Sooners Pick Up Late Addition To 2014 Class
Posted on: March 2, 2014
Image via ESPN
As we mentioned in yesterday’s Junior Day Open Post, the possibility of Oklahoma adding a late 2014 commitment in the form of Under Armour All-American long-snapper Wesley Horky was certainly on the table. The Tennessee product was in Norman with his family for an official visit after a scholarship offer from OU special teams coach, Jay Boulware, forced him to reconsider his previous commitment to the in-state Volunteers.
Saturday night Horky took to Twitter to make his commitment to the Sooners official.
Made my decision and I'll be playing at the University of Oklahoma on scholarship!! #BoomerSooner pic.twitter.com/ClaHddnFUG
— Wesley Horky (@wesleyhorky) March 2, 2014
While it may seem a bit odd to either (1) be taking a commitment this late while pushing OU’s scholarship count one over the 85-man limit and/or (2) offering a scholarship to a long-snapper, it’s clear Boulware has been given the freedom to make special teams a priority. It remains to be seen how OU will get back down to that 85 number, but clearly the coaches felt comfortable enough that would happen they could offer Horky.
Presumably, OU already had their long-snapper on campus in Trevor Knight’s twin brother, Connor. However even at a position many seemingly take for granted, at a school like Oklahoma you’re going to have competition for a starting spot no matter where you play.
Horky is widely considered to be one of the best in the country at what he does and while that skill may not be highly valued by the common fan, it was deemed valuable enough by Boulware. And considering how well the Sooners’ special teams played this past season in Boulware’s first year, it’s probably safe to defer to the man’s judgment.
40 Comments
Did LJ Moore leaving, Kendal Thompson leaving not put us under the 85 scholarships?
That’s what I was wondering. Will be interesting to see if anyone else leaves. There’s also the possibility someone doesn’t qualify.
re: the latter, w/ the most obvious candidate, IMO, being Orlando Brown based on what I’ve heard/read.
I really hope he qualifies. Is it likely at this point that he will or won’t, in your opinion?
Lot of work to do as I understand it.
I took a lot of heat for my Orlando Brown comments, glad someone finally is on board. Common sense says that they wouldn’t have asked Brown to go to prep school or to a juco. They would have asked him to gray shirt if he could make the grades. I really couldn’t figure out why everyone thought I was crazy for using common sense.
Don’t know if it was heat at all. Just reporting what I’ve been told.
Maybe that was the wrong choice of words. However, you definitely did more than report what you heard as you argued your point (which is completely fine of course) as well. It was a fun little debate, but I was on an island with a couple of you guys disagreeing.
It more than appears at this point that OU was plenty fine with offering a scholly and placing a kid…and it might be at Hargrave. I argued that OU DOES place kids and definitely was told I was wrong. I know it doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. It appears that it will happen with Brown…and it is plenty worth the risk. Kid can be a great player.
Any chance that Tennessee wanted to see if Brown could keep up his conditioning? Didn’t he weigh something like 380 his junior year?
I thought Moore leaving put them at 85.
Am I crazy or did I see that Franks left the team too? I thought he transferred also.
You are not crazy, Franks is gone.
I think they’re fine on ships, if they didn’t have the spot I don’t think they would use one on a snapper. The staff isn’t known for being a bunch of idiots.
Exactly, it’s a 100% possibility that they know something we don’t.
I agree our coaches know what they are doing. Slow day here 13 degrees, was snowing-now sleeting. I think I’ve got this 85 limit figured out.
A. Start with 85
B. Subtract number of early enrollee’s. (4)
C. Discount: D. Williams, T. Metoyer, B. Glenn, Trey Franks, K. Thompson (-5)
D. Number that coaches know that will not qualify, be kicked off team, or leave (-2).
E. Number of Seniors I counted from a Tulsa World roster posting (-16).
F. Total is a minus 27.
G. Total number of 2014 signees= 27. Back to 85!!
Wonder if OU needs a Director of Numbers Coach??? Lol.
I’m getting pounded with sleet also, feels colder than 13. You’re math might be right. I’m scratching my head looking at the roster, in the neighborhood of 120 names. Do we have that many kids who aren’t on scholarship?
You’re right. Surely not that many walk-ons . Maybe Jordan has some input on that.
Hey Gary, did a little digging and read somewhere that a scholarship can be divided up between players as partials and it still counts one and also some players can be hooked up with some real nice financial aid and it isn’t called a scholarship. That may be the way teams are carrying well over a hundred kids and still meeting the 85 rule.
Thanks-makes a lot of sense.
OU is at 86 with this addition. If Orlando Brown does not make it they are at 85. KT, Trey and LJ put us down to 85 and Wesley put us at 86 for the time being. They have until June.
Thanks-told you it was a slow day. Just go to D and kick somebody off! In all sincerity I have always wondered how they got to this 85. Like Sooner Ray mentioned The Tulsa World had around 120 or so listed on a roster. Would they have that many walk-ons or what?
Yeah, it’s not abnormal to have that many walk-ons. Practice squad guys, kickers, punters, etc… Often times it’s local kids with talent that are asked to be preferred walk-ons. Too bad they all can’t end up like Dom Whaley! haha
I remember an article here that said Adam Shead’s back problems are chronic and his football future was in doubt.
Why does everyone believe the job was Conner Knight’s to start with? This is not meant to be a slam at Conner, he is a great kid and a very good athlete. His primary position is TE (for which he walked on) and he also happened to deep snap. If you ask the punters, there was a HUGE disparity between A. Woods and C. Knight with regard to both the speed and accuracy of their snaps. Just having someone who can “get” the ball back to the punter is not adequate. It is apparent to me the kids on campus are not where the coaches want them, so help/competition was needed. I would think the job is open and Horky will still have to earn the spot in the fall. His primary competition should be C. Knight, although I think there are a couple more kids who might try to put themselves in the mix. My guess is that the fundamentals Horky has specifically worked on and honed for the last few years will move him to the top of the lineup at that position. I think it is a great addition that will add a level of consistency to a position whose importance is often overlooked.
Good points. I’m sure the punters and holders would want the very best.
Thanks for sharing. it goes without saying that we need the best at every position and he sure seems like he’s right there.
Congrats Wesley, welcome to Sooner Nation.
Congratulations and welcome to OU, Wesley.
What a great weekend trip that turned out to be for the entire family.
A little surprised at the UA video where only four young men competed for the long snapper job. I knew there wouldn’t be a long snapper there from Pulaski Academy, they don’t punt.
The four UA competitors had already been culled out of probably 50 or more kids during previous competitions and earned the right to compete for the final selection.
That many?
I could see how accurate and strong his snaps were on the video, but had no ideas there was that much competition. I don’t think deep snappers get the respect they deserve.
The 50 was a guess. There were 48 from the 2014 class at Kohl’s 2013 Scholarship Camp. Here are the snapping results (ranked in order of finish): http://kohlskicking.com/sites/default/files/2013-Kohls-Snappers-ranked.htm
Were the point totals based on accuracy, velocity or both?
I would guess the points are based on accuracy.
I have seen them punt and kick it deep in person. I have also seen them not point inside their own 10 yard line, up 6 in the state championship, late in the game. They lost.
Definitely high risk/high reward.
It’s a critical skill. If it requires a scholly, I’m good with it. Welcome aboard, Wes.
Welcome to Sooner Nation…..glad to have a product from where I reside now….good luck
It looks like he’s throwing darts out there…..
Didn’t we lose LJ Moore, so now we have a spot?
I don’t care about them offering a long-snapper. The position is way more important than people think. Anytime there’s a punt block called by a good team, it’s only about a few tenths of a second between getting the kick off and getting it blocked. The long-snapper may be more important than the punter in that respect. I’m just interested in how their going to juggle the scholarships. I hope they don’t end up grayshirting a kid that assumed he was going to get a scholarship. I hate that sort of thing, and I hope that OU doesn’t do that.