The Football Brainiacs

Image of Raleigh Texada via scout.com

– D-line coach search: Admittedly, this won’t be much of an update as we cannot share with you a list of names being considered. But with the Mike Pelton development yesterday, everyone started to assume a hire was likely imminent. And we are expecting (as is pretty much everyone else) a hire will come by the end of this week. But according to what we have been told, as of last night there had yet to be an official offer made to any candidate.

– Jeffrey Okudah: I (Alex) Was able to catch up with 2017 South Grand Prairie ATH Jeffrey Okudah tonight, who was in Norman this past Sunday for OU’s Junior Day. Okudah said he was with Mike Stoops, Kerry Cooks & Chip Viney the majority of the day. He also mentioned that he really liked what he saw while on the visit, particularly Coach Cooks and the fact that he will be responsible for coaching the entire secondary. And as you may have seen yesterday, Okudah picked up an OU offer and it was in fact Cooks who reached out to him to do so.

But back to the visit. While in Norman, Okudah was drawing interest from a couple OU coaches. One of whom was Mike Stoops, who told Okudah he envisions him as an OLB in OU’s 3-4 defense. Meanwhile, Cooks is looking at him as more of a safety.

At the moment, Okudah stands 6’1” 200 pounds so there is some thought he could eventually outgrow the safety position. He did tell me, however, that Cooks is his main recruiter at this point. And while did leave Norman on Sunday without an offer, which he was disappointed about at the time, as mentioned above less than 24 hours later he no longer had a reason to be disappointed. He expressed to me a bit of surprise by the offer as he was of the mindset having left Norman without one, that it probably wouldn’t happen until the spring evaluation period. With an offer now in hand, Okudah said the Sooners are definitely among his top schools at the moment.

An interesting thing to watch with Okudah is that he is working with Clay Mack of QuickTwitch to work on his cover skills, with the intention of possibly playing some CB next year. In fact, he was seen on social media recently holding his own against some current college WRs. Those of you that know about Mack, know of his reputation as one of the best DB trainers out there. He’s a guy that can get you right for the next level. So getting this work in will only help Okudah’s overall ability and coverage skills going into his junior year.

– JP Urquidez: The 2016 Copperas Cove (TX) offensive lineman has been busy during his offseason. Between moving and making multiple unofficial visits to a variety of colleges, his schedule has been rather full. But it was the move that has actually played somewhat to OU’s advantage. The relative proximity has allowed Bill Bedenbaugh to stop by a couple of times in recent months, and the two have quickly built a strong relationship.

Urquidez was originally planning to attend OU’s March 7th Junior Day, but wound up changing his plans and coming up to Norman with his family this past weekend. When I (Brandon) spoke with him following the visit, Urquidez described it as “amazing” and also said meeting Lincoln Riley was something that really stood out. In fact, Riley spent the better part of the day with JP and his family, really making them feel at home as the 2016 OT described it. But it was Bob Stoops who may have made the biggest impression with the family, specifically mom, with JP telling me she “loves him” when referring to the OU head coach.

I (Brandon) will say that from all the conversations I’ve had with JP, you can definitely tell OU is going to be in this one until the end.

– Raleigh Texada: The 2016 Frisco (TX) defensive back is the brother of current TCU corner Ranthony Texada, so one might naturally assume he is a huge Horned Frogs lean. And that may be the case, but in speaking with him it definitely seems as though he’d still be open to other schools. In fact, he was somewhat of a surprise visitor to OU’s Junior Day this past weekend.

I (Brandon) asked him about his time in Norman, and he said it went great. “I was invited, so I thought why not show up and see what’s going on?” He is a very candid young man, so I wanted to get his thoughts on OU’s recent defensive backs coaching hire. “I appreciate the fact coach Cooks showed interest in me and thought enough of me to invite me to their Junior Day. He shared info with me on what he is looking for (from his players) as secondary coach, as well.” He then said that he really likes OU and thought the junior day was great.

Texada does not currently hold an OU offer, but he said he is very interested in the Sooners. That, in itself, is a testament to Cooks, who even in his short time in Norman is already making his presence felt.

– UPDATE (1:50 pm): I (Brandon) just wanted to briefly respond to some talk out there that started today after a report from Texas’ Rivals site regarding 2016 OU commit, Jean Delance. Here is the reality of the situation – He committed early and during the next better part of a year, he’s probably going to look around at some other schools. Does that mean his ‘recruitment is still open’ as was apparently suggested in this report? I suppose for some who may or may not have an agenda for doing so, sure, that’s possible.

But as I have said here and on Twitter a number of times, Delance remains fully committed to OU at this time. I can’t predict the future and guarantee you that will never change, but I do know the young man personally and speak with him almost daily. So when I reassure you of his commitment, I can promise you I’m doing so straight from the young man himself. In fact, when this report was brought to my attention I shot Delance a quick text about it. Here was his reply: “That is is not true. I don’t even know that guy. I hate when people hear stuff and spin my words.”

So there you have it. Nothing has changed, he is still solid to OU. Yes, he has taken some other visits and will likely continue to listen to other coaching staffs. He, or any recruit for that matter, would be doing himself a disservice by not doing so.

Hopefully that clears things up for anyone out there who may have been curious about where he stands right now.

– UPDATE (2:51 pm): OU has offered 2016 safety, Brandon Burton (Gardena, CA).

 – UPDATE (4:40 pm): I (Brandon) was able to catch up with newly offered 2016 safety Brandon Burton not too long ago, and he seemed excited about the OU offer. He told me that OU coaches Drew Hill (Dir. of Player Personnel), Dennis Simmons & Kerry Cooks were all on the phone when the offer was made. He also said all three seemed really genuine and cool.

He also expressed some interest in the Sooners by saying, “from what I’ve heard from my teammates is that it’s a great environment to be in.” He did seem interested in making a potential visit to Norman, but time will tell as Serra (Burton’s h.s.) has typically been a USC pipeline in years past.