Weekend Open Post | March 15th – 17th By: TFB Posted on: March 15, 2024

Future Freaks Notes
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 10, 2024

Let me start by saying the visit weekend was a tremendous success and each of the recruits I have touched base with cannot say enough about how welcoming the staff was and how the experience felt like a ‘trip home’.

I could give you 20 quotes that all basically say the same thing, so I won’t do that…but I will repeat that OU really made some strong and what I believe to be lasting impressions with yesterday’s event.

So without going over the same quotes with the same accolades, I will start giving you some sourced notes.

***First we will start with 2026 Athlete Nelson Peterson Jr. As you know, Peterson is the younger brother of Sooner legend Adrian Peterson so there is some heightened fan interest with this one. Source said Peterson and his crew really enjoyed the visit experience. While he does not hold an offer from OU yet, source noted that the Sooners were very up front and transparent about their intentions and Peterson is a guy they will be keeping their eyes on. Was told that OU indicated that they want to see Peterson throw in person as the next step and that may happen sooner rather than later. What I mean by that is source close to Peterson indicated he may be back in Norman in the very near future, possibly as early as next weekend depending on whether he goes out west to a showcase event or not.

***Next, I spoke with a source who has been around ’25 DL priority target Trenton Wilson who has been in Norman this weekend. Source said that they could not envision a scenario where things could have gone better with Wilson and the Sooners. Todd Bates and Venables clearly made Wilson and his family feel like a priority and they got to spend a lot of quality time together. Oklahoma came into the weekend in a good spot with Wilson and source said ‘They may have put themselves in a spot where they can’t be caught’ in reference to the other programs coming for him. We will see, but it’s nice to hear that OU continued to improve their standing with Wilson.

***We will wrap up this batch of notes with some talk another east coaster in ’26 EDGE Luke Wafle out of New Jersey. Wafle plays at the Hun school in Princeton NJ which likely sounds familiar as OU’s Logan Howland played there. Source said OU appeared to ‘blow away’ Wafle who really hit it off with OU EDGE coach Miguel Chavis as well as a few other members of the OU staff. Wafle will be an interesting recruitment to watch as he is a guy who has a brother playing at Michigan (Owen Wafle who was a former OU target) but with all the changes they are going through defensively, that may leave the door wide open for a program like OU to make their way through. Source said the Sooners took a very big step toward being a major player in his recruitment and while there is plenty of time and work to be done in his recruitment, OU definitely has positioned themselves well to make a run going forward.

We will have more updates from the visit weekend in the coming days, but these are three things that I thought you would all enjoy hearing about rather than seeing the same quotes over and over again.

Bottom line: The Sooners put on an impressive event this weekend and as I noted in the Ice Breakers write-up yesterday, real relationships and bonds were made between recruits and staff as well as recruits and other recruits.

***Another recruit that was on campus who I was interested in hearing about was ’26 OT Drew Evers…who happens to be the younger brother of former Sooner QB Nick Evers. Spoke to a source who is familiar with the Evers family as I was interested in getting a feel for what their vibe was with OU in light of what Nick went through while in Norman and his subsequent decision to transfer out after his freshman season. Source said ‘any dissatisfaction the Evers had with OU left with Lebby’. Source added that the entire Evers family maintains that they truly appreciate the culture Venables and his staff have built and continue to build in Norman and they believe that OU would be a very good spot for Drew should that be where he chooses in the end. Now, I am not saying that Drew will wind up in Norman, but I am saying the source I spoke with indicated that they did not believe there would be any residual bad feelings based on Nicks experience keeping him from landing in Norman as the problem was not with OU, it was with the way Lebby handled the QB room.

Sourced Team Notes Ahead of Spring Ball
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 11, 2024

***I spoke with a source today and I brought up the schedule being different. Over the past two years, Brent Venables has waited until after spring break to get spring ball going and I was wondering of this was a change in philosophy or just a scheduling things. Was told it pretty much came down to the calendar, but source also said Brent is going to use it to his advantage.

***Source said the staff is planning to ’empty the tank’ of the team this week. Found that pretty noteworthy.

***Now there is only so much you can do with the first two days being without pads, but the staff is going to push the team as hard as they can over the first couple of practices and likely be ready to run some team (scrimmage) type of stuff Friday.

***This is where the advantage of having a week off comes into play because if someone gets nicked up or sidelined for what would be a couple practices, they would have time to heel up and be ready when OU returns to practice the following week without missing any time.

***Despite not being in pads, source expects the practices this week to be very physical and very taxing on the players. Was told that the EDGE position is one of the focal points where they will have a lot of ‘one on one’s’ with the offensive tackles with the instructions of ‘Go out there and win a damn job’ type of mentality.

***The corner competition will also be one of the focal points as they will work against a very deep and talented wide receiver room. With Gentry Williams being out and Woodi Washington not needing every rep possible at CB, guys like Dez Malone, Kani Walker, Makari Vickers and Jasiah Wagoner, along with the freshmen, will be out there trying to make every rep count in an effort to be in a position to push and challenge the first team guys.

***Source went on to mention that kicking game will be highly scrutinized, jobs are on the line as are the return positions and all special team assignments. Was told there will be a heavy focus on all aspects of special teams early in camp. Source noted that Brent has made it clear that no kicker or returner has a job locked up and spring ball will go a long way in determining how those spots play out by the time fall camp rolls around.

Sourced Team Note | Wide Receiver
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 12, 2024

One really quick note from yesterday’s first spring practice…

***Spoke to a source after yesterday’s first spring practice for team 130 and picked up a pretty funny note.

***I asked source if there were any real standouts yesterday and they immediately said ‘Zion Kearney put (a DB) in the freezer’.

***Obviously, I asked for some clarity and source said “Kearney was doing one on one’s with (a DB) and he locked up (a DB) so bad that he was 10 yards clear by the time (a DB) located him. It was like the locker room scene from Top Gun when the pilots were like “where did he go?”

***Obviously this doesn’t mean anything substantial, just thought it was pretty funny and a positive start for the true freshman wide receiver.

Update | 26 QB Nelson Peterson
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 13, 2024

Just a quick follow-up to the note we dropped about ’26 QB Nelson Peterson earlier this week…HERE.

“What I mean by that is source close to Peterson indicated he may be back in Norman in the very near future, possibly as early as next weekend depending on whether he goes out west to a showcase event or not”

Source confirmed that Peterson will in fact be making his way back to Norman to take in Thursday’s spring practice.

Right now it does sound like Oklahoma is seriously looking at him as a quarterback as a source close to Peterson’s recruitment indicated that OU is conveying the message that it is Peterson and one other QB who are at or near the top of the ’26 QB wish list.

We will keep our eyes on this one.

A few Recruiting Notes | Blaylock, Nickens and Demarco
– Super K – Posted on: March 14, 2024

***Sooners 2025 RB target, Tory Blaylock (Humble, TX) has set his OU official visit date for June 21-23rd.

Blaylock recently dropped a top six which included: OU, Oregon, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas and Alabama.

After Desoto running back Deondrae “Tiger” Riden committed to TAMU, some thought that Blaylock may lock up a spot early.

But I did check with someone in his camp and he’s setting up additional official visits including one to Texas. So, it doesn’t appear anything is going to happen at least until the summer.

***I have been asking around about Sooners recent decommitment, Jaden Nickens and I really don’t have much to tell you other than it does seem OU was prepared for this.

I haven’t received a clear answer other than perhaps Nickens committed early but still wants to look around and you obviously cannot do that when you are committed to OU.

***Lastly, with the Ohio State running back position opening up, I was told by someone in the know up there that they wouldn’t be surprised if Demarco Murray gets a call (or already has).

We are checking the OU side on that. I’d be surprised if anything comes of it but of course, if Ohio State wanted they could offer Demarco a title. The Sooners are all out of titles to give.

Anyways, we are checking on it just in case.

Wide Receiver Reboot ’25
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 14, 2024

The Sooners had a spot open up in the ’25 wide receiver class as Jaden Nickens decommitted and opened up his recruitment.

First, I do not expect OU to revisit Nickens and I think it would take a lot for them to even listen to him. Not that there is any bad blood, more just a difference of opinion and desires.

As for who OU may look at to fill that vacancy along with one more spot in the class (as we are working under the belief OU wants 4 HS WRs this cycle) you can refer to the ’25 WR Big Board HERE for a list of all the offers at the position.

In the write up on the Big Board post, I noted:

“Emmanuel Choice, Royal Capell, and Cooper Perry all recently visited for their junior day events and each is quite high on Oklahoma. I do not believe OU is pushing any of them for a commitment at this time, and they are just letting the process play out and will continue to build their relationships and ramp up communication while things play out a bit.”

I believe OU will continue to do work on the guys mentioned above and I expect each of them to officially visit.

Then you have Caleb Cunningham, Quincy Porter (not listed on the Bog Board at the time it was written), Andrew Marsh, Tanook Hines and Girard Pringle who have all visited Norman or plan on it.

Now I am not saying OU lands a Cunningham or a Porter, but I do expect them to officially visit so OU is in the mix. I would expect OU to turn the heat up on Choice and Perry as well, and while they may be trailing a team or two for those guys at the moment, do not count Emmett Jones and Venables out on any target that they zero in on.

Bottom line: I expect OU to land a pair of quality wide receivers to stack on top of Thomas and Harris, it is just going to take a little more work now that they have two spots to fill instead of one. Emmett Jones has not dropped the ball on any of these other targets and he has kept the lines of communication wide open, which is refreshing compared to regimes of the past once they picked up verbal commitments, so that is a positive for OU.

Spring Practice Number 3 | Can Ya Smell It? | ’26 Visitors | Update: ’25 TEs Visiting
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 14, 2024

As we mentioned earlier in the week, practice three was when full pads would come on…

Can confirm team 130 is suited up and on the practice field…in full pads.

There will be contact.

Feels like a small taste of it being Football Time in Oklahoma!

Some of the recruits who are in attendance:

***’25 LB Marcus James – OU Commit

***’26 QB Nelson Peterson (Forney)

***’26 TE Zach Turner (Duncanville)

***’26 DE Kevin Ford (Duncanville)

***’26 RB Javian Osborne (Forney)

***’26 RB Ryelen Morris (Honey Grove)

And finally…

***’25 TE Da’Saahn Brame (Derby, KS)

***’25 TE Nate Roberts (Washington, OK)