Riley Captivates Sooner Nation

The Red-White Spring Game was an event that Sooner Nation had been pointing to for a long time. Everyone from the staff, fans, players, recruits, and media had rather lofty expectations about the impact the event would have in regards to recruiting and specifically to the “NewWave19” class.

Back on January 25th, OU Football put out a simple tweet. A save the date notification for the annual Spring Game on April 14th, 2018, at 1:00 p.m.

Ever since that tweet was thrown out there, the expectations, and visitors list, began to mount. Riley and his staff began to bring the Spring Game up in conversation on a regular basis. They began to push the fans to “Pack the Palace.” Riley mentioned time and again the importance that the fans would play in regards to creating the specific environment he envisioned for the event.

As time went on, word began to come out about there being some added entertainment, aside from the game. There was subsequent angst among the fans when the name of the performer was revealed. Some people even went as far as to push the narrative that the weekend was already lost based on the choice of entertainment. There were literally arguments amongst the fan base on twitter and message boards.

The visitor list continued to grow. Elite, truly elite, recruits from across the country, literally from coast to coast, were flocking to Norman. The staff continued to urge the fans to come out and show their support, all in the name of recruiting.

As the event neared, it became clear that the choice of entertainment would play little, if any, role for the recruits as The University of Oklahoma flexed its muscles in a way very few programs around the country would be able to. Star power would take center stage.

The program was going to honor their legendary former head coach, Bob Stoops, that same weekend. A virtual “who’s who” of football royalty and fan favorites would be in town. There would be dinners and statue reveals and a host of other ceremonies for Coach Stoops, and his players were flocking to Norman to celebrate with him.

This was the ace up Lincoln Riley’s sleeve.

You had Adrian Peterson and Trent Williams as honorary coaches. Lane Johnson and Tony Jefferson were the assistant coaches. Sterling Shepard, Dede Westbrook, Joe Mixon and others put out tweets letting the fans know that they would be there. You had Gerald McCoy as a master of ceremony. The King, Barry Switzer, was walking around like he was on a recruiting trip in the 80’s with his fur coat on. At a ceremony prior to kickoff you had Billy Sims leading the crowd in a “Boomer Sooner” chant. You had dozens of former OU and NFL players on hand mingling amongst the elite recruits.

Lincoln Riley knew what he was doing.

I think it is safe to say, those lofty expectations were met, and exceeded, in terms of the environment and the results. There were 52.000 fans who showed up on a bone-chilling day. I would imagine that number would have been 5-10 thousand higher should the weather have cooperated. It didn’t matter. The recruiting festivities began a day earlier.

On Friday, at 2:09 p.m., Coach Riley, again, took to twitter. One simple tweet got Sooner Nation’s attention.

 

He would keep their attention, like never before, for the next 48 hours.

This was no longer just a Spring Game. This had become an event. Seven times Coach Riley took to twitter, stacking those “Cookie Monster” eyes on top of each other. Each tweet signifying an addition to the Sooners program and each tweet sending Sooner Nation into a frenzy.

*Friday the 13th 2:09: Arjei Henderson, 2019 WR Commits to the Sooners.

*Friday the 13th 2:52: Theo Wease, 2019 WR Commits to the Sooners.

*Friday the 13th 3:51: Jamal Morris, 2019 S Commits to the Sooners.

*Friday the 13th 6:11: Jaylan Knighton, 2020 RB Commits to the Sooners.

*Saturday the 14th 6:03: Derek Green, 2019 DT Commits to the Sooners.

*Sunday the 15th 3:16: Jarrian Jones, 2019 DB Commits to the Sooners (Announced Monday)

*Sunday the 15th 4:52: Jay Hayes, ND Grad Transfer DL, Commits to the Sooners.

The fact of the matter is that it’s not over, as evidenced on Tuesday the 17th when Riley flashed not one more, but two more pairs of eyes, signifying additonal commits. As a direct result of this weekend, there are more “Cookie Monster” eyes to be flashed. Many more. Riley has OU at the point where they may have to, and perhaps already have, turn elite level kids away due to numbers.

Lincoln Riley, and his staff, hit a homerun this weekend. Will there be bumps and hiccups along the way as he continues to grow into his role as head coach at the University of Oklahoma? Of course.

However, the one quote, from the many memorable quotes this weekend, that sticks with me came from Bob Stoops. As Coach Stoops was giving a speech after the public unveiling of his statue, he said something that should make you all feel very fortunate.

Stoops said, “There’s plenty of room on here for another statue. I believe in 25 or 30 years, Lincoln will have one too.”

Lincoln Riley has your attention. He’s not going to let go of that anytime soon