The Football Brainiacs

Image of Martinas Rankin via sunherald.com

Keisean Lucier-South: Caught up with Keisean last night to see how things are going with his recruitment. While it may seem a little quiet at the moment, OU is still putting in work with South. Asked him if his interest in Oklahoma remains strong and he said, “of course.” He also said that his Top 6 are currently (in no particular order): Oklahoma, USC, UCLA, Michigan, Oregon & Florida. He’s taking an official visit to Oregon this weekend.

He did say that he continues to have strong interest in all of his Top 6 schools, but it’s really hard to imagine him ending up at Michigan or Florida because of their respective head coaching situations. Really believe that OU’s biggest threats remain out west. A strong finish to the season with a strong recruiting pitch and OU may be able to make a late push to steal another star out of California. There is no question the visit he took to Norman was fantastic and it remains ingrained in his memory.

Parker Boudreaux: 2016 offensive lineman Parker Bourdreax (Orlando, FL) tweeted out last night that he has received an offer from Oklahoma. Coach Bedenbaugh is hard at work building the 2016 class. We’ve talked to a number of 2016 players who have already been in touch with Sooners o-line coach. He’s already put together a great 2015 class, but don’t be surprised at all if 2016 is even better.

Martinas Rankin: Also recently caught up with 2015 JUCO OT, Martinas Rankin. Apparently Coach Bedenbaugh was in Mississippi last week to watch Rankin practice. Martinas said that his current Top 3 is: “my two home state schools (Ole Miss and Miss. State) and the great OU.”

Rankin said that OU is interested in him as a left tackle, and he seems very aware of OU’s need at the position. And he’s also familiar with OU’s history of putting players at that position in the league. We talked for a little while about where he felt he had the best opportunity, and he made it very clear that based on his research he feels his best opportunity to come in right away and play are at OU and Miss. State. He also made it clear that one of these three schools is clearly the best at putting tackles in the league (OU of course).

Rankin is a December grad and it sounds like he will make his decision around that time.

DaMarkus Lodge and Trevis Gibson: Our buddy Alex was chatting with Cedar Hill linebacker Trevis Gibson yesterday, and he let us know that Mike Stoops came by to see him and some other Cedar Hill players last Friday. In talking to one of the coaches over at Cedar Hill, it sounds like one of the primary reasons for Mike stopping by was to see standout WR DaMarkus Lodge. It would appear OU is at least interested in letting Lodge know they are still interested.

Joseph Wicker: OU has thrown their hat in the ring for 2015 DE Joseph Wicker out of Poly in Long Beach, California. OU has been in touch with Wicker for a while, but were waiting on him to take his ACT before they offered. It would appear that has happened and the offer went out. We haven’t caught up with Wicker yet, but we hope to in the very near future. Don’t be surprised if he makes it out to Norman on a visit at some point.

Colin Samuel (New 2015 CB Name): Wicker is teammates with one of the country’s top 2015 corners, Iman Marshall. But he’s also teammates with another talented 2015 prospect and perhaps one of the longest corners in this class. Colin Samuel is a 6’2″ CB with excellent technique. He comes up to the line and carries himself with proper DB mannerisms, has a great stance, and does a really nice job of mirroring routes. His feet are really nice, though they’re not always “hot”, but that’s just a matter of teaching. We caught up with Samuel last night and he said hasn’t heard from OU yet. We hope to get to know more about Samuel later this week, but on film he immediately looks like the type of CB that OU typically targets.

Bennie Higgins: Bennie Higgins is a name we’ve mentioned on this site before. He’s a 2015 linebacker prospect out of Greenwood, MS. Higgins is a pash rushing specialist and demonstrates some of the same qualities you see in Erice Striker. Had a chance to look at Higgins senior film and came away impressed with him as he’s transitioned nicely from an undersized DE to a linebacker. He comes off the ball well and turns the corner even better.

What’s really intriguing about Higgins isn’t just his effort and violence on the football field. He also has excellent SPARQ verified measurables. While he is a tad short having measured 6’0″ (flat footed), he weighed in last year at 223 lbs (and it’s all muscle) and ran a 4.58 40 on the laser! If you want to get an idea of just how fast that is…Ryan Newsome ran a 4.56 at 168 lbs on the SPARQ laser. Higgins also jumped a verified 37.4 inch vertical. Higgins is just a fantastic athlete whose athleticism shows up on the football field. And while he doesn’t have ideal length for OLB, he might fit as an ILB in OU’s 3-4 scheme.

Zack Sanchez and Eric Striker: Major props these two young men, Mike Stoops, Bobby Jack Wright, and Tim Kish. It’s been a while since OU has been known for their defensive players and now OU has a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award (Sanchez) and a semifinalist for the Butkus Award (Striker). This is a huge honor and should only serve to help the defense recruit!

Brian and the Boz: Be sure to set your DVR’s to record (or you could go old school and watch it live) for this evening’s airing of ESPN’s 30 for 30 film: “Brian and the Boz.” Wanted to remind y’all of a portion of a great comment Brian posted on our website this past summer directed at athletes, but perhaps related to all of us:

So in the end all I ask of any young athlete is to look into their individual mirror and honestly ask themselves…What is “MY Gift”? What do I want to do with “My Gift”? What am I willing to sacrifice for “My Gift”? and most importantly, Who do I thank daily for “My Gift”? Answer those HONESTLY and live those answers with HONOR and you will exceed what ever your dream is!!

T-Shirt Notes: A couple things related to our T-Shirts:

1. If you ordered a shirt, please check the tag and if you received a 100% cotton shirt and would like to exchange it for a 50/50 poly (this fit better and are our standard shirt) please take a picture of the tag and email it to [email protected] and include your name and address. For some reason the 100% cotton shirts got mixed in with our orders and a few people may have received the wrong material. If you received a 100% cotton shirt and are fine with the material, then please disregard this comment.

2. For a some of you that are looking for the bigger sizes (or we’ve had an email exchange with about getting you a bigger one to supplement the order you received) don’t worry we haven’t forgotten you.

3. Here are a couple news shirts we’ve posted including a “SOON.”  shirt to be paired with our “BOOM.” shirt, modeled by Ryan and Mary Beth Broyles:

 

And our “The Warden” t-shirt: