The Football Brainiacs

Image of K.J. Costello via 247 Sports

– Austin Quillen: Yet another OU Jr. Day attendee we have been able to catch up with who came away impressed. But that wasn’t a feeling unique to the Jenks standout, as OU’s Mike Stoops has been by the local football power a couple different times to check in with Quillen.

Most are projecting him as a strong safety type, but that doesn’t seem to be where OU is recruiting Quillen. Apparently, the OU coaches see him right now as a bit of a ‘tweener’, kind of similar to All-Big 12 OLB/Nickelback, Eric Striker. If you watch Quillen’s film, you can see a lot of Striker in his game. He’s tough, rangy, and has a nose for the ball. Excellent on the blitz, as well.

All of that said, he is definitely one to watch going forward. Quillen told me (Brandon) that he is a big fan of Kerry Cooks’ and is also really good friends with former teammate and current OU safety, Steven Parker Jr. In fact, it was Parker who was talking up Cooks prior to Quillen’s visit this past weekend. And the 2016 Jenks product came away feeling the same say saying, “he relates to the players well and seems like a really cool guy.”

He spent a lot of time with Mike Stoops, too. Austin likes his, “straight forwardness and intensity that he brings.” When I asked where he fit into OU’s defensive scheme, that’s when he told me about M.Stoops mentioning the ‘tweener’ comment and that he feels like the coaches are leaning toward him playing the OLB position. Needless to say he is hoping to hear back from them pretty soon, so he can find out where/if he fits in their plans moving forward.

– Jordan Carmouche: Last Friday the 2016 Manvel (TX) linebacker got quite the surprise when Bob Stoops and Tim Kish called to officially extend him a scholarship offer. Carmouche told TFB is was “a blessing from God.” He has also already set up a visit for the March 7 Jr. Day — which is shaping up to be a potentially star-studded event for the Sooners, by the way — so it came as no surprise when I (Brandon) asked him what he thought of OU and he stated, “it’s a great program with great tradition and excellent coaches.” He says he would like to visit again, after the Jr. Day, some time in the spring.

– Kofi Boateng: I (Brandon) was also able to catch up with 2016 the Arlington Lamar WR & recent OU Jr. Day visitor the other night. Among other things, he said that he really enjoyed his time in Norman. Outside receivers coach, Dennis Simmons, has been his main recruiter and Boateng says they have been staying in touch through social media. This past Sunday gave him the chance to meet Simmons face-to-face for the first time along with newly assigned inside receivers coach Cale Gundy and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley.

Boateng said he likes the fact OU now has two wide receivers coaches on staff due to the differences in playing outside versus inside. He stated he got to talk with Riley, who let him know they didn’t get the chance to see him in person this past season but that they would definitely be down in the spring to evaluate him.

The talented 2016 wideout has pulled in numerous offers already with the latest being from Arizona State. And even though he left Norman without an offer, he stated OU continues to be a top school for him. He went on to explain another factor playing into why OU is one of his top schools is due to his teammate, 2016 OL Chris Owens, picking up an OU offer this past weekend. As well as the fact the Sooners have also offered another of his teammates in 2016 QB Shane Buechele.

Boateng also let it be known that OU is among Buechele’s top schools at this time. This news isn’t exactly surprising what with Buechele being one of OU’s early QB offers and his brother being an OU Baseball alum, but will be something to keep an eye moving forward with Lincoln Riley now having made a couple other QB offers.

– Trevor Speights: The 2016 McAllen Memorial RB & Arizona commit was an OU Jr. Day visitor that caught most by surprise.  The 5’11” & 205 pound tailback with impressive speed told TFB that OU just began to show interest about two weeks ago. It’s also worth mentioning what with his recent reassignment that Cale Gundy has been handling Speights’ recruitment up to this point.

Trevor said he really enjoyed the visit to Norman and that the facilities really spoke for themselves. It was also interesting to note that he told us he was with Gundy the majority of the day and not with newly assigned RBs coach, Jay Boulware. Speights said he likes Gundy and says he could see himself playing for the longtime OU assistant.

No offer was extended during the visit and Gundy did let Speights know they are being selective with the RBs they offer as the plan at this time is to only take one back in this 2016 class. He did also have the chance to speak with Lincoln Riley and said with the success he had at East Carolina, he believes Riley will be successful at OU and is excited to see what he does with the offense. While he is currently committed to Arizona, Speights said OU is a school that he really likes at this point.

– Houston Miller: The 2016 Keller (TX) DE/OLB was also in Norman on Sunday along with his folks. Up to this point, Miller has reeled in offers from Cal, Duke, Texas State & Vanderbilt. Bill Bedenbaugh has been his lead recruiter, but when I (Alex) spoke with him following the visit it was a different OU assistant, Mike Stoops, he mentioned spending the day with. Miller said he enjoyed seeing all the facilities and really seemed to be impressed with the setup of Headington Hall, as well as what the new weight room is going to look like once it goes from about 8k sq. feet to 30k. He also talked about liking the knowledge M.Stoops displayed when talking about the defense, and the two discussed how he would fit into things as a stand up OLB.

He went on to discuss getting a chance to talk with some current OU players who were there to answer questions (Trevor Knight, Charles Tapper, Ty Darlington, Eric Striker & Samaje Perine were the names Miller mentioned) and joked about being blown away by how big Perine was. Miller talked about how even though he (Perine) was wearing an extra-large jacket, he was about to blow out of it.

Miller also left without an offer but Stoops let him know they would be by in the spring to evaluate him in-person. Even without an offer in hand, Miller said that he still considers OU among his top schools.

– TJ Vasher & Zach Farrar: I (Alex) was also able to catch up with two of the bigger WR targets that were on campus in Wichita Falls Rider’s 6’5″ TJ Vasher and Southlake’s 6’4″ Zach Farrar. Vasher talked about getting to know outside WR coach Dennis Simmons saying, “he’s the type of person that’s going to be real with you. You always want someone that’s going to be your biggest fan, but also your biggest critic.” Vasher said Simmons let him know that he wants to get to know him more moving forward. All in all, Vasher said he liked what he saw out of OU.

Farrar, on the other hand, talked about how this Jr. Day was “much different than the other junior days I went to. They showed us a lot more and gave us more information.” While on the visit, he was able to speak with both Simmons and Cale Gundy. The 6’4” and 212 pound receiver said he liked both coaches and was also informed they would be down in the spring to evaluate him for a possible at that time.

From talking with some the receivers that were in attendance, it is pretty obvious the Sooners are being particular with which outside receivers they want to offer. After bringing in three tall WR prospects in 2014 and two more big targets in 2015, they obviously have that luxury to be somewhat selective with their offers in this 2016 class.

– K.J. Costello: If you missed it Wednesday night, Lincoln Riley continues to display the differences between himself and Josh Heupel having already made another 2016 QB offer. You’ll recall Riley offered Dwayne Haskins Jr. just a short time ago and the last night extended an offer to K.J. Costello (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA). We’re still working to try and catch up with Costello to see where OU may stand. But much like Haskins, he already holds a pretty impressive offer list in his own right. Among the schools are Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Stanford & USC just to name a few.

And as you’ll see from his film, there’s a reason why he has all those offers.

– UPDATE (10:50 am): Continuing with recent offers, OU extended another yesterday to 2016 defensive back Jaylon Jones (Allen, TX). For most who follow recruiting, this was an offer a long time in the making (maybe even long overdue in the minds of some) for the Sooners. So when we got word that Jones and Kerry Cooks had been in contact last week, it seemed inevitable that an offer would be made.

Jones definitely has legit interest in the Sooners saying, “I’ve heard great things about OU. I know it’s a great program. I definitely need to get up for a visit.” And that visit could be as soon as the March 7 Jr. Day, but at this time no definitive plans have been made. Jones also expressed that he is looking forward to the chance to continue developing the relationship between himself and Coach Cooks.

While both the offer and relationship are fresh, from what we have seen of Cooks thus far we know he will give OU at the very least a puncher’s chance in this one. – (Brandon)

– UPDATE (12:39 pm): Welp, this name is coming completely out of left field.

Very interesting hire here…per source Oklahoma is hiring Diron Reynolds from Stanford as DL coach http://t.co/sNnVtyuq1F

— FootballScoop (@FootballScoop) February 19, 2015

#Stanford staffer Diron Reynolds is set to become the new D-Line coach at #Oklahoma, source tells @FOXSports

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 19, 2015

This is obviously just now breaking, so we are scrambling to try and get some background on the guy. But for the time being, here is his bio from the Stanford site.

– UPDATE (2:01 pm): OU finally announces an official date for this year’s Red/White game.

2015 Spring Game :: April 11 :: 2 pmhttp://t.co/Ktpx0y2MdE

Presented by @USFleetTracking pic.twitter.com/Pauh6mKlWh

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) February 19, 2015