Arkansas WR Jadon Haselwood had a 30 visit with the 49ers. He has some Jauan Jennings to his game.
The 49ers’ need at receiver isn’t pressing. They have a dynamic pair with Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel atop the depth chart. Jauan Jennings fills a role as the third receiver, and Ray-Ray McCloud found a home as a fourth WR and return man for San Francisco. 2022 third-round pick Danny Gray is still finding his way and looking to break otu in Year 2. However, adding another player who can contribute as a blocker and on special teams would make sense. Arkansas WR Jadon Haselwood fits that mold and had a 30 visit with San Francisco per the Draft Network’s Justin Melo.
Haselwood plays the receiver position with a tenacity that could quickly find a home in the 49ers’ run-first scheme. He’s 6-2, 215 pounds and while he doesn’t have elite speed or after-the-catch ability, he finishes plays with a lot of force. Dane Brugler of the Athletic projects Haselwood as a slot option in the NFL, although if he can block the 49ers would surely aim to find work for him on the outside. It’s easy to see where he’d fit in a Jauan Jennings-type role.
Prior to last season Haselwood transferred to Arkansas from Oklahoma following three relatively quiet years with the Sooners. In three years there he had 62 receptions for 736 yards and seven touchdowns. He nearly eclipsed those numbers in his lone season with the Razorbacks, posting 59 catches, 702 yards and three touchdowns.
The 49ers wouldn’t likely need to use anything more than a late Day 3 pick if they wanted to draft Haselwood. He’s the exact type of receiver who could step in and have a lot of success for San Francisco despite coming in as a late pick or undrafted free agent.
The #Falcons hosted Arkansas WR Jadon Haselwood on a top-30 draft visit
The 2023 NFL draft is just two days away and we’re still learning about top-30 draft visits. As Justin Melo of the Draft Network reported on Tuesday, the Atlanta Falcons recently hosted Arkansas wide receiver Jadon Haselwood on a top-30 visit.
Haselwood also reportedly visited with the Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers.
.@RazorbackFB WR Jadon Haselwood enjoyed a career best campaign in 2022.
Haselwood is a 6-foot-2, 215-pound wideout, who caught 59 of 76 targets for 704 receiving yards and three touchdowns for the Razorbacks last season. Despite his size, Haselwood did most of his damage from the slot in 2022.
The Falcons have hosted other wide receiver prospects, including Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and TCU’s Quentin Johnston. Check out our top-30 visits tracker to see which other prospects are on Atlanta’s radar as we inch closer to the 2023 draft.
Wide receivers Matt Landers and Jaden Haselwood have opportunities to really increase their stock in the next few weeks in the draft. Both have the NFL size and playmaking ability that scouts are looking for.
Offensive lineman, Rick Stromberg, could also be a sleeper in the upcoming draft, possibly joining Sanders in the first round. He is a smart, tough offensive lineman that scouts rarely skip on.
Let’s see how all the Razorbacks did on Wednesday’s pro day.
Here’s a look at the 14 former Hogs who will participate in Arkansas’ Pro Day on Wednesday. Some names might surprise Razorback fans.
NFL scouts from all 32 teams will be present in Fayetteville on Wednesday as the Arkansas Razorbacks will host their official Pro Day.
There are 14 former Razorbacks officially set to participate including five who took part in the NFL Combine nearly a month ago. Those five include wide receivers [autotag]Jadon Haselwood[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Landers[/autotag], offensive linemen [autotag]Ricky Stromberg[/autotag] and [autotag]Dalton Wagner[/autotag] and linebacker [autotag]Drew Sanders[/autotag].
A handful of Razorbacks from years past will also be in attendance to workout in front of pro scouts. That group includes linebacker Martrell Spaight, defensive lineman Bijhon Jackson, wide receiver Tyson Morris and long snapper Jordan Silver.
Things are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Here’s a quick rundown of all 14 Razorbacks that will be participating.
Oklahoma’s No. 1 target at receiver for the 2024 recruiting cycle, Bryant Wesco, earns five-star status in new Top247 rankings.
Oklahoma’s number one recruiting target at the receiver position for the class of 2024 is Bryant Wesco, a 6-foot-2 receiver out of Midlothian, Texas. Wesco camped with Oklahoma in the summer of 2022 and earned an offer. He’s seen his stock rise in the recruiting world from being lightly recruited to being rated as a top 100 player in the nation. He’s gone from a regional recruit to a national recruit that any school in America would want.
Wesco’s stock has never been higher as a high school prospect as 247Sports updated their site rankings and has Wesco as the 9th ranked prospect in the entire class of 2024. Previously, he was the No. 66 prospect according to 247Sports and leaped 57 spots to earn his fifth star and top 10 ranking.
Oklahoma has positioned itself to win the race for Wesco largely due to the addition of new wide receivers coach Emmett Jones. He’s profoundly impacted the recruiting trail, especially in Texas. Oklahoma has done a significant bit of heavy lifting in the recruitment for Wesco and is all but assured of an official visit from the explosive pass catcher.
The Sooners’ biggest competition for [autotag]Bryant Wesco[/autotag] now seems to be Big 12 foe TCU, who has hosted him for unofficial visits and has recruited him since last year. The Horned Frogs’ receivers coach is former Sooner Malcolm Kelly. This is setting up an interesting battle as a Sooner recruits against his alma mater for a highly coveted prospect.
Currently, Oklahoma seems to have the top spot if the recruiting predictions mean anything to those following the recruitment. All three of the 247Sports crystal balls favor Wesco becoming a Sooner, while a Rivals FutureCast also sees him becoming a Sooner before all is said and done.
If the Sooners were to land Wesco, he’d be the first five-star receiver at Oklahoma since 2019, when the Sooners signed two in Jadon Haselwood and Theo Wease.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.
Every five-star player for the Oklahoma Sooners in the modern recruiting era.
The Oklahoma Sooners just had arguably the best recruiting class since 2000. With three five-star signees, Oklahoma finished fourth in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings for the 2023 cycle.
[autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] became the program’s fourth five-star quarterback signee in the modern era, following [autotag]Rhett Bomar[/autotag], [autotag]Spencer Rattler[/autotag] and [autotag]Caleb Williams[/autotag].
Arguably the most productive position group among the five-stars that have played for the Oklahoma Sooners has been running back. Though the defensive tackles could make a strong case, the work [autotag]Adrian Peterson[/autotag], [autotag]DeMarco Murray[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Mixon[/autotag] did while in Norman puts them among the best Sooners backs of all time.
Defensive tackle is the other spot that could make a case for best five-star position group with [autotag]Gerald McCoy[/autotag] and [autotag]Tommie Harris[/autotag].
Only one five-star rated player never played a snap for the Sooners, linebacker Chris Patterson. Patterson went the junior college route before playing a season with Kansas State.
Arkansas WR Jadon Haselwood participated in the NFL Combine over the weekend. Here’s a breakdown of his official results.
The 2023 NFL Combine took place over the weekend in Indianapolis and five former Arkansas Razorbacks were in attendance.
Arkansas’ top two wide receivers from last season – [autotag]Matt Landers[/autotag] and [autotag]Jadon Haselwood[/autotag] – were invited and participated in this weekend’s events. While Landers turned quite a few heads with some of his results, Haselwood struggled to make the same impression as his former Razorback teammate. He did have one very impressive fingertip catch on a pass from TCU quarterback Max Duggan, but that was one of his only highlights on the weekend.
.@RazorbackFB WR Jadon Haselwood with the finger tips!
Haselwood was a five-star prospect out of high school who attended Oklahoma for three years before transferring and playing one season at Arkansas. In his lone season, he struggled to make a consistent impact in the Razorbacks’ passing game, but did finish the season with 59 catches for 702 yards and three touchdowns.
Here’s all of his official results from the 2023 NFL Combine over the weekend. NOTE: Haselwood did not participate in the bench press event.
Arkansas WR Matt Landers turned some heads at the 2023 NFL Combine. Here’s all of his official results from this weekend.
The 2023 NFL Combine took place over the weekend in Indianapolis and five former Arkansas Razorbacks were in attendance.
Linebacker [autotag]Drew Sanders[/autotag], wide receivers [autotag]Jadon Haselwood[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Landers[/autotag] and offensive linemen [autotag]Dalton Wagner[/autotag] and [autotag]Ricky Stromberg[/autotag] all participated in drills over the weekend in front of scouts from all 32 NFL teams.
Matt Landers was projected to be a mid-to-late round pick in April’s draft after his lone season at Arkansas, but after this weekend he may have helped his draft stock. Landers turned heads by running the third-fastest 40-yard dash time among wide receivers. He even got a shoutout from the NFL’s official Twitter account after his second attempt.
In his only season with the Razorbacks, Landers became a favorite target for quarterback [autotag]KJ Jefferson[/autotag] and finished the year with 47 receptions for 901 yards and eight touchdowns. With his 6-foot-4 frame and blazing quick speed, it’s hard to see a team not taking a chance on Landers much earlier than expected.
Here’s all of his official results from the 2023 NFL Combine over the weekend. NOTE: Landers did not participate in the 3-cone drill, 20-yard shuttle or bench press
According to recruiting rankings over the last 5 years, the Sooners should have one of the best rosters in 2023. But is that an accurate reflection of this roster?
We heard in the build-up to last season that the Oklahoma Sooners had one of the more talented rosters in the country. People (including me) pointed to that analysis as to why Oklahoma should be a contender in 2022. Some (not me) pointed to that analysis as to why 2022 was a coaching failure.
Based on recruiting rankings over the last five years, the Oklahoma Sooners should have one of the best rosters in college football. Based on recruiting rankings from the last five cycles, the Sooners have the eighth-best roster ahead of 2023. Brad Crawford of 247Sports explains:
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any successful program, and that’s no different at Oklahoma, a blue-blood accustomed to winning big. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen in Year 1 under coach Brent Venables, who came over to the Sooners following a lengthy tenure as Clemson’s top recruiter on staff under Dabo Swinney. The arrival of three five-stars in the 2023 recruiting cycle, however, is going to be a shot in the arm for Oklahoma prior to the school’s entry to the SEC in 2024. According to 247Sports’ recruiting rankings, Oklahoma has the second-most talented roster in the Big 12. You can probably guess who owns the league’s most lethal collection of talent. – Crawford, 247Sports
Oklahoma and Brent Venables have done a lot over the last two recruiting cycles to bring in talent from both the high school and transfer portal ranks. But as we saw last year when Oklahoma supposedly had one of the better rosters according to high school recruiting evaluations, it didn’t pan out to wins.
That doesn’t mean the analysis or rationale is wrong. The top of the list is carried by Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State, three teams that most would argue are the most talented teams in the country.
But given the turnover that Oklahoma’s undergone since Venables has taken over, do recruiting rankings prior to the coaching change accurately reflect the talent on the Sooners’ roster?
Oklahoma’s last two recruiting classes were strong, but there aren’t a lot of players left over from the three recruiting classes prior to Brent Venables’ arrival.
Oklahoma had the No. 4 recruiting class in 2019 on the strength of the signings of [autotag]Spencer Rattler[/autotag], [autotag]Jadon Haselwood[/autotag], [autotag]Trejan Bridges[/autotag], and [autotag]Theo Wease[/autotag]. All four of those players are gone. [autotag]Andrew Raym[/autotag], [autotag]Reggie Grimes[/autotag], and [autotag]Nate Anderson[/autotag] are the top players remaining from the 2020 class but haven’t ascended into star players for the Sooners just yet.
The top three players in the 2021 class, [autotag]Caleb Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Clayton Smith[/autotag], and [autotag]Mario Williams[/autotag], are gone as well.
So, while the recruiting at Oklahoma has been good, the strength of the Sooners’ recruiting classes from 2019-2021 isn’t reflected on the 2023 roster. Given the amount of roster turnover that Oklahoma has undergone since Venables has taken over, these “talent rankings” don’t adequately reflect where Oklahoma is as a roster right now unless you look strictly at the last two recruiting classes.
But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a group capable of reasserting the Sooners as Big 12 contenders. Oklahoma brought in one of the best transfer portal classes in the first phase of the portal. Specifically, on the defensive side of the ball, the Sooners brought in several impact players. [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag], [autotag]Reggie Pearson[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], and [autotag]Rondell Bothroyd[/autotag] could all start for the Sooners, but at least will play significant roles for the Sooners.
Brent Venables and his staff have added talent over the last two offseasons. They have a better roster than they did a year ago, especially on the defensive side of the ball. There’s optimism that will reveal itself on the field in a wide-open Big 12 in 2023.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.
In his evaluation of the 2023 recruiting classes, Fox Sports Joel Klatt shared that he loves what Oklahoma has done on the recruiting trail.
When Lincoln Riley left for USC, one of the big national talking points wondered how well Brent Venables and his staff would perform on the recruiting trail.
“I’ve walked into four playoffs, and I’ve never had better than maybe the third-best roster (of the four teams),” Riley said. “Every other year, we were 4 of 4. We had really good rosters, but they weren’t the same. … I can’t imagine that there could be a setting that we could build a better roster than we can here.”
Time will tell if Brent Venables and his staff can get to a College Football Playoff. But based strictly on recruiting rankings, Riley’s comment was a lie.
The Sooners have done an incredible job over the last year on the recruiting trail and have a chance to follow their No. 4 class with another top-five group if a few things fall right. If they can build on their success on the recruiting trail in the 2022 and 2023 cycles, there’s no reason the Sooners will not be national title contenders in the future.
[lawrence-related id=79856]
On the latest Joel Klatt Show, the Fox Sports analyst broke down the 2023 recruiting cycle and had some positive things to say about the Sooners class. In particular, Klatt mentions Venables is already outperforming Riley on the recruiting trail.
Oklahoma. I thought Oklahoma had a really great class. And obviously the the rankings suggest that as far as the total class, in terms of recruits and transfers No. 6, their best since 2021, when Caleb Williams came in. They had the the No. 4 class in the country when it just looks at high school recruits. That’s their best high school class since 2005. So, like, Brent Venables did a great job. I looked back at some of these classes that they had had high school only over the last few years, and Lincoln Riley wasn’t touching that, you know. 2019 I believe they had like the sixth best class in the country. They had an eight in there, but then like 10, 13, 9, 19 in 2016. So Brent Venables has done a really good job. Their first class is the best they’ve had in a long time. Six of their best seven recruits are either defensive players or offensive linemen. How do you get good? How do you win going into the SEC? You better play good defense. You better play good on the line of scrimmage, and their best player overall is their quarterback that they got, Jackson Arnold. So I loved what Oklahoma did. – Klatt, The Joel Klatt Show
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1367]
It took Brent Venables just one year to put together one of the best recruiting classes in Oklahoma history. It’s an incredible signing class made even more incredible by the balance it has. As Klatt mentions, as the Sooners prepare to play in the SEC, they have to be good on defense and good up front on both sides of the ball.
Ten of Oklahoma’s four- and five-stars come on the defensive side of the football. The six offensive blue-chippers are the No. 4 quarterback, [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag], offensive linemen [autotag]Cayden Green[/autotag] and [autotag]Joshua Bates[/autotag], running back [autotag]Daylan Smothers[/autotag], and wide receivers [autotag]Jaquaize Pettaway[/autotag] and [autotag]Keyon Brown[/autotag]. With Bates, Green, Adepoju Adebawore and Derrick LeBlanc, Oklahoma added four blue-chip players to their offensive and defensive line.
That’ll have to continue or even get better to get on Alabama or Georgia’s level, but it’s a great start.
Perhaps the most impressive collection of players they brought in at one position is in the defensive backfield, where they added six four- and five-star defensive backs.
Lincoln Riley did a good job on the recruiting trail, but his best high school class in 2019 didn’t have the desired impact, and he definitely didn’t recruit this well on defense.
They had 16 blue-chip players signed to that class, eight of which were on the defensive side of the ball. Their highest-rated defensive player was ranked No. 163. That class had three top 200 defensive players signed. In the 2023 cycle, Venables added six top 200 players on defense, four of which were top 100 signees.
Of those 16 four- and five-star players in the 2019 class, only four or five had a significant impact for the Sooners: [autotag]Spencer Rattler[/autotag], [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag], [autotag]David Ugwoegbu[/autotag], [autotag]Theo Wease[/autotag] and [autotag]Jadon Haselwood[/autotag]. Of those five, only Woodi Washington remains with the squad. Everyone else transferred.
[autotag]Jaden Davis[/autotag], [autotag]Marcus Stripling[/autotag], [autotag]Joseph Wete[/autotag] and [autotag]Marcus Major[/autotag] are still with the squad, but have not taken the step into stardom.
In two recruiting cycles, Brent Venables has added 33 four- and five-star players to the Sooners’ roster. Nineteen are on the defensive side of the football.
Venables and his staff can recruit. That much has been made clear. They did a great job in the two months they had prior to 2022 national signing day putting together the No. 8 class in the nation. And did even better with a year to work with in the 2023 class. Given two years to work on the 2024 class, it’s possible Venables and his staff can recreate the success from 2023 or even exceed it.
And that’s what it’s going to take for Oklahoma to be in a position to contend with Alabama and Georgia, whether it is in the Big 12 or the SEC. With the success it has had on the trail, there should be little doubt that the staff can build a roster that can contend for national championships.
To steal from Riley, there may not be a setting where Oklahoma could build a better roster than it can here.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.
