Written by atlantasooner | 22 February 2010

OU held their first junior day for Texas and out of state prospects, and while OU didn't get 13 verbals the weekend led to several new commitments for OU.

• Chris Barnett 6-5, 240, 4.6 TE Euless Trinity, TX
• P.L. Lindley 6-3, 210, 4.5 LB Round Rock, TX
• Jordan Wade 6-4, 290, 5.0 DT Round Rock, TX

The Barnett name is familiar and has been on OU's recruiting radar since early last year. Barnett's probably the best TE in Texas, and quite possibly one of the best TE's in the country (Scout has him ranked 5^th at TE, and 137^th on their National Top 150 list). His Rivals Junior year film isn't great at highlighting his potential. It didn't exactly look like his HS team was proficient throwing the ball at all.  Barnett has switched high schools so it will be interesting to see if his new school does a better showcasing his receiving skills.  With only 17 to 19 ships available for 2011, and how much OU coveted Barnett, TE recruiting is probably finished.

The next verbals were something of a surprise. The two defenders from Round Rock were not among the more celebrated names visiting Norman this weekend. Both rising seniors were apparently offered this weekend by the Sooner staff and took no time at all verbaling to OU. Now, the Sooner message boards started to panic a little hearing both kids had verballed since Lindley claimed offers from Houston and SMU and Turner had no offers. The panic was amplified by Rivals listing Turner at 6-4, and only 249. The cry of "sleepers/projects" was started by some posters. First, for Lindley the sophomore film that Rivals had showed a very fast LB who did a great job in coverage, so crisis averted there. Second, a little research found that Wade was named second team All 5-A last year as junior. A little more research indicated that Wade was playing last year at 275+ and his stats were 77 tackles with 14 sacks (the bulk of which came during Round Rock's playoff run).

All this panic was unnecessary for two main reasons. One, OU never offers sleepers this early in the process (that's not likely to occur until April/May or after OU's summer camps when someone plays at a level far higher than their junior film), so it's far more likely that OU considered Lindley and Wade elite prospects like the other kids invited this weekend;

 

• Malcolm Brown RB 6-0, 210, 4.5 San Antonio
• Anthony Wallace MLB 6-2, 230, 4.6 Dallas
• Trey Metoyer WR 6-2, 190, 4.5 Dallas, TX
• Brey Cook  OT 6-6, 290, 5.1  Arkansas
• Garrett Greenlea OT 6-7, 290, 5.1  Texas
• Nathan Hughes  DE 6-5, 245, 4.8 Texas
• Cedric Reed DE 6-6, 250, 4.8 Texas
• Bradley Marquez RB/ATH 6-1, 185, 4.45 Texas
• Steve Edmond LB 6-3, 225, 4.6 Texas

 

Two, Venables and Shipp clearly had Junior film on these kids that the recruiting services don't have. Venables and Shipp are not wrong about prospects this early in the process. Remember that Shipp offered Torrea Peterson this early last year, and I still think that Peterson might end up being the best college DT out of all the kids signed by OU and UT. OU's  offered 3 LBs from Texas; Lindley, Edmond, and Wallace (Wallace and Edmond are likely top 15 LBs nationally and 1-2 in Texas).

So OU is now up to 5 verbal commitments.

1.      QB Kendal Thompson 6-2, 185, 4.6 Southmoore, OK

2.      WR Kameel Jackson 6-2, 195, 4.45 Arlington, TX

3.      TE Chris Barnett 6-6, 240, 4.6 Euless, TX

4.      LB P.L. Lindley 6-3, 210, 4.5 Round Rock, TX

5.      DT Wade Turner 6-4, 290, 5.0 Round Rock, TX

OU appears to be on track to offer 17 to 19 ships. Presuming 19 ships due to NFL early entry and attrition, here's a breakdown by position of the remaining 14 ships with OU's ideal prospects to date (Please realize names will change. Last year at this time, Justin McCay, Brennan Clay, Roy Finch were just names on lists that indicated they liked OU)

QB: Thompson - Done

RB: 1  - Malcolm Brown/Aaron Green

WR: 2 - Trey Metoyer/?

TE: Barnett - Done

OL: 4 - Brey Cook/Matt Hagerty/Cameron Gladd/Garrett Greenlea

DT: 1 - ???

DE: 2  Cedric Reed/Nathan Hughes/Colt Lyerla

LB: 2  Anthony Wallace/Steve Edmond/Trey Depriest

SS: 2 Franklin Shannon/Dominique Petties

CB: 1  Josh Turner