The Football Brainiacs

Image of Joshua Jackson via The Saline Post

– Jean Delance: OU’s first commit of the 2016 class has certainly caused some angst among Sooner Nation as he (rightfully) continues to listen to other schools while also racking up additonal scholarship offers. But the simple reality of things is if you want early commitments, more often than not this is what you’re going to have to accept. And to his credit, Delance has never once wavered in his stance on things. He is fully committed to OU, but still listening to other schools. And as we’ve said here numerous times now, you may not necessarily like it but the young man would be doing himself a disservice if he wasn’t listening.

That said, I had a chance to catch up with him yesterday and while once again his message to OU fans has not changed, I figured it was still passing along for those of you who continue to worry. “I can’t wait to be in Norman and around my future teammates,” Delance shared with me, which doesn’t sound like a guy who is wavering to me. In fact, he has even recently reassured the OU staff not to worry about his commitment despite some of what is being said. He once again reiterated that he is a solid commitment to OU.

Now, is he planning a trip to LSU? Yes, that unofficial visit is in the works. But it’s also not out of the question OU will ‘wow’ him enough while he’s in Norman this weekend for Jr. Day that he decides no more visits are necessary. The one thing no one can deny, however, is the relationship he has developed with Bill Bedenbaugh and Bob Stoops. I asked him about both yesterday, “coach Bedenbaugh is probably the nicest guy I have ever met. Plus, he’s just a great coach.” Also adding about Stoops, “he is just real. Just a really cool guy that I have a great relationship with. Love talking to him. We talk every week.”

And prior to our conversation ending, Delance asked me to make one thing perfectly clear. So if you take nothing else away from this, listen to the young man himself. “I’m 100 percent OU. I’m not wavering at all.”

So, there you have it. Like I’ve stated on here numerous times, I know him better than any other person covering OU. He and I talk all the time. When I asked him to do an interview, he stopped what he was doing and made it happen, instantly.

We discussed his tweets about he and JP Urquidez being a package deal. And while that’s not exactly set in stone at this point, they do have two schools in common – OU & Texas. Delance told me his relationship with the Texas coaches ‘isn’t that strong,’ so it doesn’t sound as though — despite some recent interviews that may have lead you to believe contrary — there is much to worry about (for now) in that regard. – (Brandon)

* Delance Eval: The type of talent that makes things on film look much easier than they should be. If I had to narrow his game down to one word it would be ‘smooth.’ Looks like a smaller athlete playing in a big man’s body. At no point will he be ‘out-athleted’ at the tackle spot. Projects as a left tackle all the way for me. If there is one thing I look for in a LT, it’s the ability of a player to be technically sound. But when there is a mistake made, are they athletic enough to then recover. In in light of the rawness of his game, I see this ability in Delance.

He’s a natural knee-bender but like a lot of guys his height (6’5″), he has a tendency to play a little high at times. Still figuring out the hand fight aspect of his game, but when he is able to lock onto a guy he shows above average power. Steps with the wrong foot at times, but recovers effortlessly.  In my opinion, the only thing that will hold Delance back from being a great player is himself. If he’s willing to put in the time and effort to hone his craft, the talent is so clearly there. May need a year to redshirt, but following that I believe you’re looking almost assuredly at a future multi-year starter. – (JY)

– J.P. Urquidez: As Brandon mentioned above, Urquidez & Delance have created a bit of a buzz with their social media interaction talking about potentially being a package deal for some fortunate school. With that in mind and the fact that both prospects hold the Sooners among their top schools, we wanted to give you some insight into Urquidez’s game from our resident expert in the trenches.

* Urquidez Eval: Great size at 6’6″ 285 with very strong hands, seems to have a little bit of nasty to him. When technically sound, he is a very strong right tackle prospect. Has offers from all of the big boys and you can see why. Not as quite smooth as a Bobby Evans or Jean Delance, but that shows the differences needed from right to left tackle, athletically. Seems to still be both developing and growing. Can be a touch awkward at times, but as he continues to develop he will smooth off those rough edges.

Needs to work on pad level as he can be a bit of a waist bender at times. Takes good angles in his pass sets, but can have a tendency to drop his hands too low. This may be an issue when quicker DEs get a step on him, as they’ll be able to get on top of him before he can “reload” his hands. I’d like to see him cock his hands up towards his numbers and keep them stationary, rather than doing the ‘wax on, wax off’ thing I saw on the film of his I watched. Reason for that being he has very strong hands and a good punch that could be deadly as he refines it. Will need a redshirt year at the next level to gain strength and flexibility. But I love the hustle and work ethic yout see in his hustle and finishes.

Will end up probably growing another inch and filling out to most likely being about 6’7″ 320 or 330 at the next level. As he matures and gets his grown man body, he will be a beast. – (JY)

– 2016 QB recruiting: We know about Dwayne Haskins & KJ Costello, and we also talked at length yesterday about Mustang’s Chandler Garrett. But I wanted to touch on a couple of the other possible options should Lincoln Riley widen his search. And those names are Joshua Jackson (Saline, MI) and Micah Wilson (Tulsa, OK).

Jackson really started to come in to the picture more recently and heard from Riley yesterday for the first time. His film screams offer to me, and I’m of the opinion the OU coaching staff agrees. He seems to have everything Riley would be looking for in a QB for his system, namely a high football IQ and a strong arm. When I saw his film, I immediately thought of Donovan McNabb. And it wasn’t just because Jackson also wears No. 5, but more so his frame and just his overall approach to the game. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if an OU offer came relatively soon.

Meanwhile, Wilson is obviously a local product and a name some of you here have even mentioned as someone OU should be looking at. I’ve even spoken with a source that knows the QB position incredibly well, who even went so far as to suggest the name Sam Bradford when discussing Wilson’s game. Much like the former OU Heisman winner, Wilson’s arm may not ‘wow’ you but his ball placement is consistently near perfect. And you know as well as I do, in the style of offense we’re expecting Riley to run you don’t always need to have the strongest of arms. We’ll see how OU and Riley choose to proceed going forward, but I have it on good authority Mike Gundy is a big fan and an offer from Oklahoma State could be coming soon.

As to the QB position as a whole in this 2016 class, at this point it seems pretty clear that Dwayne Haskins Jr. is at the top of OU’s board. KJ Costello is probably not that far behind, but the general assumption is he’s not leaving the west coast so OU doesn’t appear to have much of a shot here. And after those to it would appear as though things are pretty much wide open. As you know by now, Chandler Garrett will be in Norman this weekend and could very well come away with an OU offer depending on where Riley has things lined up on his big board. If I’m guessing, behind Haskins/Costello, I’d say Riley has the guys mentioned here in the following order: Jackson, Garrett & Wilson. But we should know a lot more coming out of this weekend, and certainly in the weeks/months to follow. – (Brandon)

– UPDATE (9:55 am): Just in case any of you weren’t already aware:

. @OU_CoachStoops will conduct a media briefing today at 12:30 pm CT. We'll have full coverage. pic.twitter.com/1X0djtHLIB

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) March 5, 2015

We’ll have our usual Bob Stoops Presser live thread up as usual to recap things for you as they happen if you’re not able to watch/listen along live.

– UPDATE (1:26 pm): Per a source, Oklahoma is expecting to receive a visit from recent Notre Dame grad transfer, Matt Hegarty. We have been told the now former Irish offensive lineman is expected to visit three schools, one of which will be OU. Hegarty started 11 of 13 games at center and guard for the Irish this past season. – (Brandon)

– UPDATE (4:21 pm): Sooners have offered 2016 ATH & TCU commit, Sewo Olonilua (Kingwood, TX)