On The Riley Files, Oklahoma insider Kegan Reneau explained that Lincoln Riley was able to expand the national map for the Sooners, opening the door to new schools and increasing the program’s sense of what it could achieve in recruiting.
“I do think what’s super interesting — we talk about it all the time with Lincoln Riley — is he’s very calculated. He he’s very forward thinking,” Reneau said. “He thinks ahead. They did a really, really good job laying the foundation to get into bigger schools that Oklahoma hadn’t (previously) been in.
“I had a running list. There are some big powerhouse high schools in Texas, in Florida, and other places around the country that Oklahoma was, piece by piece, step by step, recruit by recruit, getting into. That really helped Oklahoma land some of those elite players. I think that they did a really good job with that.”
Riley’s recent recruiting wins in Louisiana and the Pacific Northwest certainly reflect an awareness of the need to recruit nationally, a point which is magnified by USC’s move to the Big Ten and its existence in a much larger geographical footprint.
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