Weekend Open Post | March 8th – 10th
Posted on: March 8, 2024
Future Freaks | Visitor List
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 7, 2024
The Sooners are hosting a major recruiting event this weekend.
The “Future Freaks” event will largely focus on the ’26 class, but as we noted previously there will be a handful of ’25 kids on campus as well as some ’27 kids.
Once again, this is a working list, not a final list, so just because someone is not listed as visiting does not mean they will not visit. Some of the guys listed will inevitably not be able to make it for one reason or another. There likely will be additional visitors who will be there that we are not aware of at this time.
’25 Visitors
WR Andrew Marsh – Katy, TX
WR Quincy Porter – Oradell, NJ
EDGE Darren Ikinnagbon – Hillside, NJ
DL Trent Wilson – Upper Marlboro, MD
CB Zay Gentry – McKinney, TX
CB Major Preston – Bradenton, FL
DB Omarion Robinson – Little Rock, AR
’26 Visitors
QB Nelson Peterson Jr. – Sunnyvale, TX
RB Jonathan Hatton – Cibolo, TX – OU Commit
RB Kaydin Jones – Jenks, OK
RB Ryelan Morris – Honey Grove, TX
RB Javian Osborne – Forney, TX
WR Jamar Denson – Hollywood, FL
WR Amarion Jackson – Omaha, NE
WR Mason James – Norman, OK
WR Aljour Miles – Kaufman, TX
WR Donovan Murph – Columbia, SC
WR Quincy Shelton – Hugo, OK
WR Chris Stewart – Pearland, TX
TE Ryder Mix – Frisco, TX
TE Zachery Turner – Duncanville, TX
OL Drew Evers – Flower Mound, TX
OL Bryce Gilmore – Prosper, TX
OL Breck Kolojay – Bradenton, FL
OL Zaden Krempin – Prosper, TX
OL John Turntine – Fort Worth, TX
DL Luke Wafle – Princeton, NJ
DE Hunter Higgins – Wichita, KS
DL Dutch Horisk – Bellflower, CA
DL Tajh Overton – Owasso, OK
DL Tomuhini Topui – Santa Ana, CA
DB Markel Ford – Mesquite, TX
DB Daijon Gaines – Tulsa, OK
DB Isaiah Williams – Missouri City, TX
S – Adam Auston – Lawton, OK
ATH Legend Bey – Mesquite, TX
ATH Aljour Miles – Kaufman, TX
ATH Joshua Rushing – Lawton, OK
Good Evals by the Sooners Have Them in Good Position
– Super K – Posted on: March 5, 2024
I want to mention a couple of linemen where it’s worth noting just how good OU’s evaluations seem to have been and how those evaluations look to be helping OU…
***First, we have already spoken a bit about OU 2025 OT commit, Ryan Fodje. By now you know the Sooners were first to offer Fodje.
And while Fodje’s teammate, Jonte Newman is ranked higher than Fodje, I had an interesting conversation with an SEC staffer…
Staffer basically said that they are still working on Fodje and actually have Fodje ranked higher than Newman. Staffer said OU did a heck of a job on that one and that they feel like Fodje may be the prospect with more upside.
Also, worth noting Fodje announced his official visit date to OU for June 21st – 23rd.
*** Another lineman, this time on the defensive side of the ball, to keep an eye on is 2025 DT, Floyd Dawens Boucard (Miami, FL).
On film, Boucard looks exactly like the kind of DL you want to take into the SEC. And it appears OU was on the earlier end of his offers when it comes to bigger schools.
That’s yielded a result that Boucard already has an OV set to Oklahoma (along with Tulane, Louisville and Michigan State). Penn State just threw their hat in the ring today and I think you’ll see more of the big boys come in. As such, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of those OV destinations change but fully expect OU to remain in it.
Bates has done a great job relationship building in this one.
Big Board | Class of ’25 Cornerbacks
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 5, 2024
Continuing to roll out the Sooners class of ’25 Big Boards.
Today we will have a look at the Sooners Cornerback Board.
Currently, the Sooners have offers out to 20 or so Cornerbacks.
ICYMI:
Interior Defensive Line Big Board
Cornerback (20)
Jaboree Antoine – Westgate – (New Iberia, LA) – 6-1 170 – LSU Commit
Dorian Brew – Conroe – (Conroe, TX) – 6-1 200
Adonyss Currie – Quartz Hill – (Lancaster, CA) – 6-3 174
Daryus Dixson – Mater Dei – (Santa Ana, CA) – 6-1 180
Terrance Edwards -Trinity Episcopal School – (Richmond, VA) – 6-0 168
Chris Ewald – Chaminade-Madonna Prep – (Hollywood, FL) – 5-11 161
Dawayne Galloway – Franklin – (Columbus, OH) – 6-2 175
Courtland Guillory – Klein Oak – (Houston, TX) -6-1 170
Tae Harris – Cedartown – (Cedartown, GA) – 6-0 180
Maliek Hawkins – Frisco Emerson – (Allen, TX) – 6-1 175
Trystan Haynes – Carl Albert – (Midwest City, OK) – 6-2 160
Jaquez Henderson – Cocoa – (Cocoa, FL) – 5-10 160
Dijon Lee – Mission Viejo -(Mission Viejo, CA) – 6-3 180
Deyjhon Pettaway – Paetow – (Katy, TX) – 5-11 180 – Texas A&M Commit
Major Preston – IMG Academy – (Hopewell, VA) – 6-2 170
Cobey Sellers – Shadow Creek – (Pearland, TX) – 5-11.5 165
Devin Sanchez – North Shore – (Houston, TX) – 6-2 170 – Ohio State Commit
Gregory Thomas – American Heritage – (Plantation, FL) – 6-2 185
Jett White – Edison – (Miami, FL) – 6-1.5 – 165 – Maryland Commit
Devin Williams – Buford – (Buford, GA) – 5-11 168
Commits at this time: 0
Number of commits OU is looking to take out of HS: 3 (could settle at 2)
The Sooners head into the ’24 season with their entire cornerback room returning from the ’23 season. Woodi Washington was the guy who debated leaving but at the end of the day, he believes one more season in Norman will help him be better positioned when the time comes for him to give the NFL a shot.
Gentry Williams, Kani Walker, Jasiah Wagoner, Makari Vickers, and Jacobe Johnson return to the rotation and Kendel Dolby is also a guy who could see time at the corner position.
OU brought in Dez Malone and Jocelyn Malaska from the transfer portal and they added Jeremiah Newcombe, Devon Jordan, and Eli Bowen from the high school recruiting class.
That is a deep and talented room Jay Valai has constructed. Following the ’24 season, I am expecting OU to see at least 3 guys move on to the NFL draft, but you could see less or possibly more attrition. Obviously, it depends on how things shake out this season on the field for some of these guys.
When it comes to the ’25 class, while there are a bunch of offers out there, right now, you really only need to concern yourselves with four names.
OU has clearly prioritized Cobey Sellers, Trystan Haynes, and Courtland Guillory as priorities in this class. Then you have Maliek Hawkins who is a very heavy OU lean and the Sooners can and will take his commitment when it comes. So the question is, who is the odd man out?
If you count Hawkins in the class, I believe the Sooners would be happy with getting any 2 of the remaining 3 recruits mentioned above. I am going to speculate that if push came to shove they would love to lock up Sellers and Haynes before either of the other two but Guillory is a guy I would have a difficult time saying no to if he wanted in as well.
Bottom line: Right now, I would lean toward OU having a corner class consisting of Sellers, Haynes and Hawkins, but that is not etched in stone as each of Sellers, Haynes, and Guillory are still going through their process.
Sooners S&C and Off-Season vs Other Programs
– Super K – Posted on: March 6, 2024
Just a quick sourced note here.
With the Sooners (like others) regularly taking in transfers, I thought it would be interesting to check with folks around some of the various transfers and find out how the Sooners S&C and off-season program compares (in terms of work load and rigor) to schools they were at previously.
We are remember how Dorian Green Beckham pretty much said the Missouri program was way easier than OU’s program.
I think I could best summarize the answer like this…
Either OU is harder or it’s about the same and where it was the same the primary difference would be where they might place the emphasis – as in the previous school may have focused more on conditioning whereas OU may focus more on strength or explosion.
I didn’t get any answers back that indicated OU was easier than any other program and that includes any high level programs.
Nothing too surprising given Schmitty’s track record but thought it was nice to get additional comparative validation.
A Good Summary of Why You Aren’t Sure What to Expect
– Super K – Posted on: March 7, 2024
I was chatting with a friend (who is a lifelong Sooner fan) about OU, the upcoming season and the mindset of the fan base.
I asked him why, despite all the returning starters and the improvement last year, he felt that a lot of the fan base is still really uncertain about what to expect.
I don’t think this is the only reason but I thought his reason was a big part of it. Essentially he said…
***You look at what this Texas team did at the combine and you get a greater sense of just how talented they were. So, the fact that OU had the capacity to beat them is obviously a great sign but…
***That very team then turns around and loses to teams like Kansas or OSU and anyone watching those games felt like OU didn’t get beat – rather they lost it themselves.
***So, he said, “the unknown is that we could lose to any team at any time. It’s hard to get as excited about a team that beats themselves.”
***I think he summarized what at least a portion of the fan base feels but may not know how to articulate. And I think this goes back to what we’ve talked about recently which is what we want to see from OU is continued improvement in consistency from down to down and quarter to quarter.
***There’s too many times where we watch OU on offense or defense play absolutely lights out in one quarter and then look like a completely different team in the next quarter.
I think there is a good chance that they’ll have the upside to give you those amazing quarters, this season. What they need now is to put a floor under their lows.
***Defensively I feel like that can happen. Under Lebby that boom or bust was just chronic. We’re going to want to hear during spring ball, how things are moving under Seth and whether there is that sense that some of the changes he has implemented will give OU an explosive offense but also a steady offense.
Behind the Scenes | What Does It Look Like To You?
– Charlie S – Posted on: March 7, 2024
Yesterday Brent Venables met with the media and one thing I noticed in listening to the press conference and subsequently speaking to James about the topic was that the Sooners head coach does not necessarily see things on the back end (infrastructure staffing-wise) the same way as people expect him to see them.
Venables was asked about whether he was looking to add a General Manager type role to the staff and he replied by returning serve when he replied to the question with a question of his own. Venables asked, “What do you think a general manager is?” He continued his inquiry by asking “Like a chief of staff, or football opps?”
The Sooners head man then went on to note that OU has been reorganizing and restructuring their staff and when JR Sandlin left OU, there were immediate reports that Curtis Lofton would be named the ‘General Manager”, those reports appear to have been erroneous.
Yesterday, Venables did praise the work Lofton has done with the SOUL mission program and as we noted at the time of Sandlin’s departure, sources indicate that Lofton is in line to be promoted, we did not hear he would receive the General Manager title however. You can find that report HERE.
OU Promoted Woody Glass to the role of “Chief of Staff” last September. He basically fills the role that Thad Turnipseed held when he came to OU with Venables. Glass is in charge of the administrative side of things for Venables but has little to do with player personnel. He is really Brents right-hand man and takes as many things of Venables’ plate as he can from dealing with the NCAA to opening dialogue with NIL endeavors while being a sounding board for Venables when it comes to making hires and targeting specific individuals in that regard.
So while many people are interested to hear about an OU General Manager, the fact of the matter is…Brent Venables is not concerned about it and by all appearances (and his own words), he is simply looking for good people to fill necessary roles.
I have been talking about my belief that there is a need for an enhanced and consolidated player personnel structure. In my opinion, the revamping of that department would have one guy at the top who had strong evaluation and personal skills who would stand on a table for players/recruits he believes in and not be a yes man who just goes with the flow. Is that how the staff will look? I have no idea, and it is apparent nobody else knows Brents’s exact plan…and perhaps Brent doesn’t know exactly how things will play out right now.
But we do know that Brent stated that he knows that college football is evolving and he understands his program has to evolve along with it. I believe it is the intention of everyone on the administrative side as well as on the football side to be ahead of the evolution curve.
As Brent said yesterday, “I always look at trying to hire people who are smarter than me and to surround myself with really good intelligent people who have either the experience where you want to go or they have the acumen to learn and grow and get better and lead. So we’re always looking at ways to get better.”
What it looks like to you, may not look the same as it does to Brent Venables.
