Open Post | Tuesday, Sept. 16th (Updated 4:42 pm)
Posted on: September 16, 2014
Image via Scout
PJ Mbansor: Spoke to PJ last night and he had a great time this past weekend. He said, “the more I spend time in Norman, the more I love that place.” He actually said that LSU continues to recruit him very hard, but he keeps insisting to them that he’s done. I asked him if he was planning on taking an official visit to a school like LSU and he said, “absolutely not.”
Mbanasor was apparently doing a lot of recruiting for Oklahoma in general this past weekend. It seems he was working hard on Neville Gallimore (he seems to really like Neville) and Justin Reid. He also spent much of his time with Kahlil Haughton and John Humphrey, and it appears they’ve all built a really good relationship.
A couple side notes, this might surprise y’all but it sounds like Alex Ross is actually a good recruiter for OU. PJ said Ross is hilarious, was really nice to the recruits, and provided plenty of entertainment. PJ also said he feels like OU can land Kahlil, Justin, and Neville.
Kahlil Haughton: Spent some time talking to Kahlil last night, and he also had a great weekend. His bond with a guy like PJ is undeniable and it’s clearly something that can only help OU’s cause. One of the things Kahlil really emphasized about his trip was how warm and welcoming the current team was. I think it surprised him a little bit. They made him and the other recruits really feel like they belonged.
Another interesting thing that both Kahlil and PJ mentioned was just how large the stage at Oklahoma feels. The size and engagement of the crowd Saturday night really stood out. He also said that he and PJ talked about how amazing and maybe even somewhat intimidating (in a good way) it’s going to be when they bowl in the stadium!
Kahlil had a chance to talk to Bob Stoops and said that went really well. He said Stoops told him they want him and that they know he (Kahlil) wants to take his officials but not to worry, because OU is going to hold a spot for him. Kahlil said that really put his mind at ease. He said he will take an official to Arkansas for the Alabama game, to Texas Tech for the Texas game, and he will also take an official to Baylor.
I (K) feel very comfortable with where OU stands with Kahlil. I think he feels very comfortable at OU and recognizes what a special place it is. He’s continued to develop bonds with current commits and players on the team and his family have visited on multiple occasions (he, his mother, and his little brothers made the trip up this past weekend).
I guess Bobby Jack Wright looked at him, PJ, and Justin and said…”y’all are the future secondary right here!” Kahlil and PJ both liked that.
Justin Reid, Anthony McKee & Neville Gallimore: I mention these three together because in chatting with all three, and talking to people around them, it’s clear they all considered committing at some point this past weekend. Neville said he felt it would be best, however, for him to take his officials so obviously we’re going to have to wait and see how things feel after he’s been to other places. But the relationship he has with Jerry Montgomery is special.
McKee said he needed to speak to his family and has told us in the past that he also plans on taking other officials. Justin’s parents want him to take his officials as well, but OU seems to be his clear leader right now.
Pat Allen: Talked to a friend of mine from the Baltimore area that knows Allen really well and is involved in his recruiting. I asked if the 2015 OT and Georgia commit was simply taking a trip or if he likes OU and he told me, “he likes it now.” I guess Pat was initially just taking a trip, but it sounds like OU and Coach Bedenbaugh really blew his hair back. The friend told me that OU “definitely” has a shot at landing Allen.
John Humphrey: Drake caught up with Humphrey and you’re going to like what OU’s lone (to date) WR commit had to say. Drake asked Humphrey how his trip went and he said, “it was the best trip experience I’ve ever had!” He also said that he’s putting his recruiting hat on and working hard on Justin Reid and Ricky DeBerry!
UPDATE (4:42 pm): Thought this was interesting…Texas has offered former OU commit and current UNC commit, Jamile Johnson. My guess is Johnson will flip.
83 Comments
Awesome. Thanks for the round-up. Based only on the Twitter posts I’ve seen, it seems like Keisean South is still really high on OU from his visit. It’s been a couple days and he’s still tweeting things like “Future squad?” with a pic of him and the other recruits. Could mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I was thrilled to see OU make such a positive impression.
he had a great trip. We talked to him…posted to some notes about the conversation in the “Recruits Reaction” post.
You all do a great job. I am not one to hang on what kids say and realize that predicting what they might do from what they say immediately after a trip isn’t necessarily a good indicator of their final decision. So, I like it that you keep it to the basics. I am not one to get to excited about the hype. It is what they eventually do on the field that gets me excited.
Hope there are three or four Eric Striker types in this class. It is hard to think of a kid I ever enjoyed watching play as I do Striker. I can’t imagine where his energy comes from as he is simply amazing. The kid goes full blast from the snap to the whistle on every play.
We try to just talk to the kid and then give y’all a real sense of where we feel things stand. Glad you like it!
From watching film and hearing everybody talk there are a couple Stricker types but they are 3″ or 4″ taller than Eric. If they have the same “heart” as Stricker then they could be unreal!
Ive said it before an I’ll say it again. Great job as always!
Thanks for the update.
I doubt we take a QB this year. Heard we have backed off Gibson, as he was suspended again by his HS team.
Love the updates!
Really hope we can close on most/if not all of these guys. Do we really have room for Pat Allen if he wants to be a Sooner? Would we take him over Barnett/Wariboko?
This is like the best Open Post: all positive news. Very encouraging. Thanx. As always, much appreciated. Hey, one last thought: what do you know about Dillon Lohr from Carl Albert? TFB reported that he was an attendee at the big game. Apparently he’s an ILB.
Don’t know much yet but we’ll be interested in catching up with him because we were speculating that perhaps OU is looking at him as a potential ILB.
Thanx K. As your nom de guerre implies, you are indeed Super!
Not sure what he said, but I think I agree!
LOL!
Really seems like OU killed it this weekend in every way. I always love seeing the kids who are already committed go after other recruits. These days you almost have to get a couple of those kids early to get momentum going.
This was a special weekend.
How many players will OU sign this year? Will it be 25 or will there be more scholarships available than that, not counting early NFL departures or unforeseen transfers?
Is OU going after Soso Jamabo still or are they done at RB?
pretty sure we’re done there. i thought he had eliminated us anyways. im guessing we kinda stopped recruiting him becuase we felt good with Anderson and our current backs on campus
Personally I think OU is set at RB for a while with Ford, Ross, Perine, and Mixon, then add Anderson next year. OU always has good RBs
Soso and OU are done. It’s been done for a while actually. I will tell y’all that OU had a clear lead with him at one point.
Who’s wearing number 21 in the photo?
Anthony McKee
Thanks, cpearc00!
I think that’s Anthony McKee
Can we get more follow-up on Ricky DeBerry?
Sure. I’ll try to call his dad later.
I like the modern approach that OU is now taking. Before with the old staff it was a tradition speaks for its self approach. Now we are wowing kids.
Maybe I was wrong on bringing in Pat Allen??
I still think the odds are pretty slim.
Got to agree with Jordon about chances being slim but it says a lot to me about the recruiting weekend we had if it mad a guy from Baltimore who said he was a SOLID Georgia commit and just taking a free trip set up and take notice. If he rethought it for a second then OU is clearly making up a lot of the recruiting ground they had lost over the last few years!
Very excited about the positive recruiting news but after a huge weekend like that it should all be positive news. Its like a candidate getting a bounce in the polls after the convention. Now its up to the coaches and the team to keep the positive momentum going. I think we have the coaches that put in the relationship building work that it takes to be great recruiters so I think we are good there. I hope this team is truly one of those special teams that many of us think they have the potential to be. This is the year they can reclaim there dominance over the Big12 for years to come by going out there and burying teams like Okie Lite,TT, UT, and Baylor and showing the recruits that there might be some flashy, or trendy teams that come along from time to time but there truly is Only One Oklahoma! Boomer!!
Always good to see current players being good hosts and commits and players recruiting others hard. That’s how you build a great signing class and develop good team chemistry.
Sweet pic. Good to see all the guys had a great time and look at OU as a leader or near the top in their recruitment. Seems like guys are really close to pulling the trigger once they are done with officials which would be better than waiting all the way to signing day. This class is rounding into shape to be a darn good one. Thanks TFB for all the great info.
I like that These new coaches have changed the mindset of the entire staff when it comes to recruiting. We aren’t just taking our name for granted like we did in the past. We are showing these kids what we have to offer, the family bond, Community involvement and then letting them out it all together and experience it on Gameday. When coaches are honest and seem to be putting forth an effort to get to know a kid instead of just showing the OU symbol and tradition…well just look at the quantum leap we have taken
I have met several players over several years, this roster seems like the most humble and down to earth for the most part. I have run into guys in Norman and I try not to be that super fan who pesters them while they eat lunch or head to class, but I have run into them and said hey whats up Eric or Keith or whatever and they actively engage with fans, students, and alumni. And you can tell it isn’t that they are being forced to, they genuinely love OU and they just want to make it better. People underestimate what this attitude can do for a program.
Ross to be is a little weird but in a goofy way. Ford just gives you that esteemed and respectful vibe. I mean he is yes sir, no sir, and very polite. Mixon was hilarious and so was Quick. I am glad Mixon is staying around cause I met him and Quick at the same place and they act like brothers.
From what I have gathered, the locker room in years past was very divided and this group, I see them all walking around together and hanging together. I think you are going to see a lot tighter team that can overcome a lot more than before. They are pushing each other in every aspect of the game. It is truly a beautiful thing to see.
Speaking of brothers, I love that we’ve got the Evans brothers! Add Jordan Evans to that and you’ve got some good Sooner legacies there…Dom Alexander has been a great representative of Oklahoma as well. A lot of the Okie boys know each other and are very close. I’d love to see Barnett, Wariboko, Dahu Green, Keaton Torre (though Beuchele is a legacy) all as Sooners.
Refresh my memory. Tay and Bobby Evans are brothers, and the sons of Bobby Joe Evans of Oklahoma basketball history. Correct? Is Jordan related to them?
You are correct about the Evans boys being brothers and son of Bobby Joe. Jordan’s dad Scott was a stud DT at OU in the late 80s and 1990.
I think this group of coaches we have right now play a big role in the chemistry of the locker room. The players seem to have great attitudes but when players love and respect their coaches, it spreads all through the team.
What a difference a year makes. 2015-2016 could just be berserk on the field AND in recruiting. Unreal.
Also, I thought McTelvin Agim was trying to make the trip – Did he?
I don’t have a Twitter but saw the pic you just posted – You left out Justin Reid!!! Don’t leave our guy out…He almost committed!
Guess the line has dropped from OU-12 to OU-7…too much money on WVU and Vegas needs more OU betting.
This game has a lot of OU fans nervous…including me, but when you think about it Bama goes through this every week…having to win against an opponent that is probably not your equal but good enough to take you down if you don’t bring your A game. We went through it too, from 2001-2004.
Real contenders get it done, so if we are really contenders we’ll have to believe we can get it done at WVU.
Great point about the confidence or lack thereof. But if this team does get it done this year I think the confidence will return to the fans. I believe ou should win every game this year and then see how the playoff shakes out. But I won’t boast about a win that hasn’t happened yet I try to stay modest about ou. I remember in 2008 going into RRR, my friend was trolling our texas friend saying how bad we would beat them and I told him “yeaaaah I’m not going there” what happened? Reynolds goes down and we can’t stop anything.
I’m not worried about anyone on our schedule. The past few years I was worried because I’ve felt we weren’t whole. I don’t have that feeling anymore.
I was going to say something similar. This team gives me a different feeling than the past few. I haven’t been this confident in a team since 2008, and the defense is much better so far this year than in ’08.
Like your confidence but I’m not there, yet. If we were a very good team, we would’ve destroyed Tennessee. Offensively, so many missed opportunities, busted assignments, bad running. We haven’t faced a true passing team. Saturday will tell how well our S’s are doing. Hope I’m wrong but the offense needs to gel better before I’m on board.
I get it. Take a look at JY’s trench warfare from today.This is the best site ever. So many different perspectives. And everyone is cordial.
Gel is right but the O was also very vanilla, especially in the second half.
Please forgive if this question rubs anyone the wrong way, but im curious on something. How do you guys get to talk to all these recruits, when you have, what I would think, would be a clear tie to OU?
Do you just have to be careful what you say to them, or is there simply nothing wrong with talking to these kids? I mean, you guys are obviously very intelligent, so you wouldnt do something wrong, and then post about it.
Guess I just dont understand the rules.
I would like clarification too but pay sites have been around awhile and they get similar type of access and have a similar bias or favoritism to a school.
That’s true. I always assumed pay site info was 2nd or 3rd hand, and not directly with the kids, so that’s why I thought tfb was different.
Well yeah, pay sites get their premium information from this site….thought everyone knew that. 🙂
Lol!
Sad part is, that really is true. I heard a radio personality answer a caller who asked about Keisean Lucier-South, and he stammered around a few seconds-like he had to quickly skim through TFB’s website to be able to answer.
I have no doubt!
BOOM!
I would think something like that would only matter if they are being paid by, or working for the school in an official capacity. These guys run an independent sports news website, that is not any any way affiliated with any university, and happens to put their focus onto OU. So I’m not sure NCAA rules about contacting recruits apply to news media.. I imagine it would be just the same as if you or I tried to contact recruits and/or coaches of recruits. It would be totally legal, they just have no reason to talk to us, lol. But they have plenty of reasons to talk with the Brainiacs, and so they do.
Just my opinion, I really have no knowledge of official rules.
NCAA doesn’t prohibit communication with recruits about their recruitment for news sites, blogs, etc. All the major sites communicate regularly with recruits. But unlike the other sites, we give the information out to readers for free.
Ahh ok, didn’t know media was exempt. Thanks for the clarification, keep up the great work!
I don’t gamble on football but I read where the line dropped from -12 to -7?? What the heck? Everybody loves WVU??
Yeah moral victories are better than real ones.
That’s in relation to the loss of Keith Ford
It’s important to remember that the line is not actually a prediction of what the Book expects to happen. It is a proxy to get an equal amount of money on each side of the bet. The Book doesn’t care who wins or who is expected to win. They Book just wants to have losing bets covering winning bets, so they get the juice out of the middle without any risk. They move the line to a point that promotes equal amounts wagered on each side.
What the line dropping means is that more people were betting WVU to cover, so they are dropping the spread to get more betting on OU.
We are playing on the road, thats 7 points generally. WVU offense has played well in every game, especially their passing game. In my opinion Julian Wilson had guys open against him most of the night, Sanchez isn’t healthy, one of your safeties is a first year starter, your top RB is out for the game, and possibly your legit DT may be out of the game. We have a great front 7 but WVU is known for their short passing game which should eliminate the rush a little bit.
Not saying that I think we lose or only win by 7 but I understand where the line is.
I was just shocked that it dropped THAT much THAT quickly.
Where are the tweaked back stories coming from, about Big J? I hadn’t heard it from BS or seen it anywhere.
He left the game with an ankle or foot, was re-wrapped on the sideline, and played the rest of the game…from what I saw.
What am I missing?
Seems relevant: https://thefootballbrainiacs.com/jordan-phillips-and-zack-sanchez-note
Thank you
So did Thaddeus Lagrone quit the team?
Yeah he’s no longer with the team.
With a couple guys leaving the team does that open a couple more scholarships for next year. Maybe opening up enough room for Wariboko possible. If and/when Barnett commits this will be a AWESOME O-Line Class but if we could pull Wariboko as well we would be loaded for the future!!!
Lol texas is doing great at pulling in our left overs. My guess though is JJ will be a 4 star next week. I haven’t seen kody k in awhile. What do you think kody?
So I was flipping channels and decided to give ‘Inside College Football’ on CBS sports a shot. Had it on for five minutes and won’t make that mistake again. They were equating Joe Mixon with every incident of male assaults on women for all of recorded time.
Pathetic.
I’ve tried that show Tex, actually seen a couple good episodes but usually leave a little let down.
As goofy a bunch as I’ve seen, SR.
Possibly the worst show I’ve ever seen. The collection of talent equate to a bad host and 4 guys who have no idea what they are taking about… Not to mention one of them wears white addidas with his suit.
BON is reporting that Jamile Johnson has committed to texsa.
As expected I guess. As Zach says, they get our leftovers.
He wasn’t “Sooner Great” anyway! LOL!!!!!!
That’s right Doobie, if they pass on us they deserve the humiliation they will go through at texsa. Maybe they want him for his coin toss decision skills.
Comment of the day material
Sat right next to Cassius Peat the Tennessee game before the game on the field. (my friend is a recruit) and he said the atmosphere is like none other. Also was a really great kid.