boomer Sooner!
Buddy, classy as always. Sad hes gone, but glad hes about to get paid, and will represent us in the NBA very well.
Buddy deserves a big pay check. I will be happy to see him acquire some nice things for himself and his Mom. (and maybe a Maserati for me 🙂
Yep, great kid, great story. Time for mom to take a load off =)
Am I the only Sooner who is wanting Villanova to beat UNC by 30+? First, I can’t stand UNC. Second, it would help show that we just ran into a buzz saw that couldn’t be stopped.
NO I hope they shut them down by 50.
Yes. It would take a good amount of the sting out of it. By the reverse, it will make it that much worse if V gets crushed.
Thanks Buddy!! I hope you have a successful NBA career, you will be greatly missed by all Sooner fans, your my all-time favorite OU BB player!
Buddy is what’s right about college athletics.
The latest:
http://gfoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/AOK_0839_3-31-2016.jpg?DB_OEM_ID=31000
http://gfoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/AOK_0829_3-31-2016.jpg?DB_OEM_ID=31000
Looks loud!
I believe Mark Jackson will be in Norman this weekend.
Buddy, You make me want to cry.
https://twitter.com/Cant_StopCinco/status/717150983026053120
Quick got his wig shook:
https://twitter.com/Joe_MainMixon/status/717138642032984064
He just got “Quicker”
Coach Spurrier joined the fray:
https://twitter.com/CoachSpurrierOU/status/717151515803148293
BOOM!!!! Villlanova
Yup. At least NC didn’t win.
I have been a fan of Roy Williams and NC for many years, but I have to say that I was happy to see Villanova hit that shot. Truth!!!
That was a heck of a final minute!
ncg……best 2 played and hats off to both…………very worthy game for it all
Watching the highlights of the Dance, who else thinks that the N.Iowa game winner is the most beautiful ending to a game in the entire touney?
Oh yeah, I attended that game. I got to see the life sucked out of Texsa faces.
Tuck Fexas!
Watching the ending to the game, did Jordan just say Boom when NC made the miraculous 3 pt shot to tie the game? I think he did!
??????