It just seems like signing day was last week (and it was), but already we are hitting two important weekends for OU's 2011 recruiting class.
Let's recap first. OU has two verbals for a class that looks to be in the 17 to 19 range depending upon NFL defections (Travis Lewis, Ryan Broyles) and other attrition. Recruiting priorities are DT, OL, WR, CB
Kendal Thompson 6-2, 185, 4.6 QB from Southmoore. Son of former sooner Charles Thompson. Kendal had a fantastic junior year leading Southmoore to the state finals. He's a lefty QB with serious mobility. Can make plays running the ball but also has a very good and accurate arm. Thompson's highlights against Jenks demonstrate that big play ability (with Kendal being a lefty, it's hard to not see a lot of Pat White in his game). Kendal is an ESPNU Top 150 Watchlist member, and at this point would seem to be the most likely candidate for best player in the state.
Kameel Jackson 6-2, 195, 4.44 WR Arlington, TX. All Jackson has done recently is dominate two scouting camps being named Offensive MVP. Apparently he torched every DB prospect trying to cover him. Jackson posted a laser timed 4.44 as well as a 38 inch vertical. He's also already been named to ESPNU Top 150 Watchlist.
Other in state players named to the Watchlist are
Dominique Pettis 6-1, 215, 4.5 Ath, Duncan, OK. OU offer is just a matter of time.
Josh Turner 6-0, 180, 4.5 CB/WR OKC Millwood. Probably Thompson's top competition for number one player in state ranking. OU has already offered.
Garrett Gladd 6-3, 280, 5.1 OL Sallisaw OK. OG prospect that OU is evaluating.
Isaac Bennett 5-11, 180, 4.5 RB BTW Tulsa OK. With OU chasing national ranked RBs in Texas and probably only taking one RB it's hard to see Bennett getting an early offer.
Cameron Doolittle 5-10, 170, 4.5 WR. Edmond Memorial. OU still evaluating.
Other in state players OU is evaluating
Dylan Dismuke 6-6, 290, 5.1 Duncan, OK. OU offer will happen. Might be the best OL player in the state
Hunter Davis 6-3, 245, 4.7 DE/DT Choctaw, OK. OU legacy (nephew of Sooner QB Steve Davis). Big athletic kid who could get an OU offer. Might take a dominant summer camp performance at OU for Davis to get an offer.
Tyrequek Zimmerson 6-0, 170, 4.5 WR Lawton, OK. OU Signee Julian Wilson referred to Zimmerman as the best player he saw all last year.
- Event Number One: UT Junior Day
This annual event despite OU's best plans nets the Horns around 13 to 15 verbals a year. Now this event is a psy ops mission with a cleverly executed combination of group think and life boat mentality.
Like any good psychology experiment, Mack has his ringers aware of the experiment. Mack invites somewhere between 5 to 10 participants that have already verbaled to UT. The kids are asked to announce their verbal this weekend. These kids are also already working the other "undecided" kids during the event. Now even the "undecided pool" is tainted as well. No kid is brought in who is publicly leaning to another school or appears lukewarm to UT. The pressure from these ringers is two fold. One, it establishes a group think mentality to verbal to UT, the "undecideds" get swept up in the emotion of the event seeing their "friends" choose UT, and it reinforces their thinking that they should choose UT. Two, throughout this event/process UT coaches will be laying seeds that the slots for UT are limited, so the verbals from the ringers creates additional pressure to choose UT or be left out. This life boat seat approach is not applied evenly to all recruits. The higher rated the recruit, the less the life boat strategy will be employed. Now, UT has fantastic facilities, great coaching staff, recent winning tradition, huge alumni base that "supports" UT athletes after graduation, so it's not like Mack is selling an empty product. And the approach wouldn't really work without the ringers, so give UT credit for finding these players.
The reality is after this weekend, there will be 10 to 15 players verbaled to UT. 5 of the verbals will be kids that OU might have recruited/ or might not preferring other players in Texas or even other targets elsewhere. There will be around 5 kids that were big time targets for OU. Losing these kids will sting, and message boards folks not understanding this annual process will declare the sky is falling, OU is losing their edge in Texas. When of course nothing like that has happened, all UT has really done is help OU by identifying the kids that were likely going to choose UT anyway. Think back, wouldn't it have been better for OU recruiting strategy if Jeffcoat and Darius White had chosen UT last February? It would have allowed OU to focus their efforts elsewhere and perhaps have used that recruiting attention on other players. I'll post after this weekend the carnage that has occurred and try to put the UT verbals into the buckets I've described, neutral OU/hurt OU.
- Event Two: OU's Texas HS Players Junior Weekend
Last year OU tried to hold their event before UT, and probably got burned wasting time on kids that were going to choose UT regardless. OU even invited some of Mack's ringers (a complete waste of time). This year OU is going to go after UT, so at least the pool of kids will be somewhat in play. Now, remember, UT gets about 15 kids from their event but they don't all fall that weekend, some fall a week or two later. So OU will still invite and try and recruit some kids who are heading to UT. Will this strategy work better? It's hard to tell, but I think the approach is better than last year.
The Players OU wants to Recruit from Texas (and it's pure guess work at this point)
Trey Metoyer 6-3, 200, 4.5 WR (Best WR in state?)
Miles Onyegbule 6-3, 200, 4.5 WR (likely UT verbal)
Chris Barnett 6-6, 240, 4.7 TE (has a relative at UT but UT seems disinterested)
Malcolm Brown 6-0, 220, 4.5 RB (best player in the state? best rb in the country? Teammate of Sheldon McClain.)
Herschel Sims 5-10, 190, 4.4 RB (RB class in Texas is absurdly talented. 4 of the top 10 kids probably will be RBs)
Aaron Green 5-9, 195, 4.4 RB (best player in the state?)
Bradley Marquez 5-11, 185, 4.4 RB (The 4th RB for now)
Desmond Jackson 6-1, 270, 4.8 DT (Right now the quality gap between Jackson and anyone else at DT seems wide)
Marquise Anderson 6-3, 275, 4.9 DT (the number two DT behind Jackson. Teammate of Sheldon McClain)
Cedric Reed 6-6, 245, 4.8 DE
Nathan Hughes 6-5, 240, 4.8 DE
Garrett Greenlea 6-7, 285, 5.1 OL
Sedrick Flowers 6-3, 280, 5.1 OG (UT lock allegedly)
Steve Edmond 6-3, 225, 4.6 OLB
Anthony Wallace 6-2, 235, 4.6 MLB (teammate of Corey Nelson, Joe Powell)
Apparently some longhorn fans are annoyed by my terminology of recent winning tradition. To clarify, I meant that in the mind of the recruits, UT and OU have a strong recent winning tradition. As opposed to a school like ATM or ND whose winning tradition is much further back in time, ie not really relevant to the average recruit's sense of history.
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It's started- UT at 3 verbals written by atlantasooner2,
February 12, 2010
UT has Chet Moss LB Jaxon Shipley WR Taylor Doyle OL 3 kids OU had no interest in at all
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NCAA FOOTBALL 2011 written by Mr.Rooster,
July 23, 2010
NCAA Football 11 is out now. I get my rosters from NCAA Football 11 Rosters. Where are you getting yours?
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To clarify, I meant that in the mind of the recruits, UT and OU have a strong recent winning tradition.
As opposed to a school like ATM or ND whose winning tradition is much further back in time, ie not really relevant to the average recruit's sense of history.