The Football Brainiacs

– Rodarius Williams: The 2016 cornerback comes from a team, Calvary Academy (Shreveport, LA) that is loaded with D-I talent. How loaded you ask? So much so that three of the team’s four starting defensive backs currently hold an offer from OU. Yes, you read that correctly. Oklahoma has offered Williams, his twin brother Andraez, and Chanse Sylvie.

I had a chance to catch up with Rodarius over the weekend after he and his brother, Andraez, were offered by OU late last week. They are both excited and said they love Kerry Cooks. Williams said they are expecting to speak with Bob Stoops very soon as well. Williams and his twin brother are in the process of trying to arrange a visit to Norman, and one would expect that to most likely be for OU’s upcoming Jr. Day on March 7th. However, the twins already have a previous commitment for a Louisiana-Lafayette Jr. Day on the 7th made prior to the Sooners reaching out. So it remains to be seen whether they will be able to reschedule or simply choose to visit OU some at some other time.

Right now, however, both brothers are very high on the Sooners. One of the main reasons for that is their fondness for OU is shared by their teammate, Chanse Sylvie. I asked Rodarius about his relationship with Chanse and he said, “he’s like a brother from another mother. We are very close. Chanse is why we (both twins) like OU so much and can’t wait to visit.”

Assuming March 7th doesn’t work out, the date that makes the most sense to potentially get all three teammates on campus at the same time looks to be April 11th for the Red/White game. If not then, Rodarius said he wanted to get a schedule from the OU staff and try to get up at some point to take in an OU practice in-person.

We’ve seen a number of Louisiana offers going out by the OU staff of late and that’s certainly not a coincidence. This is definitely something Jerry Montgomery was working to establish prior to his departure, and it would appear Kerry Cooks has picked up right where Montgomery left off. It’s a move that has always made a ton of sense for OU as the state of Louisiana is always loaded and LSU can’t take them all. – (Brandon)

– 2016 D-line recruiting: With OU’s recent hiring of Diron Reynolds, we wanted to do a little digging over the weekend to see where things stood for the Sooners and some of their top recruiting targets following the coaching change. As of Sunday morning, most of the defensive line prospects we had a chance to speak and/or message with had yet to hear Reynolds. Almost all have, however, heard from Bob Stoops.

The good news is it’s still plenty early enough that, even with the coaching change, most have not written OU off. Some, like 2016 DE Isaiah Chambers (Houston, TX), have OU still very high on their board. However, one that is up in the air at the moment is McTelvin Agim (Hope, AR).

While normally a pretty quiet young man, he has been open in the past about growing up as an OU fan. And, for the most part, was high on Sooners in large part because of the relationship he had developed with Jerry Montgomery. So when the now former OU assistant left for an NFL job, it definitely appears to have hurt OU’s chances with Agim.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a lost cause at this point, because I do still believe Diron Reynolds will have a chance to get back in it. But when I spoke with Agim, he was open and honest about not being sure where OU stands at the moment. When I asked if he had any plans to try and visit Norman, he said “I don’t know. Just have to see how it all plays out.” Which raised my eye brows a little, so I followed that up by asking him if Monty leaving ruined it for OU. His response wasn’t definitive, but it wasn’t good either. “It did a little, but Coach (Bob) Stoops is still a good coach so I’m still liking them some.”

Not exactly what you all want to hear, but it had to be somewhat expected if for no other reason than how instrumental Montgomery had been with Agim all along. We’ll just have to wait and see if Reynolds can make up the ground OU appears to have lost. – (Brandon)

– 2015 NFL Combine: We had the Combine post up all weekend and updated it with the official workout numbers, but I just wanted to add a couple quick thoughts now that all but one (Julian Wilson will take part in the DB workouts today) of the OU guys have finished up.

First, I thought Blake Bell and Daryl Williams were definitely the two OU guys who helped themselves the most. Bell ran a solid forty time for a guy his size and showed the soft hands we saw at times (in the somewhat rare instances in which OU actually utilized a tight end) last season. He’s obviously a project having only played the position for one year, but after the way he performed over the weekend I’d be pretty surprised if he goes undrafted.

As for Williams, heading into the weekend most were projecting him anywhere from the 2nd to the 4th round. Coming out of the weekend, however, I even saw some talk of him possibly making the case for being a first round pick. I always expected his athleticism to surprise some as I really felt like many people weren’t giving him the credit he deserved. And based on a lot what I read following his workout, it would appear he proved me right.

If you consider Dorial Green-Beckham an ‘OU guy’ — and I know many of you do not — there is certainly an argument to be made that he also helped his case. While his measurables were nearly identical to that of Calvin Johnson, DGB was never going to match Megatron’s other-worldly forty time. That said, DGB’s time was more than respectable for a guy his size and you just know there’s at least one NFL GM who won’t be able to ignore his physical tools and be willing to look past the red flags while making him a first round draft pick.

I’d put Tyrus Thompson in a category of not hurting himself over the weekend, but also not really doing as much as he could have to help his draft stock. Probably include Jordan Phillips here as well, who didn’t run as well as he’d hoped but is still an absolute freak for a guy his size. The one critique you continue to hear regarding Phillips, though, is his tape and how he tends to disappear at times.

In terms of OU guys who didn’t appear to help themselves, I hate to say it but in my estimation both Adam Shead and Geneo Grissom fall into this category. Shead didn’t necessarily surprise me given all the injuries he’s dealt with during his time in Norman, but I was surprised by Grissom’s performance. He has always been a guy with a bunch of physical gifts, so for him to turn in the times he did and look a little stiff at times was not what I expected to see. I would expect both to fully participate in all the drills at OU’s Pro Day on March 11th to try and improve on what they put up over the weekend. – (Jordan)