Open Post | Weekend, Dec. 12th – 14th (UPDATE Sun., 8:16 pm)

Image of DeChaun Holiday via utsandiego.com

Happy Friday y’all!

Gabriel Campbell: Caught up last night with the star 2015 defensive end and recent OU visitor. As we mentioned earlier in the week, his recent trip to Norman went incredibly well. However we’ve since been able to spend quite a bit more time on the phone really getting his sense of the visit and how it fit in with the rest of the schools he is considering.

The visit to Oklahoma, simply put, blew Gabriel away. “I can’t believe how nice everyone is in Norman” Gabriel said. “Everyone…the fans…the players…everyone inside the stadium…everyone outside the stadium was so nice to me.” Gabriel was really taken aback by the fact that random Sooner fans were so hospitable (keep that in mind when you see recruits…NCAA prevents fans from ‘recruiting’ but nothing wrong with being hospitable). He also said that while he has visited Miss. State and Ole Miss, outside of a couple guys he really doesn’t have much of a relationship with the players on those respective teams. With the Sooners, however, he said he really got a chance to talk to everyone…Chuka, Charles Walker, Torrea, Sanchez, Blake Bell, Striker, etc. He said they were all so warm and kind to him.

In fact, he noted that while on Campus Corner, he was walking with Chuka and they saw Blake Bell and “Man, I reached out to shake Blake’s hand and he grabbed me and hugged me…like he was letting me know I was welcome there…I’m not the type to initiate a hug but it was cool of him.”

Gabriel kept going back to the fact he felt wanted and welcomed by all of Sooner Nation and for someone considering leaving everything they know in Mississippi, that’s exactly what he needed. He said the players even gave him a nickname…”Big Country…they kept calling me Big Country and I bet if I go to school there that’ll be my nickname.” He seemed very fond of that. Gabriel is a country boy and an avid hunter & fisherman.

Gabriel said that he really connected with Jerry Montgomery. He said he already had a good relationship with Montgomery, but seeing him coach his guys up made him feel even more comfortable. He also said that he loves the fact he and Jerry are able to just talk about subjects outside of football. Gabriel is very interested in the military, specifically special forces (something I [K], am also interested in and have spent lots of time discussing with him), and he said Montgomery gladly engaged him in those subjects.

We can tell you this, Coach Montgomery isn’t letting up. He was in Mississippi this past week for an in-home visit with Campbell, who said it went really well. I (K) am going to bottom line this for you. Jerry Montgomery and Sooner Nation, collectively, probably did the best job recruiting Gabriel. And you can tell when talking to him that OU may very well be in the lead right now. The issue is going to come down to whether he chooses to go against what his family and community want him to do (i.e. stay close to home). He comes from a Miss. State stronghold, and he’s very aware of that. But you can tell he’s also very conflicted, because he feels like he may have found something special in Norman.

To us this one is going to come down to Miss. State or Oklahoma.

DeChaun Holiday: DeChaun Holiday announced on Twitter last night that he will be taking an official visit to Oklahoma this weekend. We exchanged a few texts with Holiday last night, and he said this will be his first official visit. He also said that he currently doesn’t have any other official visits planned, which seemed significant in that it would presumably make Oklahoma a priority for him. Last time we spoke to Holiday it seemed pretty obvious he was favoring UCLA, but one has to wonder with the commitment of Colin Samuel, UCLA already having a couple other DBs committed, and Marvell Tell still available…perhaps UCLA is full at DB. That’s just speculation on our part, but we’ve got a friend with ties to the UCLA program so we are going to try to check on that theory.

PJ Mbanasor: We know there is a lot of concern about where things stand with 2015 OU commit PJ Mbanasor. It’s no secret that some of OU’s alignments this season concerned him a little, but the Oklahoma staff has a good job of assuaging those concerns. Bob Stoops and Bobby Jack Wright were in Pflugerville last night for an in-home visit with Mbanasor and in talking to him this morning, he said things went really well. He said that before coach Wright left, he pointed to coach Stoops and said, “If you’ve got any questions…this is the head DB coach right here, and he can answer any of your questions.”

We have told y’all that until Mbanasor schedules an official visit to another school, there is no reason to be alarmed. We are in regular contact with Mbanasor and as of right now, he has not scheduled any visits and remains firm on the fact that in Norman he has a “family.” Here is a pick of Mbanasor from last nights visit…wearing The Football Brainiacs’ “Boom.” t-shirt no less!

photo

Anthony Wheeler: We received a text message from Anthony Wheeler confirming that Oklahoma did make it by for a visit yesterday. He said Tim Kish was in Dallas last night (Thursday) for the in-home visit. We know some of you were concerned about the report in Wednesday’s Open Post regarding the missing of a previously scheduled visit and some question as to whether that would be rescheduled prior to the dead period which starts this Monday. Well, you can breathe now as things appear to have been remedied.

– UPDATE (Fri., 10:16 am): We recently got word from now former USC commit & 2015 WR Desean Holmes that the OU coaches have reached out to him. He told TFB that he’s expecting to speak with the OU coaches on Friday with plans to try and arrange an official visit to Norman. We’ll continue to update on the progress of things as details become available.

– UPDATE (Sat., 1:22 pm): 2015 JUCO CB Justin Martin on his official visit this weekend.

– UPDATE (Sun., 11:56 am): Another update from Martin.

– UPDATE (Sun., 4:01 pm): OU coaches breaking out the big guns during an in-home visit with 2015 WR Ryan Newsome.

– UPDATE (Sun., 4:04 pm): Arkansas coaches also met today with OU commit PJ Mbanasor for an in-home visit.

https://twitter.com/PeterJayy_2/status/544217408550883328

– UPDATE (Sun., 4:26 pm): Just wanted to pass along that DeChaun Holiday wasn’t able to make it in this weekend. However, it’s expected he will try to reschedule a trip for next month.

– UPDATE (Sun., 8:13 pm): Golden Hat is getting a workout today, OU coaches in-home visit with 2015 S Kahlil Haughton.

– UPDATE (Sun., 8:16 pm): Sooners have missed out on 2015 JUCO safety Zeke Turner who committed to Washington tonight.

474 Comments

  • John Garner says:

    Coffee and an Open Post. Great way to start a day. The good news helps as well. Thanx!

  • CS says:

    What a story about Gabriel!! Blake is the MAN, wish he finished Bedlam, as he was supposed to – Cowboy Slayer. Gabriel reminds me of Trent Cole from Philly, country boy with a wicked motor and a mean get-off from the LOS! Hope he chooses to go with his heart. BOOMER!

  • SoonerOracle737 says:

    Why no twitter pics of Mike Stoops out recruiting?

    • Jake says:

      Hopefully he is in the lab trying to figure out why his defensive philosophy sucks so bad and coming up with a new one!

      • SoonerOracle737 says:

        At one time he was a great D coach. How could this have changed so rapidly? I think we have a talent/experience deficit and he needs to be out there recruiting over the top of players already on board.

      • Easton says:

        What I am thinking as well, in all seriousness, I had a visual in my mind of Mike spending every hour of of the work day in the whiteboard room just looking like Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting. I would like to think that Mike is more zealous than we are about good defense, that he is sweating over schemes, studying the best defenses, and putting together a new model.

        • Sooner_Ace says:

          ” looking like Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting ”
          This year looked like PeeWee Herman looking for his bike……

  • Swanny says:

    I’m kind of surprised that it was just Kish with Wheeler honestly. I guess I was hoping that it’d be someone else and we’d be distancing ourselves from him so he could be let go after NSD. We really need a difference maker like Wheeler at LB.

    • vargo05 says:

      He still can be. This just likely means they won’t be announcing a new coach until after NSD and the signatures they want. If they are sending Bob or Mike or somebody else without Kish, who has been Wheeler’s recruiter, wouldn’t that be a bit fishy and make him doubt Kish being there, thus making him doubt if he wants to be here without the coach he knows the most?

    • Super K says:

      Could have been last min cause maybe it was a reaction to the meltdown on here when we posted that no one had visited haha 😉

      • Sooner_Ace says:

        We have that kind of power?!?!? Who knew?!?!? 🙂 I missed a memo…. lol

      • Swanny says:

        I hope you’re wrong, but something tells me you guys know more about our recruits than the coaches do…

        • Gary Robbins says:

          Super K and some of the other brainiacs are privilege to things that coaches and recruits tell them. That meaning they will not say things passed on to them out of respect to the recruit or coach. Super K has referenced this before.

  • CS says:

    All the folk who talk about Stoops needing to get on his bike and ride off into some other program, forget the importance that continuity and continued success play in the game of recruiting. Its a mighty strong sell when you consider the character of Stoops as a MAN and then you combine the fact that he has won SO consistently, and is going to be there and in the mix year in and year out. Recruits need not worry about if there is going to be a change in regime. For example, cases like Wisky, Neb, Mich, UF, now Pitt, will have such tough time recruiting with so much turnover.

    • boomersooner says:

      Those who complain about Bob just like to complain. They are spoiled. Who in their right mind would not want their son to play for a coach and a man like Bob Stoops? No one. But for some people a national championship every year is the only way. Maybe that’s what there’s so much animosity on here. They’ve been happy 7 or fewer times and disappointed the rest of their lives. Time to suck it up and count your lucky stars that we have a coach the caliber of Bob

      • Rene Goupillaud says:

        Bunk. Everyone has a right to expect better performance than they’ve produced over the past 3 years. I’m generally have few criticisms am not a constant complainer. But this year raises some obvious concerns. The offense is digressing. It is simple, predictable and unimaginative. The defense can’t playing space and tackles poorly.anyone who isn’t concerned is in denial of reality.

        Please make your case for why next year will be any better. You can’t, you just hope it will be.

        • boomersooner says:

          youth in places we couldn’t get away with having youth. secondary and wr’s. everywhere else except kicker for the last half of the season and punter was fine.
          anything can always be better. if we won a title by winning every game 50-0, there would be somebody screaming about something.
          i have never said we don’t need something to happen, so save your denial speech. anyone with eyes know we had a soso season but people who love to complain, do so. those who want to solve problems come up with ways to get things done

          • JB says:

            Just a suggestion: blanket statements like “people who are complaining just like to complain” is as close-minded and wrong as those who would say Bob hasn’t done some good things at OU. They weaken your argument.

          • boomersooner says:

            “those who complain about bob just like to complain. they are spoiled.” nothing i said weakens anything except one who is arguing against this. are there problems? you bet. is bob the head coach? yep. did bob hire all these guys? yep. did bob recruit the guys on campus? uhhuh. bob is on our mt. rushmore. people who think he’s stayed to long have their opinion. people who think he’s still got something left have ours. so “good coach with something left” vs “he needs to go”. i would say one group is rational and the other a bit not. the point is none of us can see the future. bob is a good coach with a good track record, so i would think, even though we’ve had a few not so good years under his tenure, that the future might agree more with my side than yours. just an opinion. and closed minded and wrong would be dropping an “n bomb” on somebody, not stating an opinion about a coach. a little melodramatic, if you ask me

    • Spartacus says:

      I think it is reasonable to question Stoops at this point in his career. He’s made quite a few poor hires, hasn’t been much of a recruiter until this year which he still isn’t doing above and beyond what any other coach does. He’s made poor in game decisions. He’s approved very poor gameplans and schemes. And he has pretty much made the program one of the more closed off programs in terms of fan information. He’s done great things here at OU, but there is A LOT wrong with his program right now. All correctable, but all things that rest on his shoulders. To put your head in the sand and believe nothing is wrong and he’s just as good a coach/decision maker now as he was a decade ago is just ignoring the truth. He needs new life in the program, more hires like Bedenbaugh and Montgomery who will infuse new ideas and new strategies, because Bob doesn’t look too keen with the current day Xs and Os. I say that due to him not wanting to run dual threat QBs, not knowing how to run a 3-4, and his coverages he puts his stamp of approval on. Great guy and great coach, but he’s made alot of really really bad decisions lately that are costing the program.

      • CS says:

        Hiring is no exact science my friend, did you think Will Muschamp will pan out the way he did, did anyone think Chip Kelly had a chance at Oregon? You can go after Bob all you want, but you must be willing to give him credit as well for biting a few bullets whilst realizing his mistake – firing those coaches/close buds of his. Very poor game plans – because we are 8-4, if we are 11-1 (which we easily could have been), it would not have mattered much.

        I disagree completely that there is a WHOLE LOT wrong with this program. We are ever so close, when the finish line is near – it always seem the farthest. Hope Bob can prove to us all next year what he still has in him.

        • Scott says:

          I cannot and will not give Bob credit for firing his Lawyer Preacher friend when in reality he shouldn’t have held that job in the first place. That is ridiculous that it happened at a place like Oklahoma.

          • CS says:

            I am sure Bob did the necessary research to validate the hire. The results are always not favorable, there have been 100s of coordinators/coaches that were good in one place flop at another. Look, you can give 150% at your job and still it might not be good
            Since the move didn’t pan out, we throw it at Bob every chance we get.

            Don’t think Bob said “you are my friend, I give you this job”, it was a rigorous interview and he felt he gave him the best chance to coach some kids up (fb and character wise). But, tough luck that it backfired.

          • JB says:

            It would help if he would quit hiring Iowa buddies with Iowa connections…Mike, Norvell, Kittle, Long. I’d personally prefer hiring from outside the OU and Iowa programs. That way, there’s no personal history that clouds judgment when it comes to firing time.

          • sracer says:

            If i remember right Bill Bedenbaugh was a coach in Arizona with Mike.
            How is he doing?

        • eastoksooner says:

          Most of the time the difference between average and excellent is the little things. We gotta get those things fixed, but we also have some big issues that need to be addressed.

      • boomersooner says:

        here we go again. another who thinks you have to have your head stuck in the sand. people can disagree with you. they don’t have to be sunshine pumpers or head in the sanders, or crimson glasses wearers, or any other of these oh so deep pessimistic observations you nellies make about optimists. if the extra punt didn’t blow up in our faces, your “poor in game decisions” argument doesn’t even get brought up. the closed off feeling is probly one of the big reasons people don’t like him. i don’t really care. if he feels its better to not let anyone in practice to help give him an edge, then so be it(now you’ll say something witty about what edge?). there ain’t a lot wrong with the program. i can’t wait….i need to start a list of all the nellies on here and see which ones are back kissing bob’s ass in the next year or so when we start a new string of awesome years

        • eastoksooner says:

          Oh yes the poor decisions get brought up. How about never having a time out at the end of a half or the end of a game when we need it? We make poor in game decisions all the time

          • boomersooner says:

            oh i get it. i just don’t need to be told my head is stuck in the sand, etc etc because i choose to be an optimist or because i enjoy life or because i don’t look for the negative in every situation. people can have opinions about stuff but lets don’t let people start to railroad people into what to think. that’s my only beef. someone could come on here and choose not to pipe into a discussion because everybody on one side of it calls people stupid things like crimson glasses wearers et al

    • Swanny says:

      GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE. The dude gets paid Saban money. We won 1 Big 12 game at home this year, Kansas. We went 3-3 at home this year for the first time since like 1997. Should he be fired? Not yet. Should his seat be warm? ABSOFREAKINLUTELY. If he’s not willing to remove the Iowa Fraternity from his assistants and go after top people, he should be let go. He’s the CEO of the winningest program since WW2, and we can pay a lot of people a lot less money to win 8 games. Fear of Blake shouldn’t stop us from getting the next Wilkinson, Switzer, or Stoops (2000-2004 era, not 2009-2014 era).

      • CS says:

        Look, I don’t for a second say that he should sit back and relax on his laurels. Just consider a few things and putting what we are going through in perspective, I want no one else other than Bob to keep steering this ship to safer waters. Few things I would put forward about why I feel optimistic:

        a. If you remove your top receiver, any team will lose some games (do you think without Amari Coop Alabama would be a one loss team? I say no – they might have gotten blown out by Aub) – so these injuries at some inopportune times have plagued us and Bob repeatedly, chalk it up to bad luck or poor conditioning, hope this trend swings favorably towards us soon.

        b. we lost 4 games, but could have easily just lost one, that too I will argue with a healthy Shep, we would’ve given BU a run for their money, so while you say 4 losses is bad, it is not like they got blown out every single time, and considering how young this team is, I would take that.

        Even the great King had 3 four loss seasons. I think losing 4 is the best thing that could’ve happ to Bob as well. Now he cannot anymore deny that there are some problems that need immediate addressing as opposed to a 2 loss where he would just dismiss it as “poor execution”. I see him putting in solid work in the recruiting cycle, and come early Feb, he will have a top class locked up and ready to roll. #BOOMER

        • EasTex says:

          #SOONER

        • Swanny says:

          Let’s be realistic. What do you define as a “top class”? The 00-04 years we would’ve defined it as signing multiple athletes that were the #1 rated at their respective position. Finishing with a top 5 class. When was the last time that OU signed a top 5 class? Name the last Tommie Harris, Gerald McCoy, or Adrian Peterson we signed that panned out? You’ve pointed out a flaw as well. Coop did miss a game this year, if I’m not mistaken, and played the last half with a tear of some kind. It’s the coaches fault for not having depth last time I checked. Same thing happened when Broyles went out. One player doesn’t make up for the royal butt kicking we received at the hands of Baylor. I’m just done with Stoops. It’s like I’m watching Rocky 3. He’s got the big house, the big money, and all the rings. What does he have left to work for? He’s Bobby Bowden Jr., once you lose it, it’s gone. This isn’t Hollywood.

          • CS says:

            If I do remember right, Perine ran for close to 1500 yards, if not for his injury and time sharing he would’ve hit 2000 maybe? (also add Heupel to the mix). But, its all about what you want to see, I want to look at Perine, Shep, our O Line, you want to look at our entire D and our four losses. Fair enough. I say, looks like Stoops is not going anywhere soon. Next year, we will access our program around this same time, if things appear as bleak/worse, I will start believing your words that things have stagnated for Stoops. But, if not, I will let you hear it, haha.

            He has a few rings, but this second big ring has been hard to get, and I believe he will break conventional thinking (he is washed up blah blah) and get that before he walks into the sunset.

          • Swanny says:

            So did Bowden, so did Paterno, if you stick around long enough you become the villain. Perine wasn’t top 5 at his position. Did you see Chubb and Michel at UGA? If Chubb wasn’t behind Gurley for half the season there’s no telling how many yards he would’ve put up. Who was the last 1st round draft pick? From 2000-2007 we had 8 go in the 1st round. Since 2010, just one, Lane Johnson. In ’05 we had 11 kids get drafted. In ’13 and ’14 combined we had 10. I’m not saying blindly that there’s been a drop off, I’m telling you without a doubt that we’ve dropped off in talent.

          • JB says:

            Got to disagree there. Perine is top 5 and imagine if he hadn’t been behind Ford and Ross to start the season. I’d take Perine over ANY Wisconsin or UGA running back. Hell, the fact that Saban offered him ought to tell you how damn good Perine is.

            As for the overall talent level dropping off, you are correct, sir.

          • Swanny says:

            Perine is awesome, now. I’m talking about coming out of HS. We got a gem, but he wasn’t even the highest rated RB in our recruiting class.

          • Boom says:

            Shows what recruiting ratings mean. Currently, I feel we are getting hung up on stars. I agree, having 5 star recruits will be a better team but not all of them make it on the field. I look at recruiting like the NFL draft. A lot of div 2 guys are picked in front of some of the big school hyped kids. Our highest rated recruiting class under Stoops went belly up and most quit, transferred or couldn’t make it on the field. That’s why I love this site so we can get a better understanding of their talent and if it meets our scheme. I guess that’s the irony, we need a scheme on offense/defense.

          • Super Keith says:

            The “who have we had taken in the first round” argument simply doesn’t hold water. I could care less if we never have another player taken in the first round as long as we win.

            Unless you’re interested in bragging rights, the first round of the NFL doesn’t mean much. So many amazing NFL players weren’t taken in the first round, and many weren’t drafted at all. You don’t have to have first rounders year in and year out to be a successful college program.

          • Swanny says:

            Ok, let’s look at it like this: We have had 2 players drafted in the first 2 rounds of the draft since 2010. 5 total players drafted in the first 3 rounds of the draft since 2010… We have, however, had 6 players drafted in the 7th round since 2010… So, I would say the greatest drop off in coaching at OU hasn’t occurred on the field but off of it. The 1st round guys in the early 2000’s: Tommie Harris (all-pro), Roy Williams (all-pro), Jammal Brown (all-pro), Davin Joseph (all-pro), Adrian Peterson (all-pro)… I’d say that our guys who’ve gone in the 1st round have faired pretty well. Draft picks are a sign of a successful program. Successful at evaluating players, as well as developing talent.

          • D Hunter Sanchez says:

            Not everyone is an All-Pro. But talent is talent. Demarco Murray, Tony Jefferson, Kenny Stills, Gerald McCoy, James Hanna, Colvin, etc…these guys are playing on Sundays. OU has had enough talent to win the title.

          • Swanny says:

            Murray was in ’11, Jefferson and Stills were ’13, McCoy was ’10, Hanna was ’12, Colvin ’14…. Most of these guys weren’t on the field at the same time as the others…

            All American’s:
            2000-2004: 21
            2009-2014: 6
            2005-2014: 13

          • D Hunter Sanchez says:

            Since 1999 OU highest average of stars was 3.8, the lowest 3,1 last year. They average 3.5 over Stoops career. It’s not about recruiting ranking nor NFL draft picks. It’s about getting the most out of players.

          • boomersooner says:

            true and a lot of times it may not even matter the coaching a kid gets. he may just develop a little slower. some guys ceiling is high school, some guys junior college, some guys 4yr, some guys big time college, some guys nfl, some guys late and resurrect their career. that’s not easy(in fact its impossible) to figure out which guy is which. when people wanna use the sec as a comparison, its not even apples to apples because if you’re not cutting the mustard, you’re outta there and the oversigning gets you

          • Super Keith says:

            True, draft picks are a sign of successful programs, but first round picks aren’t necessarily. That was my main point.

            I agree that a team loaded with first round draft picks is typically a very good team, but there have been many teams that weren’t loaded with first round picks that were successful.

            I think we need to do a better job of talent evaluation, and I think we are doing that. The problem really stems from a couple of years ago when nobody seemed to be doing much of anything. Fortunately, many of those guilty of doing nothing, or not knowing what they were doing, are gone.

          • boomersooner says:

            you could have just stopped at “i’m just done with stoops”. everything else you say has a blah blah blah feel to it. if he wins a title next year or the year after, you and others like you will be back kissing his ass. you will deny this, but we shall see

          • JB says:

            Wow…Rocky 3…interesting analogy. Not bad!

    • Scott says:

      The coaches at Wisky, Neb, Mich, UF, now Pitt, might have a problem recruiting this year but it doesn’t take long for a new staff to gel and make an impact in recruiting. If you can’t recognize that the talent at OU is not being scouted, developed or utilized properly the past several years then God be with you.

    • JB says:

      I used to subscribe to that theory too.

      However, I see what Jim Mora, Jr. is doing at UCLA, or what Todd Graham is doing at Arizona State, or what Rich Rodriguez is doing at Arizona, or what Hugh Freeze is doing at Ole Miss, or Urban Meyer at Ohio State, or Mark Helfrich at Oregon, and ALL of them have 3 years or less on the job. Nick Saban wasn’t at Alabama very long before they started pulling in top flight recruits and winning championships. Malzahn’s Auburn team played for the national championship in his first season 1 year after Chizik went 3-9.

      Being a great recruiter has more to do with a coach’s personality and ability to recruit than it does with length of time on their job.

      Paterno overstayed his best years at Penn State. It looks like Bob’s doing the same thing. I want to believe this will turn out like Tom Osborne at NU, but we are trending the wrong direction and given the lack of quality QBs, the lack of any LBs and CBs and WRs, doesn’t give me reason for optimism. Recruiting? It’s pretty weak right now.

      • boomersooner says:

        last 3 yrs
        mora-9-5, 10-3, 9-3
        graham-8-5, 10-4, 9-3
        rod-8-5, 8-5, 10-3
        freeze-7-6, 8-5, 9-3
        meyer-i’ll give you him
        helfrich-took over a gold mine

        out of all these, i’ll give you meyer and saban. anybody who’s in the sec has it easy. reasons:
        1. 4 ooc games
        2. 8 conf games
        3. if you’re in the west, you’re looking at 8 easy wins, at least
        4. if you’re in the east, you’re looking at 9 easy wins, at least
        i’m not saying the coaches you named are not good. the whole mora family is one of my favorites, but these guys are not all better than stoops. point is, i would gladly take a paterno, bowden, or osborne over all these guys. saban and meyer would be next but they’re both sleeze balls

        • JB says:

          My point was how these coaches were doing in recruiting, especially compared to OU.

          But you help illustrate my point with your examples…notice that all the those teams’ records are IMPROVING.

          Other than Oregon, look at the records of those same teams BEFORE those guys arrived. Arizona, under Mike Stoops was awful. 4-8 just before Rich Rod took over. Erickson was a major flop at ASU, and went 6-7 his final year, and that wasn’t the worst season he had. Ole Miss went 2-10 with Nutt before Freeze took over. Neuheisel went 6-8 in his last season at UCLA, also not his worst season there. Fickel was 6-7 at Ohio State.

          Or look at Baylor pre-Briles and now.

          Helfrich inherited a program in great shape and he’s still recruiting very well. And that is my point…you don’t need an established, long-term coach to recruit well and win right away. You need a good recruiter as well as a good X’s and O’s guy to win. I don’t see that equation working in our favor these days.

          • boomersooner says:

            you’re talking about a game here and there in improvement, nothing drastic. programs go through bad spells. 8-5 is not that good. when you play garbage teams a lot, 8-5 is .500. and you’re talking about a year or 2 removed from the previous coach. not really time enough to have your recruits make that much of a difference. like i said, these guys aren’t bad coaches at all, but neither is stoops. and stoops is just fine for a recruiter. there’s a lot of talent all over the country. maybe 75% is in the south, maybe not. but it seems like all these recruiting houses want to cover is the south, to me anyway

          • JB says:

            I realize you’re never wrong and everyone else must be, but for poops and giggles, I’ll try this again.

            – One, other than Oregon, these schools were in bad shape and trending downward, and IMMEDIATELY improved once these guys were hired. They are trending upward.

            – Two, since the Pac-12 doesn’t schedule 1-AA teams and has been as strong or stronger than the SEC the past 2 years, this gibberish about “going 8-5 is only as good as going .500” is nonsense. If they went 2-10 before these coaches, shouldn’t that be more like not winning a game all year? Either way, drastic improvements and trending upward. UCLA, Ole Miss, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Ohio State…every single one of those schools would have beaten our asses this year whether the game took place on our home field, a neutral location, or at their house.

            I remember when Rich Rod was at WVU and everyone thought we’d roll on them in the bowl game, but they handed us our asses, with an interim coach filling in for RR. I think most people around the country look at the Big 12 as being full of garbage teams. So then, should I consider this year’s 8-5 (yes, it will be 8-5) Sooner season more like .500? We have a lot of crappy teams like Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, oSu, and Texas wasn’t good this year either.

            – Three, with the exception of the Arizona schools, those programs are recruiting much better talent than we are and ASU is about on par with us. UA has 23 commitments already.

            Look at the recruiting service rankings, or do like I do and look at what schools are offering the players that are signing with these teams. Then look at who’s offering the players we’re after. When our main competition for most recruits is Vanderbilt, SMU, oSu, TTU, ULL, Tulsa, Houston…that’s a problem. If we are going to win games against the big boys, we need to out-recruit them for the same players. Freeze came right in at Ole Miss and beat us out for that stud DT Robert Nkemdiche and the stud WR Laquon Treadwell. Using your logic about how long-established staffs are needed to recruit well, that should not have happened.

            This program has MANY problems. We need a quarterback and some quality players to back him up (Ohio State showed that is possible to have quality backup QBs that can win). It looks like our best QB may be a walkon transfer that we didn’t even recruit. We need CBs…Sanchez should be a backup, not a starter. We should have better talent than him in the lineup. We need safeties, CBs, and we need something we can’t seem to recruit now…LINEBACKERS. We are getting beaten regularly at home now, even getting embarrassed by teams like Baylor. We are botching games we should have won going away like the oSu game with stupid playcalling and running defensive schemes that don’t fit the personnel we have. We have exactly one WR worth a damn and he’s been out with a groin injury for several weeks now.

            Forgive the rest of us that don’t jump up and shout out loud how great things are with the program and how we are on the verge of a national championship. We aren’t and there is so much that needs to be fixed with this program.

          • boomersooner says:

            i could tell you where you can shove the personal attacks but i won’t. sorry if i don’t share you disdain for this merry go round we call life. put some big boy pants on, wake up and smell what you’re shoveling.
            you keep talking about the quick turnaround at some of these places and it involving recruiting. news flash, the team you take over has zero recruits that you brought in, more than likely. and how many recruits in your 1st class make an immediate impact? bad shape? yes, because they’re historically awful programs for the most part, but immediate success tied to their recruiting? highly unlikely. most of these schools on par with us? negative. if you look at taking us or them with one or 2 losses and getting into the playoffs, i would say the committee would take us. that would be one factor of them not being on par with us. can i look at what ifs and call them a certainty? nope. just using my noggin a little and saying that we would probly get chosen. i have nothing to say to those people who think we are always on the same players as terrible schools. its stupid and pointless. sanchez a backup? might be the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. i think everybody understands the frustration right now, but when people start foaming at the mouth and spouting off at the mouth, it gets real old real fast. as i said, programs go through down cycles. would i rather be in our position or michigans or floridas? ours, but you’ll probly disagree. shocker. you hate everything OU right now. neato. when people like a guy above have sentences like “i’m just done with stoops right now”, it means you can’t have a conversation with em because you can’t talk sense to em. same thing when people say stoops isn’t as good as most of the coaches you mentioned. bull. i don’t feel the need to be right, just pointing out to those that are wrong and are stuck in the rut of everything sucks. it sounds like whimpering to some of us. i seem to be pretty even keeled but taking personal shots, so save those for someone who really cares what you think. you’re trying to convince people that these coaches as coaches and recruiters are better than stoops. just not so

  • OklaSooner says:

    Monte has a big motor his self ! I love it. I hope Gabriel makes the right choice.
    K, can we get something on player development of last years class and who we should be on the look for. You guys do an awesome job !
    There is only one. Boomer !

  • Zack says:

    Are we supposed to read anything into that comment bjw made? Possibly stepping away from coaching and taking an administrative position?

    • Soonerfandave84 says:

      If it means Bob is going to take a larger role in practices for DBs or take over completely, I could live with either of those options.

    • Stephen Dale says:

      at some point in time, Merv Johnson is going to have to retire and BJW seems a candidate for Merv’s administrative duties if not Merv’s radio gig….must admit though, Merv does a very good job on the radio and i’ll miss his insight when he leaves. Looking back thru the years, Merv ranks up there with jack Ogle as ‘sidekick’ to the broadcaster…….

      • Zack says:

        Merv does a great job I think and Toby too but I miss BB sr. I would like for switzer to take on an actual job with the athletic department besides being like the prince charles of Norman. I think switzer could still recruit circles around current guys especially kish

  • Cush Creekmont says:

    As always, great info. Gabriel C. sounds like a great young man. I would love to see him become a sooner, but I believe he’ll be a fine citizen whatever he does. And Gabriel, just so YOU know, we love our Sooner players long, long after they’ve left school.

  • Soonerfandave84 says:

    Holiday would be a nice addition, especially with LSU offering Justin Reid. And Wheeler is a must get to me. Not just because he is a 4* LB but because Skyline is an important pipeline for OU. Need to keep their talent headed to Norman.

  • Spartacus says:

    1. Is Holiday a grade risk? Seems odd for such a talented player as himself, wouldn’t be taking officials to any of the instate schools or Arizona schools for that matter.
    2. Campbell is my type of dude. Country kid. How he gets in a deer stand…beyond me, power to him though, seems to have his head on straight.

  • jmac says:

    Guess I’m in big minority here, but Wheeler doesn’t impress me much on film. I know we’ve been chasing him for a long time and Skyline and all that, but there are others that I would rather have. Anybody else feel the same way? JMO

  • SamSooner says:

    PJ Mbanasor is the one dude I want to see play for the Sooners. He appears very much in control of himself and calm. You need that on your team. I am so anxious to see him shut down K.D. Cannon.

  • EasTex says:

    Great updates, K.
    Makes for a nice birthday present.

  • Jordan Esco says:

    Interesting update just added.

  • Soonerfandave84 says:

    The Desean Holmes news, tells me the Newsome told OU that he is picking UT.

    • Stephen says:

      How does that correlate?

      • Spartacus says:

        Because if we were in a good spot for Newsome, then there would be no need to go for a grade risk in Holmes because we’d already have 3 incredibly fast slot WRs in this class. No need for 4.

        • Soonerfandave84 says:

          yep pretty much

        • Zack says:

          I know Holmes is being rumored to have grade issues. Here’s my take. One thing is when these kids transfer around (which I believe he did) their credits get messed up so it shouldn’t be an indication that a kid is stupid or can’t maintain passing grades. The second thing is our academic standards are probably significantly lower than USC.

          • Brent says:

            FWIW…Holmes goes to my rival high school. His school is well-known for being the safety school if you don’t pass the entrance exam for other catholic high schools.

        • Stephen says:

          Ah, I thought we were recruiting him as S/DB. Makes sense now.

    • Zack says:

      I don’t think texas is number one for him. I think he’s bought into the sec love affair and if not then I think norvell is higher on his list than whoever is at texas.

      • Soonerfandave84 says:

        could be, but I don’t think OU has room for many more WRs. Just my line of thinking, since its right after his UT official. Kirkland later today might be an indicator as they would like to play together

        • Zack says:

          I suspect fewer kids team up than we like to believe.

          • vargo05 says:

            Agree with Zack. A lot of these kids talk about all playing together, but the percentage of times it actually happens is pretty small.

          • Soonerfandave84 says:

            Very true, but it did happen in OUs favor last year with Mixon and Quick

          • vargo05 says:

            That’s not really accurate. Them having met and being “friends” may have helped OU land Quick, but they were by no means a “package” deal of any sorts. Mixon committed at the Army game or whatever, then Quick didn’t commit to NSD. Totally separate things that just happened to work out the way they did.

  • Cush Creekmont says:

    Yes, very interesting… Crossed fingers for a late OU push on several recruits.

  • D Hunter Sanchez says:

    Can this be a top 10 class or top 15?

    • Stephen says:

      It’s going to be tough to break into the Top-10. I think we sit somewhere between 20-22. I think Top-15 is very realistic.

    • Malicong says:

      Can it be? I think so. Will it be? I am thinking just outside the top 10 around 12 or so, especially if things keep in the direction they have been in the last week. But it could break bad and end up near 20.
      I don’t care where it ranks, as long as we get the guys we want.

  • boomersooner says:

    More reason to love Blake Bell. He’s starting to move toward my top 10 all time Sooners. Class act through and through

  • Stephen says:

    Not sure if this has been posted, but Tyreek Hill has been arrested for domestic abuse allegations.

  • Dustin Brasel says:

    Have we backed off any recruits lately?

  • Jeff says:

    Was he talking about Stoops or Wright as head DB coach?

  • Stephen Dale says:

    Since it is open post time…………..has anybody else read about tyreik hill of the Pukes being arrested for physical abuse on his expectant girlfriend ???? too bad it didn’t occur before the bedlam game…………news blurb is from the Tulsa world.

    • Soonerfandave84 says:

      too bad it happened at all

    • Clint Lenard says:

      So your response to a dude beating his pregnant gf was “too bad it didn’t occur before bedlam”? Geez.

    • rphokc says:

      story is getting uglier……..apparently not the first time he assaulted her………yes, she is pregnant …….he’s claiming arrest is racially motivated since gf is white…….

      • Stephen Dale says:

        seems strange the D,O. isn’t coming out with headlines asking for Hill to immediately be dismissed from the Pukes… Seems the journalists want a ‘fair hearing with all facts known’ before calling for his head . slightly different posture from the Mixon case…………bottom line : most journalists are hypocrites…….

    • Exiled In Ohio says:

      Please take this trash to LT where it belongs

  • EasTex says:

    Holmes seems enigmatic. He has made no official visits and only has Fresno ST and Hawaii scheduled, while holding offers from everyone.
    Things that make you go…hunh.

  • Billy says:

    I hope recruits see OU as a huge opportunity. If they are willing to go through the changes that will (hopefully) be made, there are not that many positions where a freshman couldn’t make an immediate impact.

  • DCinAZ says:

    Hmmmmm……..Interesting quote from BJW to Mbanasor.

  • Boom says:

    4i Campbell & Gallimore
    OLB DeBerry, Thomas, & McKee
    ILB Griffin & McGinnis and or Wheeler & Kirkland
    CB Dalton & Holiday
    S Haughton, Reid, & Turner (Orr?)
    Athlete – Sternberger (can’t help myself)

  • L'Carpetron Dookmarriot says:

    This is probably one of the more interesting and anticipated signing days for me. There are a lot of players OU still has a chance at gaining commitments. It could be feast or famine for OU.

  • SoonerFan11 says:

    Most people think this class will have around 23-24 commits but I am not so sure…… I see attrition possible hitting at WR and RB…. It could be more….

    • rphokc says:

      db also, perhaps…..

      • Zack says:

        I think right now the only corner that would leave is Austin. I don’t see any reason for Sanchez, Thomas, Taylor, green or windham to leave. At safety I think Byrd, Thomas and Parker are the only returning so I don’t think they leave. Maybe after 2015 some might go but I don’t see any one having locked in their playing time besides Parker, j. Thomas and Sanchez.

        • rphokc says:

          perhaps some smoke with McNamara……….

          • Zack says:

            I thought about him but he will be the starter next year. Has something new developed with him? I know when he was a freshman he struggled with home sickness or at least that was reported.

          • rphokc says:

            ……smoke from poster(s) ‘in the know’……..we’ll have to stay tuned…….you enjoy recruiting (understatement)…..saw where ‘bama flipped a 5* lb from the gators, signed a 5* qb from cali, and offered marshall (cali) who has ou on his list………geez…..

          • Zack says:

            I’m pretty sure bama flipped that qb awhile back. All those 4&5 star qbs from Cali all played musical chairs with schools it was weird.
            Did they just offer Marshall today? If so it’s really late in the process and he’s been interested in bama since April.

  • soonerborn says:

    Other than Holiday, do we know of any other visitors for this weekend?

    • Jordan Esco says:

      JUCO DB Justin Martin

      • ToatsMcGoats says:

        That kid played just down the street from me…never got around to going to watch him though. I’ll be interested in hearing about how his visit goes. He’s a bigger corner too, if I remember right…

      • Stephen says:

        Any chance with this guy? I think he has potential to start early. Also, does he have to make decision early like a lot of the other JUCO’s?

  • JB says:

    TFB: I read that Jamal Danley is wavering on his OU commitment. Any word on that?

  • Clint Lenard says:

    Is someone trolling over at SS with this headline? “Hearing Mixon is transferring to Cal”

    • Mr. Jones says:

      Just earlier this week Mixon was either on Twitter or IG saying “Just wait on it. #BoomSoon”. He makes those types of posts all the time.

    • Zack says:

      People are trolling all over. I think some fans (dbags) decided to troll all the sights. People keep hearing rumors or this or that, it’s getting ridiculous. I went over there for their free offer, and quickly was reminded why I don’t pay for info. The pay sites boards are horrible I don’t understand why people pay for their memberships and run people over.

  • SoonerinLondon says:

    From the new stadium rendering that came out today, it looks like they’ve cancelled the South endzone suites, the covered concourse in the North endzone and the North endzone big screen.

    Guess the 8-4 has impacted donations.

    • Stephen says:

      Heard a rumor from a guy close to a donor that those who have pledged a certain amount to complete stadium renovations are beginning to waiver on that pledge because of how the season went and how the program is being run. Again, just a rumor.

      • SoonerinLondon says:

        I’m not a big donor but do have seats in the Club and am trying to get a few more, if I can. I will have to make an additional pledge to get them, if they come available.

        I have a close friend who sent his normal donation in for tickets today and included a note that he’d double is donation if there were certain changes made to the football coaching staff.

        I suspect his note was not the only one like that.

    • rphokc says:

      on os, discussion info fwiw……….. seemed to be the perfect storm of collapsing energy prices for some, exorbitant prices for suites, bs performance on the field and no changes, no money……..

    • Clint Lenard says:

      What better way to say “I don’t want to suck next season” than to stop donating money for better resources that can only help to make a better team in a few years…

      Irony at its finest, if true.

    • SoonerfanTU says:

      Has nothing to do with the 8-4 season.

      • SoonerinLondon says:

        What’s the reason?

        • wj says:

          I was wondering what you saw because all the rendering look the same to me? Also never heard of the North endzone things besides maybe adding a new screen. I thought the covered area and huge big screen were going to be done on the South end zone. I did notice the mislabeled one picture from Southwest where it was actually from the Northeast corner.

          • SoonerinLondon says:

            They were covering the North concourses between the outer fence and the stadium wall, then moving the clock to the “new” outer wall and putting up the big screen.

            As I understand it, they are no longer putting suites in the South end zone, under the covered area. (You no longer see them in the images.)

            Another issue, which hasn’t been discussed, is that the original plan assumed they could remove the old press box and build the new one within the narrow clearance between the stadium and the parking garage. I’m not an engineer, but wondered how they were going to do that. I now understand that it may not be possible and that they may now have to fund tearing down and rebuilding the garage. Of course, OU don’t want to do that so maybe they can still find a feasible way to get it done.

    • Joe says:

      I think I like it better now.

  • boomersooner says:

    anybody got any insight into why people always gravitate to grades and smitty as problems? was on LT last year for a few months(a few too many) and people always bitched about grades when it came to recruits and smitty when it came to injuries. seems its starting to seep over here. are they out of stuff to bitch about? tired of bitching about certain things or people? trying something new?

    • Clint Lenard says:

      People just like to be sheep.

      • boomersooner says:

        but i was told by one of these geniuses the other day that i’m a sheep because i believe everything is roses and chocolates and head in the sand and crimson glasses and sunshine pumping and on and on and on….hmmm. interesting….

        • Easton says:

          Save yourself the trouble boomer.

          • boomersooner says:

            oh i get it. i know i’m not a sheep. people who follow a crowd are sheep. thinking for oneself is going against the crybabies and i will take that all day long. seems like some people need some tough love around here. my point to this whole thing is…buck up. some people who hate stoops will soon be back kissing his hind parts. some people will be back on the bandwagon soon. this fairweatherness gets old to sift through. i can’t remember who is who around here and can’t just ignore the posters who hate life cause i can’t remember who hates life around here, even though right now it seems like everybody. as johnny tyler said in tombstone, “its like playing cards with my brothers kids or something”

    • Zack says:

      I don’t know that it’s just starting to seep in. There’s some guys that believe that’s the number one hurdle. So if we back off a guy that’s the first assumption I’ve always hated it. I’ve also hated that sometimes that’s the first thing guys ask when we offer a guy. I think tfb and another site do a good job of letting readers know that a guy is on pace to graduate when they first introduce them to their site.

  • Stephen Dale says:

    another site suggests Holmes has some grade issues . Anybody know whether this is true or not ????

    • Katyboomer says:

      Doesn’t he have to show grades and act before he can officially visit? When my daughter was going on all her visits she had to provide all of her transcripts before she could visit. I would think the same for football. So coaches should know about his grades.

    • Lesslie Stanford says:

      SC is a private school, they probably have higher standards of getting admitted than Oklahoma does. So if the guy is not going to qualify there doesn’t mean he wouldn’t qualify here, or even have grade issues.

  • Stephen says:

    Will Johnson (OU commit) took to twitter today to address criticism that he isn’t a quality player because of his star rating. THAT’S WHAT I LIKE TO SEE FROM A GUY!!! This guy is inspired and has a big chip on his shoulder, couldn’t ask for more!

    • Zack says:

      I saw that. I think he will be a good player and I bet we land turner as well.

      • Stephen says:

        I think Turner is a lock but you got to feel good about a guy that wants to make the best out of an opportunity.

        • Zack says:

          I think both of them have a good head on their shoulders. Both have 3 years left I think and one of them has 3 + a RS.

  • rphokc says:

    Tyreek Hill’s past week
    Sat: Bedlam hero
    Mon: AP Big 12 1st-team
    Wed: Coaches Big12 newcomer of year
    Fri: Dismissed by OSU”

    • Stephen says:

      Sad deal for that kid, a lot of potential wasted. He’s got some serious allegations against him. Hopefully, someday he will get back on his feet, but football is going to be the least of his worries for awhile.

  • rphokc says:

    ….just for fun……

    …….http://i.imgur.com/7QrFosb.jpg

  • Stephen says:

    Muschamp to Auburn?! Wow. Wish our leadership would even attempt moves of this caliber.

    • rphokc says:

      geez, I posted earlier that he should do that …………think that’s a great move ……..resurrect his coaching and learn some o from a creative hc……don’t care one way or the other about aub but should be interesting next yr for cfb……..did tam ever come up with a dc

  • D Hunter Sanchez says:

    After a couple beers and lots of OU tape, I’m thinking that OU ought to run the flexbone. Since Knight is not a great passer, why not install a Georgia Tech offense? Perine as the deep back, Ford, Mixon, Ross, Quick, as slotbacks in the flexbone. The difference is that Knight is a better passer than GT’s QB and we have Shepard and possibly DGB! You can still pass out of it. JH will make sure of it by the way.

    Ford and Mixon and Ross are better than the other Wr’s at this point. In addition, it would solve a supposed lack of a TE. Plus, Bill’s road graders would excel. GT has less talent than OU. OU can be more devastating and be a threat to throw the ball.

    • rphokc says:

      ……a couple of beers?

    • Zack says:

      You can run their premise without actually running that same offense. Auburn runs basically the same premise. Florida ran a similar idea with tebow. We could do it but I think the offense becomes predictable and you have to execute at a very high level and have a ton of discipline.
      Everyone thinks our offense was horrible this year and it really wasn’t, we just didn’t make the plays we needed to when it matter most. In 3 of the losses the offense had 30+ points. Remember when we were supposed to have the closest defense to the 2000 defense? Ha, we definitely had a few beers when we believed that

      • D Hunter Sanchez says:

        Yeah you’re right. One bad offensive game 14 v Baylor. No doubt defense was the major reason for the four loss record.

        • Zack says:

          They just need to be better on critical downs. 3rd down conversion % was ranked 49th.

          • D Hunter Sanchez says:

            That’s correct. I am just frustrated that the D line was unable to really dominant Big 12 offenses. They only stopped Kansas in the rain. A lot of people are saying we don’t have quality passing QB’s so this is why I thought OU should adjust to their talent on offense. Apparently the coaches think the problem is WR’s not getting open.

          • Zack says:

            I think it could be a little bit of both ineffective qb play but also receivers not getting open. Blake bell was often open and we couldn’t find him. Also knight hasn’t anticipated where his guys will be. He waits until he sees them open which makes him late. But also our receivers seemed to be covered every game which makes no sense cause every other team has receivers running wide open all day long.

    • L'Carpetron Dookmarriot says:

      No.

  • EasTex says:

    Ty Darlington’s graduation speech, wait for the six words at the end…well played.
    http://www.soonersports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?id=3600595&db_oem_id=31000

    • Boom says:

      pretty cool. Ty just a natural leader.

      • EasTex says:

        I like that young man and his positive attitude.

        • boomersooner says:

          haha. thanks for sharing. that was awesome. we need more like him in all facets of life, not just on the football team

          • EasTex says:

            Where else but OU could he give a graduation speech like that and be well received? If he tried that at one of the (poison)Ivy League schools he would have been yanked off the stage and punished.

          • boomersooner says:

            yep. most of the bigger universities seem to be heavy on the liberal and light on the arts

        • Bob Edwards says:

          May his tribe increase greatly.

      • EasTex says:

        I just found out, I don’t have to worry with going to the SMU stadium and parking a mile and a half away, it will be televised live on a local TV station.
        WHOO-HOO!!

        • Boom says:

          I’m checking Fox now. Watching Katy at the moment.

          • EasTex says:

            I’m flipping between CyRanch~Juson and Kay~Cibolo at the moment, with Allen~Skyline coming up. I will record the Allen game while I finish watching the Katy game.

          • Boom says:

            Cibolo contained Anderson well but when they had to, they couldn’t. Anderson would’ve run for 4k yards this year if their QB could throw the ball. 8 or 9 in box and he still ran great. I was surprised they never used him on a screen or flat pass.

          • EasTex says:

            Have to give Cibolo’s defense some credit, they were disciplined and tough.
            Katy’s turnovers and penalties were uncharacteristic.

    • Brent says:

      Does he have Longhorns taped to the top of his cap?

  • Eric Hutton says:

    Never hear about Norvell recruiting anyone. Could he be leaving? (fingers crossed)

    • Zack says:

      He visited newsome. There’s no one really for him to recruit for 2015. But I do think he’s gone when NSD is over.

      • rphokc says:

        ….why do you think he’s gone……..have seen wishful thinking but no rumors even

        • Zack says:

          I think he will be the offensive coach that falls on the sword. His recruiting has been solid but for some reason no one pans out and not many develop and it can’t be that all these high ranked guys were busts.
          Also I think they will suggest he looks for a job.

  • Zack says:

    Trevor knight has been cleared to play. I bet we see his second greatest game.

    • rphokc says:

      even if he could play I’d rather give the experience to ct and then everyone battles it out next spring

      • Zack says:

        If you asked me 3 weeks ago I would have said the same thing. But this staff has shown very little confidence in Thomas since he tech game.

        • rphokc says:

          I guess I look at it like what do ya learn if tk plays and wins/loses……nothing……….I’d rather see ct get more experience vs just practice bs and see if the kid can get rolling, but we’ll see….then when spring rolls around the qb position is game on for anyone

          • Zack says:

            I’m in favor of letting Thomas get the starters share of the bowl prep but even if he goes out and has a great game (like tk in the sugar bowl) then were in the same predicament going into next season

  • boomersooner says:

    anybody else heard this garbage about uk hoops being able to beat the 76ers in a 7 game series? probly something espn dreamed up. gotta keep the sec relevant all throughout the year, i suppose. but there is no way a college team beats an nba team at anything. plus you only beat columbia by 10, buffalo by 19, providence by 20, and texas by 12, which are all college teams last i checked. would not happen

  • Zack says:

    I remember when K brought up the idea of adding Tulane to the big 12 and said we may think he’s crazy. I decided to one up his crazy, I think North Dakota state would be a good addition if they joined the fbs.

  • rphokc says:

    ……saw this with remark…..”there’s enough chins in that room for 9 guys”

    ……..http://i.imgur.com/pDXG30I.jpg

  • rphokc says:

    …..interesting, kirkland moved up his commit date after recent visit with utx

  • JJSoona says:

    Sooooo still no word on any staff changes?

  • Ryan says:

    My mouth is watering for a big commitment. I’m starving.

  • EasTex says:

    A freshman QB sensation you will be hearing about. Julon Williams, 14 yr old freshman for Converse Judson. Plays well beyond his years.
    I had never heard of Mark Jackson of Cibolo Steele before today. Announcers said the junior DE committed to OU as a soph.
    http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/mark-jackson/Upx1tfTvEeKZ5AAmVebBJg/default.htm

  • Zack says:

    I’m still mad ou and kish didn’t make a big run at Amonte Caban. I think petrino is gonna put a great team together

    • D'Brickashaw Ferguson says:

      Louisville is my dark horse playoff team for next year. Petrino wins ball games no doubt

      • Zack says:

        He’s doing a good job of finding talent that instate teams don’t want. Dahu, torre, Caban and he’s making a run at max wariboko to try to land josh.

      • Zack says:

        Obviously Caban from Alabama but bama and auburn don’t want him

    • CS says:

      Legit talent, unless they pull in some others like Arthur, Wheeler etc, hope the latter is true

  • boomersooner says:

    watching aggie vs memphis and the announcer, dave o’brien, just said he was picking cooper to win the heisman. i am shocked that someone that works for the southeast leader in sports would pick the sec guy who probly doesn’t deserve to even be there. 6 games under 100 yds. one game with 2-22 and another with 3-46. that doesn’t scream heisman to me, but sure espn just keep spitting the 3rd period “journalism” out

    • rphokc says:

      I would think the duck qb gets it……….at least it won’t be another jameis

      • boomersooner says:

        yeah i just don’t see how mariotta doesn’t get it. nothing against cooper but its just funny and extremely sad that they have a guy pick an sec guy. and mariotta seems like a good kid, so yes thank goodness no winston and manziel

        • Zack says:

          Why is it funny or sad? Cooper is the best wr and in a year where there really haven’t been many standouts, it makes sense to me that he’s there.

          • boomersooner says:

            yeah his stats probly say he should be there. he ended up with decent stats, but 6 games under 100 yds and 2 catches for 22 and 3 catches for 46 is too much to overcome to win it. the funny and sad part was that espn has an announcer picking him to win it. we get it. you spent a lot to be able to spin sports “journalism” any way you see fit. i would have sent another qb or rb. i loathe the sec, so i’m biased. and i just don’t want espn running stuff and warping minds i nto “who’s second best cause the best is too easy that’s why we spent 2 billion on em”

          • boomersooner says:

            and higgins or huggins from col. st. is pretty darn good. his competition probly says he shouldn’t be there over cooper or with who’s there but he had a great year

          • Clint Lenard says:

            I’d say a guy like Mariotta or a guy like Gordon, who came close to breaking B. Sanders’ record are much more reasonable picks. Plenty of 3rd place guys that could be over Cooper as well, and I’m actually a fan of Cooper. The guy is good, but he is not having a Heisman year. He just so happens to be the best player in the SEC, which isn’t saying much this year.

          • boomersooner says:

            yeah it seemed like a huge boom/bust year for him, to me. seems like an alright guy too. sucks for the good guys in the sec cause of espn

          • Zack says:

            I wouldn’t have picked cooper over mariota. I didn’t know what the OP meant about funny/sad which was that one of the espn guys picked cooper to win. I didn’t like espns coverage anyways I thought it was classless to talk about the wide margin right after mariota’s speech with Gordon and cooper sitting there with a camera on them. They should probably drop the “spn” and just add a “!”

          • boomersooner says:

            hey. don’t pick on me cause i’m not a wordsmith 🙂

          • Zack says:

            Had I been watching the heisman stuff I would have known what you meant but for me espn is almost unbearable. For any thunder fans…they had that some statistics and analytics guys show that they would win 38 games this year and projected durant and westbrook’s returns into their projection.

          • boomersooner says:

            kinda becoming like tmz. lebron had cheerios for breakfast. manziel beat up a 75 year old woman….most of the stuff i can’t watch. nfl stuff is ok, and games i can watch. it just so happens that a aggie vs memphis game fell on heisman saturday and was supposed to be won by a kid from oregon. however, they had to try to make the sec relevant. sure enough, the kid from oregon won going away. it would be like watching a couple chinese folk playing ping pong and somehow you mention the sec

  • rphokc says:

    interesting, wariboko is at smu and offered……….mysteriously, smu joined the few offering his brother

    • EasTex says:

      I’m pretty much done with him and don’t care where he goes as long as it isn’t OU.
      He doesn’t appear to be serious minded and it was on full display with his “psyche” comment months ago.

  • D'Brickashaw Ferguson says:

    Currently watching the Allen vs. Dallas Skyline game on TV.

    Let’s be real here: We’re all probably dreaming about Kyler Murray coming to OU. But if he did…. he’s absolutely a day 1 starter, IMO. He’s electric, quick, and very accurate. He’ll be a dynamic player at TAMU or anywhere else.

    Anthony Wheeler’s playing also. I’ve paid more attention to Murray thus far, but Wheeler has great size and moves well.

    • Stephen says:

      How are you watching it?

    • EasTex says:

      I’m watching it too.
      Wheeler has done a good job of spying on Murray and has made a couple of nice plays to tackle him before he could do much damage.
      I’ve watched Murray for three years and I agree he is probably starting as a true freshman anywhere he goes.

      • rphokc says:

        …so, over time, seems like there are more comments being unimpressed with wheeler than excited………..if we get him, is he keeper or a body

        • Clint Lenard says:

          “Wheeler has done a good job of spying on Murray and has made a couple of nice plays to tackle him before he could do much damage.”

          Yep, sounds like EasTex is super unimpressed…

          • EasTex says:

            Not exactly, but not super impressed either. He doesn’t hustle, doesn’t seem to have a burning desire to make plays. In the first half his play and his defense did well, but the second half when Kyler “Baby faced killer” Murray took control of the game Wheeler’s presence made no difference. Allen scored 42 points in the second half and Wheeler was mostly watching passes sail over his head down field, except for Allen’s final TD. They were basically burning clock and running the ball, Wheeler seemed to have already quit and didn’t take care of his run fit and the RB blew right past him for about a 35 yard TD run.
            My impression is Wheeler is talented, but plays like he is less talented than he is because of his attitude. Almost like he is taking off plays to save his energy for something else after the game.

        • EasTex says:

          Overall, I think he is more of a body. What I saw and didn’t like was that he didn’t hustle after the ball if the play was away from him.

          • Zack says:

            But watch him go to texas and become another one of their great linebacker for them. That said I don’t think his film is anywhere near impressive

          • EasTex says:

            If he played with the desire and hustle like an Austin Box he could be truly great. He is blessed with the physical ability, but his head seems to be what is holding him back.

          • rphokc says:

            thxs for your response vs the ‘cl’ poster that answered for you…….since you were watching the game just interested in your impression…you watch a lot of hs fb………thxs

  • Chris White says:

    My little brother and Heritage Hall finally played Locust Grove last night and I have to say…Mason Fine, the Locust Grove QB, is amazing. Kid can pass like I haven’t seen in a High School player. He broke the State record for career TD passes with 113+ and he is only a JUNIOR! What a great game but OU should really look at this kid before Tulsa snags him (with Baylor’s OC going to Tulsa he could do some damage there). He is about 5’11” but has some speed, but I really suggest people look at these highlights, his mechanics are great. He is my nomination the next time you Brainiacs do an In-state Feature!

    http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1667735/mason-fine

  • Zack says:

    Jarrett stidham finally came to his senses and decommitted from tech. Time for heupel to make a trip and visit him.

  • Stephen says:

    Jarret Stidham has decommitted from Tech.

    • rphokc says:

      ……didn’t remember much about him but he had an extensive major offer list

      • Stephen says:

        He’s a 5* guy. He’s about 6’4 and is a dual-threat QB. Had an impressive showing at The Opening.

        • Zack says:

          Everyone is going to recruit the kid. Dede Westbrook and Sunderland both tweeted him telling him to come to Norman.

          • Stephen says:

            He’s going to be a tough get, IMO. If he somehow commits, he’s going to be the best thing about this season and would really solidify the offense in this year’s class.

          • boomersooner says:

            one of you guys that knows recruiting well…who’s better, stidham or murray? does it depend on what you want? or would you rather have one over the other?…

          • Stephen says:

            Just my opinion, but I like Stidham because of his size. A lot of Trevor woes were because he couldn’t see the linebacker over the line. Both are great, but OU generally gets some big linemen so my choice would be Stidham.

          • Zack says:

            Stidham has more potential but Murray can be just as good. I don’t think Murray has lost a game as a starter in HS so he’s a winner.

          • EasTex says:

            I’ve only seen Stidham in one high school game and didn’t see the whole game.
            I’ve watched Murray numerous times over the past three years and I have to say I have never seen anyone play his position the way he does. I started calling him the “Baby Faced Killer” after seeing him as a 15 year old soph stealing the show in the state championship game.
            I wish you could have seen the performance he put on tonight. He led 5 TD drives with a total of 15 plays and one of those drives was 2 plays for 86 yards.
            Stidham might be a great player, but there is only one Kyler Murray and if OU had to play against him my pucker factor would not only be off the charts my lazy boy seat cushion would disappear.
            I don’t know what Stidham is or will be, but Murray is a winner, right down to the bone.

          • Zack says:

            I want to see if that affects anyone else in their class namely fehoko.

          • Stephen says:

            Good point, didn’t really think of that.

          • EasTex says:

            After watching Fehoko in The Opening, I hope he enjoys his college experience in Lubbock.

  • Ed Cotter says:

    Did Stidham really decommit from Tech?

    • Jeremy Phillips says:

      Weird story.. Briles all the way…

      • Zack says:

        Those tech fans are really claiming briles is “illegally” recruiting? Not sure that tech is any more above board.

    • boomersooner says:

      sounds pretty shady. i like the “my dog took a copeland in the backyard”

    • SoonerPhins says:

      Te

    • F1at1ined says:

      To be honest though, Mahomes looks pretty legit as a freshman. Can see him locking down the QB spot for them. I think he could be on of the better Big 12 QBs next year. Stidham may have a battle to win that spot. He may have better luck at Oregon.

  • EasTex says:

    Rodney Anderson post game interview from last night’s gritty, hard foughtOT semi-final victory.

  • Zack says:

    Looking forward to 2016 running backs. I think we take 2. One will probably be hogan. This guy deserves a look as the other guy.

    http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1473876/highlights/211987376

  • Indy_sooner says:

    Read that Jarett stidham decommitted. Any interest in signing with the good guys?

  • soonerjunky says:

    Jarrett Stidham, is OU actively recruiting him?

    • Jordan Esco says:

      I expect they’ll reach out, but from what I’ve seen the belief is he’ll now wind up at either Baylor or Oregon.

      • Stephen says:

        From what I read in a Tech forum, there is some speculation that BU had something to do with this, fair or unfair.

        • Jordan Esco says:

          I’ve heard some seriously shady stuff c/b going down here btwn Stidham & Baylor. And I know several people who would adamantly tell you Briles runs the dirtiest program in the Big 12. But I’ve always taken that kind of stuff with a grain of salt.

  • Zack says:

    So does it seem Martin is interested in ou or is Tennessee likely to land him?

  • Zack says:

    Sternberger committed to Kansas. Congrats to the young man. It’s too bad boulware didn’t go after him.

    • rphokc says:

      between now and nsd, do you know the period(s) when they are not allowed to recruit

      • Gary Robbins says:

        I think the Dead period is from 12-16 till 1-15-15.
        The NCAA also has a Contact period, Evaluation period, and Quiet period and all have different times and different rules.
        The oncoming Dead period is time to slow everything down for the recruits and the coaches during the holidays and bowl games. No contacts are to be made. I think there can be some phone calls but they are highly restricted.

        • rphokc says:

          yeah, tried looking it up and it’s like reading ins or the tax code……lol

        • Zack says:

          Are they able to contact their commitments? Or accept a call from recruits wanting to commit. For example McNeal, jefferson and deberry are all announcing during the dead period.

          • Gary Robbins says:

            Very restricted- but I couldn’t find what those restrictions are. Like rphokc said they are confusing periods and my mind became discombobulated. Drank a beer and that didn’t help. Oh. well.

          • Sooner Ray says:

            I have heard that a recruit can contact a coach at any time but coaches are not allowed to initiate the contact. Some forms of social media are allowed I believe, I would not want to be in charge of over seeing the rules.

          • Zack says:

            Norvell is visiting newsome again. I guess that’s his final target to try to land this year, haven’t seen anything about lodge.

          • EasTex says:

            Cedar Hill has Katy on their minds right now. Tune into Fox SW next Saturday and watch the fun from Jerry’s Death Star.

  • bmrsnr says:

    PJ getting another visit from Arky db coach.

    • Zack says:

      We need perine to help close pj. I still am concerned but he hasn’t announced any officials so I don’t think it’s time to panic.

  • blaster1371 says:

    So, is this Martin someone to get excited about?

  • Zack says:

    I’m not sure what else ou can do to land newsome but I like what they’re doing.

    • hOUligan says:

      Props to Coach Norvell. Litterally…taking the Golden Hat and a helmet with him for the in-home. Hoping that ‘personal connection’ with Bob and the staff is what ‘steers’ Newsome to OU.

  • hOUligan says:

    Reading between the lines, PJ giving respect to the Arkie coaches for coming after him so hard but not swayed. ‘BOOM’ er, baby.

    • boomersooner says:

      kinda how i read it too

    • Sooner Ray says:

      Kinda looks like they went to church with him.

      • hOUligan says:

        Good observation. It does. Just looking at the difference in the photo of him with his ‘BOOM’ shirt and arms around Bob and BJW and the photo of the Arkie coaches with PJ basically thanking them for stopping by. Picture worth a thousand words?

      • Defend Colfax says:

        and they dress like they’re from Arkansas too.

    • Katyboomer says:

      Any guesses what in his hand? I say ou keychain . Also was able to confirm Katy RB Anderson as of now is set to grad early

      • hOUligan says:

        Think you got it. Like Sooner Ray said, seriously looks like he drove them to church.

      • EasTex says:

        Thank you, ma’am.
        I like that young man.
        One tough game last night, but Katy showed they have the real stuff that champions are made of.

        • Katyboomer says:

          Yeah we will see the next one will be the tough one 3 years in a row it comes down to two.

          • EasTex says:

            That melt down in the last five minutes of last year’s game blew my mind. Not characteristic for Katy to fumble away a championship like that. Hope they use it as motivation to be focused like a cat on a bird.

  • Jordan Esco says:

    Jalin Barnett’s h.s. coach: “I think it’s going real, real well,” Breeze said. “He has really enjoyed it. He was close to committing last night from what I understand but he wants to wait a couple days.“I don’t think it’s going to end this weekend but the chances of him at Nebraska are very, very high.” – 247 ($) http://nebraska.247sports.com/Article/Nebraska-put-its-best-foot-forward-with-four-star-Jalin-Barnett-33854607

    • hOUligan says:

      A bit disheartening to lose two high profile in-state oline recruits but hey….OU is out there bringing in guys from other states. Gabe Campbell struggling with the in-state school or OU. Hoping he comes to OU. Wish them all well in making the choice that is right for them.

      • Zack says:

        I think ou has made it back to the top for wariboko. I’m not sure that Barnett is as good as many thought he was this time last year.

        • hOUligan says:

          Don’t have the ‘eye’ to separate out which is better/highest potential but always partial to Wariboko, even with his juvenile tweets. Hope you’re right. Lawton alwyas seems to have been a crap shoot for OU recruiting. Anyone know anything about that Bixby DE that gave Barnett fits?

          • Sooner Ray says:

            I don’t know who the DE is at Bixby but if he schooled Barnett like a lot of people have been saying, do we really think he could help us?

          • hOUligan says:

            And to be fair, sounds like Barnett has been playing OT when his most natural position is inside. No ‘sour grapes’ here…just wondering and also is the Bixby DE a prospect that needs a look?

          • Sooner Ray says:

            That was my point, is the DE a prospect or is Barnett over rated?

          • hOUligan says:

            Inquiring minds want to know!

          • SoonerfanTU says:

            I don’t know, but I certainly wouldn’t base it on ONE game. I mean, look at what Striker did to the Bama OT last year, and that dude was a first round pick that is, I believe, starting in the NFL as a rookie.

    • bmrsnr says:

      Weird, drags his feet with the hogs, loses out, then gets excited about nebraska?

    • rphokc says:

      …….but, this can’t be true……..james hale said he was an ou lock

  • bmrsnr says:

    Turner to announce today.

    @soonergridiron
    Per @LarsHanson juco safety @zeke_turner will announce today between OU and Washington

  • boomersooner says:

    so what’s the deal with 247? meaning what’s their story? is it just a bunch of randoms that give their $0.02? they have 3 ezekiel turners, 2 have the same height and weight and another is different, yet all 3 go to the same school so obviously the same guy

  • rphokc says:

    ..newsome……..”……and why am I standin’ here wearin’ this funny hat and holdin’ this helmet?….”

  • connie usa says:

    Would PJ be allowing other colleges to have “in homes” if he was definite to OU?
    This concerns me. I think if he wasn’t “conflicted”, then he’d tell them to not waste their time.

    • Zack says:

      In home visit from Arkansas only to my knowledge. I don’t think Arkansas will be any more of a contender and fortunately for us, I am unaware of Arkansas or bellima having a huge track record with corners.
      That asst coach though might.

      • Gary Robbins says:

        Isn’t that coach Jennings who was his coach of record when he ( PJ ) was committed to TCU. I think Jennings is just trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat trick?

  • SoonerfanTU says:

    P.J. looks really, really thick to be a CB. Not saying he won’t be a good one, and I know he is a big/tall CB, just saying, if I looked at that pic above and didn’t know what position he played, I don’t think CB would be my first guess. Or second. 🙂

  • Zack says:

    Now haughton got a picture with the gold hat and haughton. If I had to take a guess I would say they are making their way down to pflugerville to visit mbanasor.

  • Mark slavin says:

    Okie lite just lost their number 1 commit Ronald Jones decommits on Twitter.

  • Jordan Esco says:

    Not by a computer to do a full update, sorry.
    https://twitter.com/kahlilhaughton/status/544278883327963136

  • Chris White says:

    I saw EasTex and someone on here talking about Kyler Murray and Allen Texas in their Semifinal game and was wondering if anyone had seen my cousin Lee Morris play? Parents from the school say he’s having a good year? He’s a WR #80

  • trusoonerA53 says:

    With stidhamm decommitting from T T, has OU made any contact with him or the coaches waiting or hoping still for Kylar Murray?

  • Zack says:

    No go for turner. Guess we still have a shot with Reid and a better shot with haughton.

    • Stephen says:

      Yeah, weird how we lose out to Washington.

      • Zack says:

        My guess is he really likes the west coast. Can’t say I blame the kid.

        • Katyboomer says:

          Or maybe we got some one we don’t know about yet ( one can only hope )

          • Zack says:

            You think there’s a silent commit out there? I can’t tell who is inless it’s at linebacker since were not rushing to get guys.

          • Gary Robbins says:

            Super K probably knows but is sworn to secrecy! lol

          • Katyboomer says:

            Lol

          • Katyboomer says:

            One can only hope. I would take either, I think we will finish stronger then most think.

          • boomersooner says:

            yes. i love it. we don’t have to be mr. rodgers or tony robbins but i love the positive stuff. i’m excited. if dgb comes back, plus shep and quick, plus our backs. get something answered on the oline and figure out some d. i love it. we could very well score 50 a game….

          • Stephen says:

            I like where your mind is at, but I think we are going to see Shep, DGB, and Westbrook. Actually, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say we see Quick out there in a 4-wide set.

          • boomersooner says:

            sounds good to me. i think we could score 50 a game when we scored 39 or so a game this year. i’m ready to put foot to ass though, i’ll tell ya that….and it starts with you clemson

          • Stephen says:

            Haughton….hopefully.

        • rmt28265 says:

          Smart decision by the kid. I can’t imagine any DB’s wanting to play for Mike Stoops. He consistently put our guys in position to fail this year. Why in the world any kid that has other decent options would want to come deal with that is beyond me. Until Mike is gone, we will likely see a lot more recruits choose other places.

  • Jordan Esco says:

    As Zack said, Sooners miss out on 2015 JUCO safety Zeke Turner. Little bit of a surprise.

    • Zack says:

      I thought our connection with Johnson and tapper would help.

      • Sooner Ray says:

        I’m really surprised we haven’t pulled up into a recruit’s front yard in a covered wagon pulled by a team of white horses, that would trump a copter!