Tag: Jeff Lebby

Four-star WR Aeryn Hampton trims list to 7 with Oklahoma making the cut

Oklahoma finds itself in the top 7 for four-star WR Aeryn Hampton, along with Alabama, Texas, Oregon and others.

Oklahoma’s roots in recruiting Texas remain unchanged. With the hiring of Emmett Jones to be the wide receivers coach, one could argue that Oklahoma has made recruiting the state of Texas even more of a priority. Jones’ connections to the Texas high school football scene, especially within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have given the Sooners a bump in the Lone Star State. 

It’ll be a while before we get to accurately assess how the hire is going. However, Jones has done an incredible job of building relationships and putting Oklahoma in the middle of races with some of the nation’s best pass-catchers.

A couple of days ago, Aeryn Hampton, a four-star wide receiver from Daingerfield, Texas, listed Oklahoma in his top seven. The Sooners join Alabama, Texas, Oregon, Nebraska, LSU, and Michigan as the finalists.

Hampton, a composite top-80 player, is an explosive prospect. Alabama currently has the most predictions in their favor per 247Sports as it stands, but Oklahoma’s offer on February 2nd moved the needle enough to get the Sooners in the top seven.

Oklahoma has time to make a real impression, but with Alabama trending as the leader right now, Jones and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby will need to turn up the heat if they want to give the Sooners a real fighting chance.

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Jeff Lebby made an immediate impact with the 2023 recruiting class

Among assistants hired in 2022, Jeff Lebby made an immediate impact on the 2023 recruiting cycle.

The hiring of [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] helped provide continuity on the offensive side of the football for the Oklahoma Sooners. While the system changed, the ability to score points remained despite the change in play caller.

The new offensive coordinator was a familiar face in Norman. Keeping his offensive assistants intact allowed them to continue to build upon what they had done under Lincoln Riley.

Though the offense had its issues on third down and in the red zone, the Sooners averaged 35 points per game in 2022. Lebby’s relationship with [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] provided an experienced quarterback to lead his offense after Caleb Williams followed Riley to USC.

And as important as that was, it was the work he did early in the 2023 recruiting cycle that rebuilt the foundation for the Oklahoma Sooners on the offensive side of the ball.

As On3 looks back on the 2023 recruiting class, Jeff Lebby was included among assistants who made immediate recruiting impacts in their new locales on the 2023 cycle.

When Five-Star Plus+ QB [autotag]Malachi Nelson[/autotag] decommitted from Oklahoma after Lincoln Riley bolted for USC, the Sooners were in a bad place with their 2023 class. Not only had Nelson flipped, but so had OU’s top three receiver commits. Enter Lebby, who came to the Sooners from Ole Miss under the tutelage of Lane Kiffin.

Lebby quickly identified Arnold as his guy, and the nation’s No. 4 QB committed in January. On top of that, nearly a year later, Arnold’s best friend, five-star safety Peyton Bowen, signed with the Sooners — in no small part due to his future quarterback. – Pope, On3

Lebby’s relationship with [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] dated back to his time as the offensive coordinator with Ole Miss. It didn’t take Arnold long to commit to Oklahoma once Lebby and Brent Venables made their pitch. As the first commit for Venables in the 2023 class, Arnold provided a ton of stability to a class that almost completely evaporated. Center Joshua Bates was the lone holdover from the Lincoln Riley era.

Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator got a player in Jackson Arnold that was on the rise. Arnold had a tremendous 2022 that saw him win Gatorade National Player of the Year, Elite 11 MVP, and earn consensus five-star status from the recruiting industry. While all of that’s great, it was his unwavering commitment to the program that was critical for the Sooners.

That commitment provided the stability for the rest of the class. Even as players like Anthony Evans and Colton Vasek flipped, the rest of the group stayed together. That’s in no small part to Jackson Arnold hanging with Oklahoma despite a 6-7 season.

Jeff Lebby’s offense will be a big reason why the Oklahoma Sooners return to contention in the Big 12 in 2023. And equally important, his prowess on offense and on the recruiting trail is a big reason why they’ll remain contenders beyond this year.

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Oklahoma offers 2024 4-star wide receiver and Michigan State commit Nick Marsh

Oklahoma continues to build their 2024 wide receiver big board by sending an offer to 2024 four-star Nicholas Marsh.

It seems Emmett Jones and Jeff Lebby have been spending a lot of time figuring out their attack strategy for the 2024 receivers class. With a flurry of new offers and recruiting projections at the position, Lebby and Jones are putting in the work.

They continue to make up for the lost time as their latest wide receiver offer takes them to Michigan. Nick Marsh, a 2024 four-star receiver, is committed to Michigan State. While he is committed, there are still ten months until the early signing period. That amount of time keeps this recruitment very much up for grabs. At the very least, the Sooners have time to make their best recruiting pitch.

Marsh is a 6-foot-3 kid with a knack for straight-line speed that he uses to beat defenders vertically. He wins at the catch point and over defenders far more often than he loses. He fits the typical mold for an outside receiver that Jeff Lebby is looking for with his height.

Nicholas Marsh’s Recruiting Profile

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Sooners earn recruiting projection in favor of landing 2025 WR Gracen Harris

Oklahoma is picking up momentum with 2025 wide receiver Gracen Harris, earning a crystal ball from OUInsider and 247Sports’ Parker Thune.

The Oklahoma Sooners hired Emmett Jones’ to be the final piece of Brent Venables’ coaching staff. L’Damian Washington filled in admirably after Cale Gundy’s departure, but Jones’ connections to Dallas-Fort Worth made him a fantastic addition as the Sooners’ wide receivers coach.

Venables knew he needed a coach with a little more experience and notable recruiting roots to build Oklahoma in the image he laid out in his introductory press conferences. He sought out Jones, who has multiple years of collegiate coaching experience and is a widely known figure in the DFW area. He had a fantastic run during his time coaching high school ball at South Oak Cliff.

His efforts have already started to impact receivers in Texas. Oklahoma has received a projection in favor of landing 2025 receiver Gracen Harris.

Harris hails from Ennis, Texas, and was a Texas District 5-5A-II first-team selection at inside WR as a sophomore. This comes on the heels of being named Texas District 8-5A-II Offensive Newcomer of the Year as a freshman. He totaled 87 catches for 1,374 yards and 10 receiving touchdowns this season. He’s explosive and dynamic, and while he worked primarily out of the slot, he lined up outside, showcasing his versatility.

Gracen Harris’ Recruiting Profile

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Notre Dame football: 9 potential candidates to replace Tommy Rees

Who do you want to replace Tommy Rees?

Just a year after declaring he wanted to stay and fight for Notre Dame, offensive coordinator [autotag]Tommy Rees[/autotag] is off to Tuscaloosa to join Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. Rees took over as Notre Dame’s play-caller in 2020 and showed signs of stardom. He also made a few decisions that left Notre Dame fans rather frustrated.

The new offensive coordinator will be tasked with some difficult things.  Notably, Rees raised the level of talent in the quarterback room significantly.  When you look at what Notre Dame had at the position on their roster from 2017-2022 and look at the projected depth charts in coming years you can’t help seeing a significant step in the right direction.

But who will replace Rees?

This will be a massive test for Marcus Freeman early in his head coaching career because the hiring of quality assistants is a must for any sustained success. Here are nine names he would be wise to at least look at to replace Rees.

Top 5 candidates to become the new Alabama OC

Here are five names Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide should explore for the open offensive coordinator job.

One of the most impressive things about Nick Saban’s tenure as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide is that he has continued to win despite the constant turnover of coordinators. In conclusion of the 2022 season, the Crimson Tide must replace both offensive and defensive coordinators after losing Bill O’Brien to the New England Patriots and Pete Golding to Ole Miss.

Tuscaloosa has been fortunate enough to have had some of the most talented play callers in college football over the last few years such as Brian Daboll, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, Mike Locksley and others. It is a highly-coveted position in the college football world and Saban will do his due diligence in this search.

Here are the top five coordinators that would be the best fit for the position.

Oklahoma Sooners playing numbers game to replace WR Marvin Mims

While the Oklahoma Sooners have a hole at wide receiver, they have several promising players to work with to replace Marvin Mims.

The Oklahoma Sooners lost several players to the NFL after the 2022 season. Perhaps none were a bigger loss than wide receiver [autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag].

Mims, who emerged as a true freshman, led the Oklahoma Sooners in receiving yards each of his three seasons in Norman. His penchant for the big play was a huge part of Oklahoma’s offensive success over the last three seasons.

New wide receivers coach [autotag]Emmett Jones[/autotag] and offensive coordinator [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] have a tall task ahead of them to find someone to replace Mims in the starting lineup.

[autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] and [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag] are back and are likely two of Oklahoma’s starting wide receivers in three receiver sets. Stoops is a steady present out of the slot and had his most productive season in 2022. Farooq had a strong season in his first year as a starter and will look to build on it in 2023.

But what will Oklahoma do on the outside opposite Farooq? There’s not a clear answer as the Sooners begin their offseason workouts. As opposed to fill in the blank, Oklahoma will be answering a multiple choice or select all that apply test for outside wide receiver two.

The Sooners have a host of guys that will compete for snaps on the wide receiver depth chart. Returning are [autotag]Jayden Gibson[/autotag] and [autotag]Nic Anderson[/autotag], two members of the 2022 signing class that have a ton of potential but didn’t see many opportunities last season for varying reasons.

Then there are the transfer additions Oklahoma made late last spring. [autotag]J.J. Hester[/autotag] and [autotag]L.V. Bunkely-Shelton[/autotag] will get a full offseason of work in Jeff Lebby’s offense. They have experience from their original schools that could help the Sooners mitigate the loss of Marvin Mims and, to a lesser extent, [autotag]Theo Wease[/autotag]. Oklahoma added [autotag]Andrel Anthony[/autotag] in the portal this offseason. He’s a big-play threat similar to Hester. Those three transfer additions don’t bring elite production, but they’ve done some things at the collegiate level that Jones and Lebby can develop.

The Sooners added a couple more wide receivers in this signing class that have a chance to have an early impact. [autotag]Keyon Brown[/autotag] may be ready to go from a technical perspective, while [autotag]Jaquaize Pettaway[/autotag]’s speed is going to be a game-changer for this offense. Pettaway won’t be in Norman till the summertime, but it won’t take long for the coaching staff to see the difference his speed makes.

The Oklahoma Sooners may not know who slides into the starting lineup at this point. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There will be quite the competition at wide receiver to see who emerges from a deep group of players with promise.

As the offseason churns along, this will be one of the position battles to watch for 2023.

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Sooners offer 2025 4-star prospect Lance Jackson

Oklahoma continues to send out offers to 2025 prospects with their latest going out to TE prospect Lance Jackson.

Jeff Lebby outlined his vision for Oklahoma’s offense when he signed on as offensive coordinator. He acknowledged that tight ends would have a prominent role in his scheme. He wasn’t wrong. Brayden Willis had his best year since becoming an Oklahoma Sooner en route to earning an invite to the Senior Bowl as he prepares for the 2023 NFL drafy.

With that level of production, it should make things easier for the Sooners on the recruiting trail. More specifically, it should make it easier to appeal to tight ends. Or at least Lebby hopes so.

He’s already testing that theory by offering four-star 2025 TE/DE Lance Jackson. Jackson, who hails from Texarkana, Texas, is already one of the best players in his class and will be a national name in short order.

Jackson was a Texas District 10-4A DII first-team selection at TE and DE as a sophomore. And the year before, he was a MaxPreps first-team Freshman All-American at tight end.

Early on, Arkanasas may be the team to beat as Jackson’s older brother, Landon, plays defensive end for the Razorbacks.

Lance Jackson’s Recruiting Profile

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‘One name I’ve heard is Jeff Lebby’: ESPN’s Pete Thamel on potential Alabama OC opening

ESPN’s Pete Thamel named Oklahoma’s Jeff Lebby as a potential candidate for the Alabama OC job if Bill O’Brien departs for the NFL.

With a potential divorce looming between the Alabama Crimson Tide and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, one of the most coveted jobs in the country could be opening up in a matter of days. According to a report from Pro Football Talk, O’Brien has become the primary target for the New England Patriots offensive coordinator job.

On “The Paul Finebaum Show,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel mentioned Jeff Lebby as a potential candidate to replace O’Brien.

“I would think that Nick Saban saw the fits that Tennessee and Josh Heupel gave him this year, and offensively, I think they’ll probably trend a little bit and maybe overcorrect a little bit more that way as they go,” Thamel shared with Finebaum. Now, I’m not saying they’re gonna turn into the Baylor offense from the mid-2000s. But one name I’ve heard is (Jeff Lebby), the Oklahoma offensive coordinator. He’s obviously had success in the SEC West footprint.”

If O’Brien’s time is indeed up at Alabama, Nick Saban will have a line out the door of candidates lining up to replace him. While some Sooners fans have had their fill of Jeff Lebby after his first season back in Oklahoma, the young offensive mind would be a massive loss for Brent Venables and the program.

Lebby spearheaded Jackson Arnold’s and many other recruitments. If Lebby did leave, Arnold and others could possibly follow him. Now that would be bad.

Though the Alabama job would be very attractive to a number of coordinators, there are a number of reasons why it’s more likely Lebby sticks around Norman.

Jeff Lebby is a very well-paid man. He’s one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in college football and will earn $1.9 million in 2023. He has two years left on his contract, and Alabama would have to pay a pretty penny to acquire his services.

Next, the family angle. Lebby is a married man and has changed jobs and locations four times since 2016. Is he really going to leave Oklahoma, his dream job, and move again? His relationships with the coaching staff and the university would make it unlikely he’d leave the Sooners in a lateral move.

The Sooners will also be moving to the SEC quite soon, perhaps as early as 2024. Lebby will be an SEC offensive coordinator soon enough. No need to jump to Alabama if being in the SEC is a draw.

Nick Saban could very well come calling for Jeff Lebby’s services, but this doesn’t feel like the right timing. Dillon Gabriel’s returned for another season with Lebby and the Sooners. Jackson Arnold and a number of other 2023 early enrollees just arrived on campus.

He will be getting head coaching offers somewhere down the line. Until then, he’s got a great gig in Norman and an offense that is doing some really good things.

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Report: Sooners to hire Texas Tech assistant Emmett Jones as WR coach

According to a report the Oklahoma Sooners are hiring Emmett Jones to be their next wide receivers coach.

Oklahoma looks to have completed its search for a permanent wide receivers coach. After Cale Gundy’s resignation in the summer, the Sooners promoted L’Damian Washington to interim wide receivers coach. He did an admirable job, but the belief was Oklahoma would look for a more experienced name to take over this offseason.

According to Matt Zenitz of On3, the Sooners are replacing Washington with Texas Tech wide receivers coach Emmett Jones.

Jones’ served as the Red Raiders’ passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach under first-year head coach Joey McGuire.

Jones has years of collegiate coaching experience to go along with his high school coaching experience in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. After his playing career, which included time at Texas Tech and UTEP, Jones stepped into the coaching ranks. He served as head coach at South Oak Cliff High School, posting a 30-8 record at the helm.

He coached receivers at Kansas from 2019-2021 before making his way back to Lubbock to be a part of McGuire’s staff.

Despite a revolving door at Texas Tech with its quarterbacks, Jones helped guide the Red Raiders this past season to the best passing offense in the conference. Three of his receivers accounted for 500 or more receiving yards.

His ability to develop and his connections in the high school ranks in the DFW area make him a great fit for the Sooners’ offensive staff. He’ll have his work cut out for him as he and Jeff Lebby will have to mastermind a plan to replace the 66% of receiving production they’ll lose now that the season is over.

From Oklahoma’s official press release on the hiring

OU HEAD COACH BRENT VENABLES ON EMMETT JONES:

“Couldn’t be more excited to welcome Emmett, his wife, Marlo, and their children, Emily and Emmett, to the OU family. Emmett is a great teacher of the game with a track record of positional development at the highest level. He’s produced some great collegiate players who have gone on to the NFL and he’s been around some of the brightest minds in college football in Kliff Kingsbury and Lance Leipold, and of course Joey McGuire this past year at Texas Tech. He’s been incredibly successful wherever he’s been, including in the high school ranks in the Dallas area. He’s a coaching giant in Texas high school football.

“Emmett’s been a connector at every stop. He’s personable and relational. He’s tough and demanding. Everywhere he’s been he’s made those places better. And everyone who’s had a chance to be coached by him or work with him has nothing but incredible things to say about his character, his coaching acumen and his relationship-building ability. What I love about Emmett is he recognizes the University of Oklahoma’s brand and the stage we’re on, and wanted to be a part of it. He jumped at the opportunity to join this program and that means a lot. Many of our coaches know him and have been around him personally and professionally, and they all have incredible things to say about him and his family. The Jones family’s got juice and energy and will really fit in well in the Norman community.”

EMMETT JONES ON JOINING THE OU STAFF:

“The University of Oklahoma’s tradition and the chance to work with Coach Venables made this an opportunity that was too hard to turn down. Also, I’d been researching and paying attention to Coach (Jeff) Lebby ever since I was back at South Oak Cliff and he was coaching running backs at Baylor. So I kept my eyes on him throughout his journey and especially at Ole Miss and this past year at OU. I feel like working with him — one of the brightest minds in the game when it comes to offensive schemes — will help me to continue to grow in this profession. And same thing with being able to soak up knowledge from Coach Venables.

“Oklahoma expects championships. I want to be around champions and I want to win multiple championships. I’ve coached in a couple of games in Norman and the game day atmosphere is incredible. Even going back to my time as a high school coach, players in our program got really excited to be recruited by Oklahoma. I remember how our guys would really perk up when they received information from OU. Just having a chance to be a part of that is like a dream come true. And in order for me to leave Texas Tech, I felt the situation would have to be perfect for me somewhere else. Oklahoma fit. It answered every question, crossed every ‘T’ and dotted every ‘I.’ And it’s not far from Dallas. It was just a no-brainer.

“I’m a passionate coach, I’m all about relationships. I love to pull in and reach young men, love to be that person they want to be around. I coach hard, but I truly believe you have to establish deep relationships with these young men. That’s something I feel like I specialize in. When it comes to the receiver position, I feel like I’m one of the best if not the best. I always try to enhance the position, try to find ways to set trends when it comes to development and challenging guys. OU is getting a family man, a team guy who loves being around the players. I’m all about toughness and hard work, and the players are getting a coach they’re going to love being around, one who will represent the program with the utmost respect in every form and fashion.”

VENABLES ON L’DAMIAN WASHINGTON, WHO WAS ELEVATED IN AUGUST FROM OFFENSIVE ANALYST TO INTERIM WIDE RECEIVERS COACH:

“We’re trying to keep L’Damian in an enhanced role. He jumped right in the ‘A’ gap and did a fantastic job of making us better in our first season, improving our players and our offense. He’s been bold and courageous and has been connected to both players and staff. I’m very thankful for his contributions and we’re fighting like heck to keep him here. He brings tremendous value to our staff, our locker room and that position group.”

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