Image of Bryce Youngquist via scout.com
– Bryce Youngquist: We’ve mentioned before but will say it again, the difference in Tim Kish’s offer practices this year as compared to last are night and day. To that point, OU made yet another 2016 linebacker offer last night in Rancho Cucamonga, CA prospect Bryce Youngquist. And in speaking with the young man shortly after the offer was made, it was clear the offer made an impact. “I’m highly interested in Oklahoma,” Youngquist was quick to say.
He also said, “I have to talk to my parents first, but I’m definitely going to visit Oklahoma.” Youngquist also made no bones about the fact OU’s offer immediately moved the Sooners into his Top 5 schools along with Oregon, Arizona State, Washington State and Utah. – (Brandon)
– Two Jr. Days: In talking with some recruits in recent days, we’ve been able to determine that Oklahoma will actually be hosting not just one but TWO Jr. days next weekend. They are planning to one event on the originally scheduled Saturday, March 7th, but are also now planning to hold a second the following on March 8th. The idea behind it being to ensure the OU coaches can see a greater number of prospects, but still keep things personal enough to connect with the players. – (Brandon)
– Diron Reynolds Meets the Team: Have been told by a couple sources that OU’s new defensive line coach, Diron Reynolds, has indeed now met with the staff and his players. However, we have also spoken to a number of defensive line recruits and they have still yet to hear from Reynolds. I’m assuming he’s still getting settled in and suspect that they’ll hear from Reynolds very shortly.
So far everything I’ve heard from sources about Reynolds has been positive. But I particularly liked this quote from a source, “he’s on Jerry Montgomery’s level of cool.” – (Super K)
– Malik Antoine: Came across Baton Rouge, Louisiana 2016 cornerback prospect Malik Antoine recently and wanted to bring him to your attention. Antoine is a long, technically sound corner prospect with good speed. You see his training and attention to detail right away in his stance as he squares up a receiver. He’s a highly intelligent kid who is already qualified academically and holds offers from both Stanford and Vanderbilt, among several others, so you know what you’re getting in terms of work ethic.
LSU is taking a small DB class this year and already have one 2016 defensive back committed. So while I have been told the LSU coaches like Antoine, he may be a player they just don’t have a spot for depending on how their numbers shake out. Which would give an out-of-state school, like an Oklahoma, a great opportunity to steal a gem from ‘the Boot.’
I spoke to Antoine recently who emphasized the importance of both academics and opportunity. He’s a sharp kid that is willing to go anywhere, so distance will not be an issue. In fact, he’ll be taking an unofficial visit to Stanford this weekend. If I’m OU, Antoine is one of my next DB offers. Especially considering the fact he really has the size and range to play a number of positions in the secondary. – (Super K)
141 Comments
Also we went ahead and posted our Jr. Day #2 visitor list, but will continue to update it thru next week as per usual.
https://thefootballbrainiacs.com/ou-oklahoma-sooners-football-recruiting-2016-junior-day-2-mar-7th-visitor-list?GD_NONCE=b0d5be3daa
Nice. Thanks
Solid list, lets hope the weather doesnt keep kids at home
Hopefully that is a list in progress. Not many guys to spread out over 2 days. On the positive side though, there will be plenty of one-on-one attention for each and every guy.
Definitely still a work in progress.
Do you know if any of the Oklahoma QB’s got an invite and simply refused, or if no invitation was extended? There are several that intrigue me, like Garrett and the two Wilsons.
I do not, but I’d be pretty surprised if that were the case. I can ask Brandon to try and see if he knows anything though.
OU will have to beat ASU for Youngquist……he has been recruited by the ASU staff for some time.
That’s a lot of porn stars to compete with.
Stephen, can you please just change your name to Debbie Downer?
Malik Antoine’s story is pretty much on the same line as Justin Reid’s from the 2015 class.
Good point, pretty similar. Other than LSU maybe having one or two fewer DB spots.
I am thinking he will be Stanford all the way.
I know Marquise Overton tweeted out last night that he spoke with Reynolds and seemed pretty excited.
Has OU been in contact with Malik?
Not just yet but hopefully they will soon
Is this your way of telling them to? 🙂
Haha we’ve got a number of coaches from diff schools that frequent the site so it’s my way of getting this deserving kid a little attention 🙂
That’s awesome. I for one, really appreciate the way you guys make it about the kids rather than about yourselves. Keep up the good work and I’m sure this site will continue to be blessed!
You know something that would be neat would be if there was a way to find the posts about recruits based on name or position. I would even offer my services to keep it up, if the TFB guys thought it was a good idea.
There’s a search function at the top of the page that I just used to do something similar to what you’re suggesting and it seemed to work for me. I’d never actually tried it before, fwiw.
Yeah, that works when you search of a player name. But search for linebacker, for instance, you get mostly 2015 backers articles. Not that helpful if you want to find a list of our LB recruits and what TFB says about them. It would be helpful if there was something more organized. But not asking you guys to do more work. Maybe I will just go create one somewhere and share it here.
Bob, that would be a benevolent thing to do for the TFB readers.
Sounds like a solid proposal.
Ok, here is a start for one. I will try to make it more user friendly in the future. Only had time to put the last couple of days in so far.
https://tfblists.wordpress.com/
it’s hard to bash Kish’s effort on the recruiting trail for 2016. It’s night and day different compared to last year. Solid offers. Early offers. Sensible offers. As we see every year, being ‘in’ on a recruit for a long time doesnt automatically secure their signature, so its all about developing the best relationship with the player AND family/friends (Monty was especially great at that). Hopefully Kish + whoever else joins him as a contact can do that. For these CA defensive guys, I’d be fine with Kish/Viney with the occasional Stoops swoop.
Not to mention our only real solid commit.
OK I love what I have seen on Bryce Youngquist already. His speed is evident and he seems to really spy well, and track the ball carrier. Not many can out run him either. He plays a LOT like Eric Striker. I really want us to get him – he seems to have all the qualities you cant coach.
Agreed. Big fan.
“The South keeps 91% of its top football recruits home, more than any other region”
Link: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2015/2/25/8046213/football-recruits-regions-conferences
Has Reynolds passed the NCAA test to be able to speak to recruits yet?
Huh? Didn’t know there was such a thing.
To my knowledge these are the recruiting rules: http://colsoc.com/Portals/0/NCAA+Recruiting+Rules.pdf
Any idea on how many LB’s USC plan to take this year? They’ already have 2 committed.
Good question…something we can try to find out
Just in my opinion, it seems they will try to stock up on LBs they have a good ’15 class. I assume they will try to go for the same amount. They haven’t had a really good LB group for a few years now.
usc will try to take every LB who even hints he might sign with OU……including Youngquist and Kelly……
Threeve.
After listening to an interview he gave to James Hale the other day, I’m beginning to like our chances of landing CB Jared Mayden. He said his Dad is always pumping up the Sooners and would really like Jared to go to OU. Often, but of course not always, kids want to please their Dads.
is Mayden really an elite d-1 prospect or is just a guy OU has a decent chance to sign ??? lots of db offers out there by OU coaches who seem to have elite talent…
31 D1 offers, rated the 9th best CB in the class.
hes been offered by 3 of last years 4 playoff teams, so hes probably an elite prospect.
On the air on Tuesday, he said he had 34 offers to date with 3-4 coming in every week. And his offers are all high-profile offers.
i was just going off the rivals page. Guess they dont update as fast as he is getting offers lol
You sure about that last sentence….?
Lol.
Youngquist is legit. Kid has the three Fs: (1) fit, (2) fast, (3) and fysical.
Could add a fourth ‘F’ – fundamentals. There is so much to like about his film.
He’s pretty fenomenal.
I pheel like he’s a must-get.
I’ve noticed there are a lot of OLB out there (we got 2 really good ones, if DeBerry isn’t too stiff) but there were not a lot of ILB last year compared to this year. Seems like the staff has more of idea of what they want. And I like it.
True. But they need a min. of two ILBs in this 2016 class, IMO, and I feel like most of these offers are OLB. But I could be wrong as I don’t have them all in front of me, just going more on memory.
Terry is definitely a ILB maybe not a 4 or 5 star but the kids film screams coverage ILB with some pop !
What does a ILB look like in this defense? Is it the 6′ to 6’3″ 220 to 230lb kids we have had forever or is it the 6’2″ to 6’4″ 235 to 245lb more traditional LB size? In your opinion, (or anybody for that matter) What is the ideal size for OU LBs at ILB & OLB?
Perhaps less about size and more about their physical abilities. Run. Change of direction. Hit. Tackle.
That Antoine kid is nice
AD is back!
Im glad that changes have been made, doing junior days now, and getting LB offers out left and right.
That begs the question though, why did it take an 8-5 season to get these things rolling?
Texas has been doing junior days for a while now, its a little puzzling why it took us so long to get on board.
This staff or past staff was too lazy and stubborn to change its recruiting tactics. Player evaluation also suffered. New idea’s and new coaching blood was needed.
I’m excited for the future, but these changes should have been made years ago.
Interesting, Gundy has been in charge of recruiting for years at OU. Looks like they got better recruiters.
Would anyone here speculate on how Joe Mixon will be used in Riley’s offense. OU is absolutely loaded at running back and you have to get the ball to all of them but Perine and Mixon are game changers.
I can definitely see Joe being as being instrumental in Rileys passing game as he is in the running game. Think of Joe shifting out to the slot, taking short screens etc and then think of massive YAC.
yeah imagine in the HUNH the opp not being able to sub so he will have a backer on him lol
Slot? Wing? I back with Perine as the up….easy to shift out of…. Mixon must learn to block for everyone else.
If you can’t block, you don’t play. If you fumble, you don’t play.
Similiar to how we used Demarco. My best guess.
hope not in the sense he was not use enough at times. (yeah, i know we play to what the D is giving, but some times you have to use great players as a diversion or feed the big dog).
Yeah but we have other dogs who are hungry too. As long as Perine is here we need to get him the ball. Just to much talent with both it’s going to be hard.
Dimitri Flowers is another guy along with Ross that really makes me wonder just how creative Riley will be in his debut.
And that speedy back, Brooks(?) should benefit. A plethora of talent. Anderson….
Brooks is like a waterbug with top end speed.
If you don’t think Murray was used enough, you are probably going to be disappointed with our rushing attack. I think we’ll run it quite a bit, but probably no more than we ran it back then with Murray.
I seriously doubt i will be disappointed in OU’s rushing attack.
I think that’s a reasonable guess. Inside and outside zone, power, screens, and my favorite the counter.
If Lincoln utilized a wham running play with Air Raid pass concepts my face would melt.
I would hazard a guess and say, that he will be in the rotation in 1 of 2 positions on the field a lot of the time. My opinion is based on some of the “stuff” coming out of the program. 1. Everyone says he is a worker. Watching film lets us know he has talent, but to know he is a worker is encouraging. 2. Atttitude. I don’t have the quote, but paraphrased he says he knows he made a horrible mistake and wants to make ammends. These two points gives me my opinion on character, I made some mistakes as a young man that I wouldn’t like to be judged by at this point in my life. As for the position, speed and elusiveness is key in a spread. Raw power is also a plus. He obviously has it all. I think he will be in rotation with Perine and jump Ford and Ross in the tailback position. I also think Ross will be used more in the slot with Mixon rotating in there. I could be wrong on the slot thing, but when thinking of ways to get all my playmakers on the field and let the QB distribute the ball, what better way would this be accomplished.
This brings to mind the guy who is behind center. I have no idea who the best option is at QB. Did we see a slanted view of an undeveloped TK last year? Are Mayfield or Hansen good enough to pull the trigger on this offense?
My concern with TK is that his problems are mental, not physical. In other words, he makes poor reads, poor decisions, and lacks confidence. Cody’s problem appears to be poor mechanics, which is easier to correct. I’ve never coached QBs, so I don’t know if you can correct poor decision making and poor field vision. I think TK would be an awesome wishbone QB. He would only have to “read” one D player at a time, and his speed would be an awesome asset.
Rumor is that was aided by a lack of confidence in the OC.
It’ll be interesting to see if Riley can reconvert Thomas into the QB that he was in HS. If he can then he’d be the perfect QB for Rileys system IMO.
Insert effective QB coaching?
That would be an innovative approach.
Yup. Watching Thomas’ high school tape, he looks every bit the type of QB you’d want for an air raid offense. I think Riley is going to do a really good job with the QBs.
My gut is leaning towards him winning the job. Gave up baseball to focus on football this spring as well
Good answer, but I wonder if poor read skills are related to a lack of coaching. I was never a fan of JH moving to the booth and in my view, that had alot to do with TK’s confusion we saw over and over but I’m no coach.
I have been watching some stuff lately on the Air Raid. They seem to do things quickly but they get that quickness by simplifying things. More read as you come to the line and go. That should help some of the mental aspects.
Hopefully, yes. But when I see TK throw a pass into triple coverage, I am not confident.
Helluva of a good point.
I think TK just likes the feeling of someone……..ANYONE catching his passes.
Hard to have any confidence in your passing when you are not sure anyone will catch it. Any one who has ever played much sports knows that your technique is worse when you are hesitant.
Another thing that bothers me is that he seems to really excel in practice; he’s done it two years in a row and then runs into problems in many of the games.
yessir. think long, think wrong is a really good motto for sports
Every pro QB has done this too.
Just like Boykin, right? Horrible decisions, mental was gone so he’s a WR. Then, they get a new OC and he should’ve been in NYC as a QB for the Heisman. Also, players respond to the way they feel about their coach. Think about that one.
It didn’t hurt that Boykin spent his summer working with a QB guru.
EasTex, I’m with you but here’s some additional insight. I’m with a pro QB coach and I’ve learned a lot. That same QB guru that worked with Boykin also worked with LJ & Manziel. LJ still had his happy feet and Manziel never learned proper footwork. Guru’s help but one summer won’t do the turn around Boykin experienced. My understanding, the new OC’s made the offense easy with only 2 reads – both being on the same side of the field. Quick passes help QBs tremendously. Boykin is no where near an NFL QB but he’s great in this system. This system makes the QB important but not “the” most important. Also didn’t hurt that he could run at will too.
What I saw as his biggest area of improvement was his accuracy. That wasn’t just due to his new OC, but through hours of repetition and muscle memory.
The mental part of the game varies with different players. LJ didn’t always have happy feet, but he did when he got pressured or didn’t see what he expected downfield. With Miley Football, that one is just an athlete that is best at improvisation and a serious mental malfunction.
Agree. LJ would go back to what he knew instead of trusting his new techniques. Like a golfer learning new swing techniques but under pressure going back to what he knows.
Again, same side of the field ensures proper footwork. Footwork enables more accuracy. Thus only looking to one side eliminates the hips. That offense fit his skill set which only made his confidence soar.
Also, I take up for QBs because their mistakes are magnified compared to others. All QBs, make mistakes through their career or their last game. Tough position.
I agree the Frog’s new offense was efficient and good for his confidence. I’m just pointing out that his focus on improving started with his off season QB coaching and that confidence in his skill along with a new offense worked to his and the Frog’s advantage.
Go back and look at his QB skills just the year before. I don’t know what his stats were, but he looked like he was hoping his passes would be complete as a Soph, compared to knowing it would be last year.
Bingo. Amazing what confidence can do. Since I’ve been coaching these kids, that is the #1 topic I teach. It works.
I might be wrong, but I think any of the 4 guys could be great in the right system, with the right coach and playcaller. I blame last years woes, more on coaching than the players. Trevor’s miracle game vs. Alabama was more of a spread attack. Mayfield had some success against inferior defences at Tech, but knows the system. Hansen and Thomas both are big athletes with great HS results. Coaching will be the difference.
Why are the players never held accountable for their poor performances with many fans. It’s always the coaches’ fault.
Well it is often hard to know when a player makes a mistake because we don’t know what was called. For instance, if you see a DB chasing someone down the field. Is he the one that made the mistake or did someone else completely blow the coverage and he is trying tackle the player other guy failed to cover.
In the case of our QB’s, since none of them seem to be ready to play and yet all were very talented coming out of HS, it seems to be coaching more than the players. If you want to talk about fumbles or a poor pass then yeah that is probably the player. But then you have to ask why a player is still playing given that he keeps doing the same thing over and over. You don’t see that with the RB’s. On paper they are at the same talent level as the QB’s (4*). But they perform at a much higher level. They start to fumble and they get to sit on the bench until they can show that they can hang on to the ball. And they can do that with the RB’s because the coaches have someone else ready to play. The difference is coaching.
The reason you don’t another player in the game is very simple, the other players aren’t as good as the one starting.
Certainly, if you look at every player that Josh recruited and coached, he has a poor record of player development. However, Landry was a very good QB and was the exception. He certainly got better after he was inserted when Sam was injured in 2009. Trevor’s problems are on Trevor, not Josh. Otherwise, his QBs did not impress.
When the free safety doesn’t react to the deep pattern and help the CB, then it’s on the safety not the scheme. We saw that a lot this year.
It’s not because Gundy “has someone ready to play;” it’s b/c the players do what they’re supposed to do. We’ll see if Ford earns the coaches’ trust this year. Hanging onto the ball is a whole lot simpler than reading a defense.
OUr QB’s this last year did not shine much. TK did throw into coverage at times, and several of his passes were pick sixes. His confidence level was low and he did not perform well. That aside, how many times did the balls he threw touch his receiver’s hands. If I remember 2 of the pick sixes hit his receivers, were intercepted and returned for TD’s. Both TK and Cody needed help, but I did not see the results of them getting any help. From either their coach or the receivers. At times it seemed we only had 1 receiver and he got hurt. For me as just a fan, knowing the potential for greatness was there and not being cultivated was inexcusable.
Neither the pick 6 against KSU nor the one against Baylor hit the receiver’s hands. They were both horrible reads and straight into the hands of the opponents. I don’t recall the one against TCU.
I agree.
However, while I may be disappointed with coaches and players, at times, I never rag on them or get angry. If they are anything like the athletes I have known no one can get angrier with their poor performance than they will at themselves.
I need some of that snake oil. It’s impossible to imagine never getting angry at players or coaches. Not talking DeNiro in The Fan crazed but seriously, nothing ever? Impressive.
No, I don’t really get angry. It is the coaches and players livelihoods and my entertainment. I’ve seen too many games/coaches/players over the past 59 years of following Sooner football and understand my feelings don’t impact their success. While I may get angry with a loss I get over it quickly, I don’t feel the need to place blame.
After a loss I am upset with the outcome and how it effects the Sooners chances of winning a championship, but not angry in general and certainly not at any of the people who actually participated in the game. I will add if I see someone isn’t hustling or giving max effort that will make me mad, but not if they are trying and just make a mistake. I do get mad at goofy calls/non-calls by officials and dirty play by the opponents.
Yeah I hated him going upstairs. He was a coach on the field as a player. Why leave your comfort zone?
So does Coach Riley assume the QB coaching? Is he a sideline guy or in the booth?
That was my major beef with Josh. He was a great QB, and a pretty good QB coach (remember Bradford and the 1st year Landry). Then he became OC and Landry didn’t seem to progress any to me. He seemed to be a stiffled talent. Reading about what he (Riley) did at ECU, he was an awesome QB coach and a pretty good play caller. ECU often played teams that had better talent than they had and were often well in the games even in losing.
Cale was quoted as saying Riley would be on the sidelines and Cale would be up in the box giving suggestions for plays and looking for mismatches in the secondary.
Edit – mismatches for all, not just secondary.
I could see him in the Hback a lot. He is supposed to have great hands.
I’m no coordinator but, given the good hands he reportedly has, I would guess he’ll catch a lot of balls coming out of the backfield.
Like Reggie bush.
Cale said that Lincoln is very excited about all of the possibilities with regards to Mixon. Apparently, Mixon has been quite impressive in off season workouts.
Its going to be really interesting to see which unit, offense or defense carries this team early on. I have no clue of what to expect out of our defense.
Since this is open post person has anybody heard about the injury to Lauren Chamberlain yet?
Minor concussion. Is expected to play this weekend.
Thanks jordan.
no prob. just glad it wasn’t her back again, or something more serious (not that any injury head/brain related injury is to be taken lightly, but I assume you know what I mean)
Great because we have already lost Georgia Casey for 2 to 3 months if Lauren Chamberlain had been more seriously injured it would have ended our national championship hopes.
Is Riley going to offer any more QBs? Don’t see his top 2 coming to OU
Nope. Just those two. If they don’t come to OU, we’ll probably just drop football when the current group of QB’s all graduate.
In all seriousness, I really am looking forward to the (hopefully soon) QB offers. One would think this would be a great opportunity to take an elite prospect.
your explanation reminds me of this…
c’mon now, no need for that 🙂
I LEARNED IT FROM YOU!!!!! 🙂
Maybe he’s waiting to perform the in-person evaluations in April-May I think it is.
Super K, good call out on Malik Antoine. Appears very explosive and eliminates separation in a few strides, hips on a swivel, etc. He would definitely add value for us!
Man, I wish I could add something as substantive when it comes to player analysis. I’m like, “Yeah, he big. He real big. Strong like bull. Fast too.” And that’s about all I got. Of course, this site has helped with that some.
With that resume, you could get a job with the Raiders.
* Overqualified.
Isn’t Devin Duvernay an O.U. legacy like his teammate Jared Mayden ?
Victory.
http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=127257&DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=209910331
Awesome, actually like that camo uni.
very nice come from behind win…
Love the offer today, but I’m still a bit confused as to why we are moving so slow when it comes to offering MLBs. Maybe our coaches feel convinced that we’re going to land a couple of our offers, and don’t want to over extend.
That could be the case…maybe they like the guys we have that haven’t played yet and are being more selective or they consider some of the positions as interchangeable in the scheme they’re gonna run…Is Terry inside or out…are we going to be more 335 than 34…hopefully they have a plan lol
It might just be me but man does anyone else get kinda overwhelmed by all the film and new names every year? They all kind of blend together. I can’t even remember some of the full names of people in my building at work. I have crazy respect for the Sooner coaches for keeping up to speed with all this stuff. I love my Sooners but being a coach in recruiting requires an obsession. I can totally see how some coaches might get complacent over the years. You always have to be on the knife’s edge.
I like the videos of both of the offers.
I am a little surprised that no one has freaked out that Antoine, on occasion, actually lined up 7+ yards away from the WR.
If you truly love football & appreciate recruiting & real life aspects, this is a great article. While being about Jake Knott & ISU, it does have a great clip of the Pokes #2 getting taken down in Ames with Knott deflecting pass intended for Blackmon. So there’s that.
http://lifeafterisu.blogspot.com/2015/02/tying-knott.html?m=1