Tag: Oklahoma football recruiting

Highly recruited receiver Christian Leary has Oklahoma in his top-six

Four star receiver 2021 receiver Christian Leary included Oklahoma in his final six that he released on Twitter on Friday. 

Four star receiver 2021 receiver Christian Leary included Oklahoma in his final six that he released on Twitter on Friday. 

The Orlando, Florida, Native is a three-star according to Rivals.com.

Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Ohio State and West Virginia rounded out the rest of his remaining schools. 

Despite his lack of size at 5-foot-9, Leary is already 190 pounds and has blazing speed that Lincoln Riley could add to his arsenal. Riley has proven he’s been able to utilize the speed with Marquise Brown, who finished with over 1,000 yards in his two season with the Sooners. Brown averaged 18.3 yards per catch in college. 

The Sooners currently have four commits in their 2021 class. Defensive back Jordan Mukes, offensive linemen Cullen Montgomery, defensive end Ethan Downs and receiver Cody Jackson make up Oklahoma’s 2021 class, which ranked 50th in the nation according to Rivals. 

Texas currently leads the Big 12 in the 2021 hunt with the 14th ranked class, followed by Iowa State at 23rd and Baylor and West Virginia at 25th and 26th, respectively. 

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May recruiting update: Lincoln Riley still after one—a five-star

The quarterback position at OU is one that not many get an opportunity to even get in the room. Here is where quarterback recruiting stands.

The quarterback position at Oklahoma is one that not many get an opportunity to even get in the room.

Lincoln Riley is very selective in his offers. Some times he offers a high school freshman in Arizona named Spencer Rattler, who turned into a five-star and No. 1 quarterback in the 2019 class. He offered six in 2020, but moved his focus quick to Bryce Young and then from Young and Chandler Morris.

There are two quarterbacks who have been offered by Oklahoma in the 2021 recruiting class. One has been committed and has since de-committed. Brock Vandagirff opened the door up up for the other offer to soak up all of Riley’s attention.

Here is where Oklahoma’s quarterback board stands in May for the 2021 recruiting class.

CALEB WILLIAMS—FIVE STAR—NO. 1 QB

Since Brock Vandigriff’s de-commitment at the turn of 2020, Lincoln Riley has put his sole focus on Caleb Williams. The five-star is the No. 1 quarterback in the country and has been talking up Oklahoma a lot recently in his weekly blogs with Sports Illustrated. 

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Oklahoma LB target Danny Stutsman says he will announce commitment next week

Is the first week of May finally the start of OU’s recruiting momentum? Linebacker target Danny Stutsman to announce commitment next week.

Is the first week of May finally the start of Oklahoma football’s recruiting momentum?

The Sooners were able to land rangy defensive back Jordan Mukes from the 2021 recruiting class in early April. They haven’t had a commitment since despite a lot of teasing by Oklahoma coaches and recruits on Twitter over the last month.

That could be changing as three-star linebacker Danny Stutsman will be announcing his commitment next week, he posted on Twitter on Thursday.

Stutsman, a Winter Garden, Florida, native, was offered by Oklahoma on March 2. He is listed as a three-star on Rivals and 247 Sports, but has garnered attention from the likes of Utah, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech since the start of his junior season in 2019.

The 6-foot-3, 215 pound linebacker released a top-6 on April 21 of Minnesota, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Oklahoma.

The Sooners currently have four commitments in the 2021 recruiting class. Two reside on the defensive side of the ball and the other two on offense. Another major target, wide receiver Christian Leary, has a commitment date coming in June.

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Oklahoma among top talent developers in college football, per 247Sports

There has been plenty of talk about who is developing the best talent in college football when it comes to the NFL Draft. 

There has been plenty of talk about who is developing the best talent in college football when it comes to the NFL Draft.

How college football programs are able to develop their talent is the biggest tool in recruiting. The SEC has taken the crown on player development for quite some time and maintains it as it stands today.

But Oklahoma is right up there with the best of them, according to research done by 247Sports.

Chris Hummer of 247Sports took a look back at the top-247 players in the 247 Composite Rankings from 2011-15 to see which of those players ended up getting drafted out of college. He gave three points for first rounders, two points for second or third rounders and then one point for fourth through seventh rounders. Hummer then divided that number by the total number of prospects to get a ranking.

Of the 31 teams who have landed 10 top-247 players from 2011-15, the Sooners came in at No. 6 of with 50 percent of the 22 top-247 players they signed getting drafted and a 0.91 rating per player.

Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Florida and LSU round out the top five of the best developers of elite talent, according to Hummer. Baylor is a respectable No. 23 and Texas is down at No. 30 of 31 teams despite signing 33 players in the same time period.

Oklahoma had its first two members of the 2017 recruiting class get selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft (CeeDee Lamb, Kenneth Murray), and have three top-10 recruiting classes from 2017-19 that are close to moving onto the NFL. That should help the Sooners numbers of player development even more.

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Oklahoma football offers a high school freshman from Mustang, Oklahoma

Not every day does Oklahoma football offer someone from the state of Oklahoma. OU definitely doesn’t offer in-state kids who can’t drive yet.

Not every day does Oklahoma football offer someone from the state of Oklahoma. The Sooners definitely don’t offer in-state prospects that can’t even drive yet.

That all changed on Thursday.

Oklahoma has seen some blowback in the recent past for its direction of a more national recruiting approach and allowing some in-state players to slip out to other top programs from underneath them. The Sooners have landed defenders Ethan Downs and Jordan Mukes thus far from the state of Oklahoma for the 2021 recruiting class, and they are after another, but one that is far more down the line.

Class of 2023 defensive back Jacobe Johnson (Mustang High School; Mustang, Oklahoma) is currently a freshman in high school. Memphis, Michigan and Oklahoma State are the first three to throw their hats in for the Oklahoma product. The Sooners jumped in the race on Thursday.

Johnson is already listed at 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds as a freshman in high school. That is the right body type that defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is looking for in a defensive back. The in-state product is already a heralded name in the basketball world, but it appears as if college football is going to be his calling.

Oklahoma already has commitments from Downs and Mukes in the state of Oklahoma, and are vying for nationally recruited prospects Kendal Daniels (2021) from Beggs, Oklahoma, and Gentry Williams (2022) from Tulsa, Oklahoma. There are plenty more from in-state who could receive offers from the Sooners, too.

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Five-star QB, Oklahoma target Caleb Williams says he has ‘exciting news’ coming soon

Could Oklahoma finally be on the verge of finding its next quarterback? Caleb Williams says he has exciting news coming soon.

Could Oklahoma finally be on the verge of finding its next quarterback?

Five-star and No. 1 overall quarterback Caleb Williams has been chronicling his life for the last month and a half. He has discussed as much from his last visit to Oklahoma, FaceTimes with coaches and his personal life during the coronavirus pandemic.

In this week’s edition of his blog on SportsIllustrated, Williams teased that there is some “exciting news coming up really soon. Real soon.”

Who knows what that could be in our current age of recruiting, but Williams sent this tweet out on Sunday.

In last week’s blog, Williams mentioned that he was recruiting offensive players like Oklahoma targets Christian Leary and Mario Williams as well as major defensive target Kendal Daniels.

This week’s list of recruits he has contacted with is much more star-studded.

“It’s really been defensive guys, that I’ve been really trying to pick their brains to see where we can all go and have fun, have a good time and play for national championships and ultimately get to that next goal,” Williams wrote. “Masson Smith, out of Louisiana and Korey Foreman, out of California. I’ve been talking to Latrell (McCutchin), out of Texas. Kelvin Gilliam, I’ve been talking to him, out of Va. Clayton Smith, too. JC (Latham), too, we were on FaceTime yesterday. We’re trying to get on the same page and go to the best place for all of us.”

Out of that group, Oklahoma is recruiting Latrell McCutchin and Clayton Smith really hard and has offered No. 1 overall recruit Korey Foreman.

The Sooners have four commits in the 2021 recruiting class. Major Oklahoma target Leary announced he will commit to his school in June.

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Highly recruited Oklahoma wide receiver target Christian Leary announces commitment date

The light at the end of the tunnel is officially there for Oklahoma football recruiting. Christian Leary has set his commitment date.

The light at the end of the tunnel is officially there for Oklahoma football recruiting.

Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch picked up one commitment in Jordan Mukes during this dead period for recruiting, but that didn’t move the needle much. The Sooners have been hinting at a “serious three” group of recruits and there are two other silent commits out there that Lincoln Riley has alluded to.

Maybe one of the five players being hinted at is ready to make a commitment. Oklahoma wide receiver target Christian Leary announced a commitment date on Friday.

Leary, an Orlando, Florida, native, is rated as a three-star recruit on Rivals, but his offer sheet doesn’t match the current or past evaluation. He has reported offers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Ohio State amongst many other top power-five conference schools wanting his signature.

Five-star quarterback and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2021 recruiting class said he had been talking to Leary over the past couple weeks on Monday. Caleb Williams has mentioned time and time again how he wants to bring in a top recruiting class wherever he goes, and he has talked up Oklahoma more than any school in his top five.

The Sooners currently have four commitments in the 2021 recruiting class. As of Thursday night, Oklahoma has had back-to-back first-round wide receiver selections in the 2019 (Marquise Brown) NFL Draft and 2020 (CeeDee Lamb) NFL Draft.

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Five-star quarterback Caleb Williams says he’s messaged with 3 of Oklahoma’s top targets

One of OU’s biggest recruiting targets for the 2021 class has been giving everyone a peek behind the curtain into his recruitment and life. 

One of Oklahoma’s biggest recruiting targets for the 2021 class has been giving everyone a peek behind the curtain into his recruitment and life.

No. 1 quarterback Caleb Williams has dove into a blog with Sports Illustrated. He’s talked about from anything about training and his personal life to his last visit to Oklahoma, relationship with Lincoln Riley and recent FaceTimes with the head football coach.

This week? Well, it’s strictly about being the recruiter and not the recruited.

“When I commit to one of these schools, I want it to be like fireworks going off,” Williams wrote in his blog. “That class of the school I choose will explode to the top, that type of thing. That type of explosion.”

He talked about how he wants to bring together top offensive and defensive talent to wherever he goes and that no top talent can hide. Williams says he won’t hold back if he’s trying to help getting someone to join him.

The top quarterback prospect mentioned more than a handful of names he’s been messaging as of late.

“I’ve been texting all the guys—Christian Leary, Mario Williams, Kelvin Gilliam, Dallas Turner,” Williams wrote. “I’ve been texting Kendal Daniels. I was texting J.T. (Tuimoloau) today. We were talking, he has a bunch of schools that I have but isn’t really a public guy. I’ve also been talking to (Amarius) Mims lately. He came out with his top group on April 1.”

Christian Leary, Mario Williams and Kendal Daniels are also top Oklahoma recruiting prospects. Dallas Turner has been talking up the Sooners as of late on Twitter, but the other three—some of the top targets regardless of position for Riley.

Caleb Williams has been sending out cryptic tweets with emojis as of late, but no telling when the top Oklahoma prospect will make his official commitment.

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Georgia football offers 2022 4-star WR Armani Winfield

Lewisville, Texas receiver Armani Winfield tweeted that Georgia football offered him a scholarship for the class of 2022

Wednesday, Armani Winfield, a 4-star receiver at Lewisville High School in Lewisville, Texas, tweeted that he received a scholarship offer from Georgia.

According to 247Sports, Winfield is the No. 13 receiver and the No. 90 prospect in the 2022 recruiting class.

As a sophomore, the 6-foot-2 180 pound recruit caught 58 passes for 758 yards and 8 touchdowns and was named District 6-6A Co-Offensive Newcomer of the Year as a freshman.

Winfield holds offers from Oklahoma, Auburn and Florida, among 29 others, and is predicted by 247Sports to sign with Oklahoma.

UGA football offers scholarship to 2021 DE Tobechi Okoli

The Georgia Bulldogs have offered a scholarship to Lincoln College Prep DE Tobechi Okoli. Tennessee, Oklahoma and more have offered Okoli.

The Georgia Bulldogs have offered a scholarship to 2021 defensive end Tobechi Okoli. Okoli is a three-star prospect, who plays high school football for Lincoln College Prep in Kansas City, Missouri.

Okoli has received a lot of interest among Big 12 schools and has SEC offers from Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Georgia, and Vanderbilt. Where will Okoli play in college? He’s projected by 247 to play for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Okoli is excited to receive his most recent offer from the Georgia Bulldogs:

Okoli is a 6-5, 255 pound defensive end. He has solid size and would be a good fit as a 3-4 defensive end in Athens. He would need to add to his frame some to compete along the defensive front in the SEC. Fortunately, he has plenty of time to do that.

Kirby Smart and Georgia have been offering numerous scholarships to recruits in the current dead period. We’ll keep you updated throughout Okoli’s recruitment.

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