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Texas lands a commitment from the No. 17 EDGE in the country.
On Wednesday the Longhorns made yet another crucial addition to their 2024 recruiting class. Continue reading “Texas lands commitment from four-star EDGE Zina Umeozulu”
2024 4-star Edge Zina Umeozulu is reportedly announce his commitment on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Plain and simple, Texas A&M’s 2024 recruiting class is one of the hottest cycles in the country after landing five-star defensive tackle Dominick McKinley on Friday afternoon, as the Aggies class is now ranked 5th in 247Sports’ 2024 Team Recruiting Rankings.
McKinley joins four-star defensive end Dealyn Evans and three-star Edge Gabriel Reliford in the defensive trenches. Still, Jimbo Fisher and his productive staff aren’t finished yet, as 2024 four-star Edge Zina Umeozulu will reportedly announce his commitment on Wednesday, Sept. 6, which will air on Dave Campbell’s Texas Football YouTube page at 6:00 p.m. CT.
According to 247Sports, Umeozulu is currently positioned as the 17th-ranked Edge prospect in the cycle and the 45th-ranked player in Texas, as he is in the midst of his final senior season at Allen (TX), where he recorded 43 tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks, and three forced fumbles during his 2022 junior campaign.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ DE Zina Umeozulu plans to announce his commitment LIVE on Sept 6 at 6:00 PM CST on Dave Campbell's Texas Football. #TXHSFB
DETAILS: https://t.co/c4DP5fvlhU pic.twitter.com/RXrC2xpH17
— Greg Powers 🏟️ (@GPowersScout) September 1, 2023
So far, Umeozulu has taken three visits to College Station in 2023, including an unofficial visit on Jan. 21, an official visit on June 9, where he joined Dominick McKinley, and joined a long list of prospects during Texas A&M’s annual recruiting pool party on July 29.
One fact that may be very important down the stretch is that Zina’s brother is the University of Texas sophomore offensive lineman Neto Umeozulu. As we’ve seen with several recruits in years past, the family becomes the sole influence while mulling a collegiate-based decision. Still, after two consecutive campus visits this summer, Texas A&M is in good standing ahead of his commitment.
Zina Umeozulu will choose between Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.
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Tuesday evening, the Oklahoma Sooners received a fresh prediction to land top 100 defensive lineman Nigel Smith.
The Oklahoma Sooners have been working overtime to build a defensive line class that can lay the foundation for their move to the SEC.
A strong defensive line is how Brent Venables had success at Oklahoma. It’s how he helped Clemson win national championships. And the Sooners are looking to stockpile as much talent along the defensive front as they can.
The plan received a bit of a boost on Tuesday evening when Horns 247’s Jordan Scruggs issued a crystal ball prediction favoring the Oklahoma Sooners in the recruitment of four-star defensive lineman [autotag]Nigel Smith[/autotag].
247Sports joins Rivals and On3 in favoring the Oklahoma Sooners in this top-100 recruitment.
The Texas Longhorns are another of the teams on the shortlist for Smith. Also on the list are Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A&M and Rutgers.
Smith is the No. 84 player in the country according to the 247Sports composite and the No. 12 defensive lineman in the 2024 cycle.
At 6 feet, 5 inches and 260 pounds, Smith has the size to be a force at multiple spots along the defensive line. He’s an athletic player that plays with really good technique and a motor that will not quit. Smith is quick off the line of scrimmage, using a great first step to work through the offensive line to make plays in the backfield.
Oklahoma has a pair of defensive linemen committed to the 2024 class. [autotag]Wyatt Gilmore[/autotag] and [autotag]Jayden Jackson[/autotag] are just the first in a grand plan set forth by [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag], [autotag]Todd Bates[/autotag] and [autotag]Miguel Chavis[/autotag] to construct a blue-chip defensive line through the 2024 class.
In addition to Smith, the Sooners are favored to land [autotag]Williams Nwaneri[/autotag] and [autotag]David Stone[/autotag]. Oklahoma is also in hot pursuit of Danny Okoye, Dominick McKinley and Zina Umeozulu.
There’s no telling if they’ll land all eight of their defensive line targets in the cycle, but with the way events are unfolding, the Sooners could add as many as six of these blue-chip talents.
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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.
It’s likely Zina Umeozulu will join his brother (Neto) in Austin soon.
Texas has emerged as the heavy favorite for four-star EDGE Zina Umeozulu. Continue reading “Recruiting prediction entered in favor of Texas for four-star EDGE Zina Umeozulu”
The busy month of visits gave Texas much needed momentum on the recruiting trail.
The busy month of visits gave Texas much needed momentum on the recruiting trail. Continue reading “Recruits that are currently trending toward Texas in the 2024 class”
Zina Umeozulu joins several prospects who trend toward the Longhorns.
Zina Umeozulu could be leaning toward committing to the Texas Longhorns. The brother of Texas offensive lineman Neto Umeozulu is seeing plenty of Texas buzz following one insider’s prediction.
Gerry Hamilton of Inside Texas sent in a 75% confidence prediction for the Longhorns to land the elite edge rusher from Allen High School. The Dallas-Fort Worth area product would be a huge get for the program and a recruiting breakthrough for Texas defensive line coach Bo Davis.
The Longhorns haven’t been known to win over edge rushers like Umeozulu or Colin Simmons in recent seasons, but could be turning the corner in that respect. While the team’s rivals from north of the Red River seem to be on track for an impressive interior defensive line haul, Texas appears set up to own the edges with pass rush should they hold serve with Simmons and Umeozulu.
There’s plenty of time before we reach the finish line, but early returns indicate the Longhorns are set up nicely to close on primary targets.
Texas 📈 pick for Zina Umeozulu (🏈)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 2024 EDGE
✍️ By Gerry Hamilton
🎚️ 75% (Confidence)#On3 #HookEm 🤘🐂— Texas Crystal Ball 🤘🔮 🧙♂️ 📈 (@texcrystal_ball) June 28, 2023
Which players are committed to the Oklahoma Sooners 2024 recruiting class and what do they bring to the football field?
The Oklahoma Sooners are hoping to follow a pair of top-10 recruiting classes in 2022 and 2023 with another in the 2024 recruiting cycle. The Sooners’ 6-7 season didn’t affect the finish to the 2023 recruiting class, which finished No. 4 in the nation according to 247Sports.
Brent Venables and his staff are hoping to have a repeat of that success or better and have themselves well-positioned to be near the top of the rankings when it’s all said and done in 2024.
Much of the success of this class will be determined by how well the Oklahoma Sooners recruit the defensive line ahead of their move to the SEC in 2024. In a strong defensive line class, the Sooners are in a good spot with a number of highly-coveted prospects. They finally broke the ice on their defensive line recruiting with the addition of Wyatt Gilmore, the No. 2 player in the state of Minnesota and a four-star prospect.
All eyes turn to players like [autotag]David Stone[/autotag], [autotag]Williams Nwaneri[/autotag], [autotag]Dominick McKinley[/autotag], [autotag]Jayden Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]Nigel Smith[/autotag], [autotag]Danny Okoye[/autotag], [autotag]Jayshawn Ross[/autotag], [autotag]Joseph Jonah-Ajonye[/autotag], and [autotag]Zina Umeozulu[/autotag].
They will not land all of their targets, but Venables, [autotag]Ted Roof[/autotag], [autotag]Todd Bates[/autotag] and [autotag]Miguel Chavis[/autotag] have made a strong impression on an impressive group of defensive line prospects.
Still just over five months out from the early signing period, here’s a look at who is committed to the Oklahoma Sooners as of July 1, 2023.
Recruits react on Twitter to time spent with the Oklahoma Sooners at the ChampU BBQ.
The Oklahoma Sooners completed arguably their biggest non-game day weekend of the year. The ChampU BBQ is their preeminent recruiting event each year, and this year Lee Davis and the on-campus recruiting staff pulled out all the stops to put the Oklahoma Sooners’ best foot forward.
Oklahoma hosted a number of prospects in the 2024 recruiting cycle and they made substantial headway with Caden Durham, Mykel Patterson-McDonald and Xavier Robinson. That trio had a number of recruiting predictions issued in favor of the Sooners landing their commitments.
Additionally, Oklahoma hosted five-star defensive tackle Dominick McKinley alongside David Stone. The Sooners have made the defensive line a point of emphasis this recruiting cycle, and they’re not holding back in their pursuit of top-tier defensive line talent. Stone and McKinley were on campus a week after five-star edge Williams Nwaneri made his official visit.
If the Sooners are able to land Stone and another highly-regarded defensive tackle or two, like McKinley, it would go a long way to laying the foundation of Brent Venables’ defense for years to come.
A look at who’s coming to town for the ChampU BBQ this weekend.
Oklahoma’s future looks bright. Less than a day ago, they received news of their first slate of SEC opponents when they begin play in their new conference in 2024. It’s a compelling slate and something that gets the competitive energy flowing.
If they plan to make an impact when they get there, the class of 2024 will have a profound hand in that. This class will be the first class that hits the ground and is immediately thrown into the fire that is the SEC. They’ll spend their whole careers being molded by the best football conference in the country. For the Sooners to compete for the top, this 2024 class must be unique.
It’s only fitting that Oklahoma has its premier recruiting event, the ChampU BBQ this weekend, right after the SEC opponents were revealed.
"We have 28 monsters on campus this weekend." – #OU HC Brent Venables talking #ChampUBBQ & using 2024 SEC schedule to recruiting advantage
— Bob Przybylo (@BPrzybylo) June 14, 2023
The Sooners can use the SEC to their advantage, selling the appeal of playing in an elite conference to any athlete unafraid of competing against the best in the country.
Last year’s ChampU BBQ had attendees signing with the Sooners and are now on campus with the current roster. Here’s a running count:
In short, a nice chunk of OU’s 2023 class came to the event. Arnold was already committed before the BBQ, but having him there helped Oklahoma recruit and, ultimately, the remaining players committed in the months after.
The visitor list for the event is long, with well over 20 official visitors already confirmed.
Three-star DB Justin Denson
This weekend in Norman will be jam-packed with an extensive amount of talent. David Stone, a consensus top-10 recruit, is the headliner. He’s a hometown kid who grew up a Sooner fan. A commitment from him would be massive. He’s at the top of the Sooners’ recruiting board and a must-have in this cycle.
[autotag]Caden Durham[/autotag] and [autotag]Taylor Tatum[/autotag] are two talented four-star running backs Oklahoma would be delighted to have.
Oklahoma has four 2024 commits in the building this weekend, and aside from them enjoying their officials, they can and will likely be used to recruit some of their uncommitted counterparts. [autotag]K.J. Daniels[/autotag], [autotag]Zion Kearney[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Autry[/autotag], and [autotag]Jaydan Hardy[/autotag] are the four commits who will enjoy their officials as Oklahoma Sooners.
[autotag]Joseph Jonah-Ajonye[/autotag], [autotag]Nigel Smith[/autotag], and [autotag]Dominick McKinley[/autotag] join David Stone as highly touted defensive linemen in Norman this weekend. Aside from landing Stone, can Oklahoma at least snag two of the remaining three? This weekend of visits could go a long way in determining that.
This weekend will have ripple effects for the 2024 cycle and help lay the foundation for Oklahoma’s future in the SEC. Last year’s event netted Oklahoma seven commits in the weeks and months after. The Sooners will be thrilled if the same happens this year.
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The summer of official visits continues to roll along as Texas A&M will welcome a handful of high-profile prospects from the 2024 cycle this weekend.
With the summer season having officially kicked off it can only mean one thing: the top prospects of the 2024 cycle will descend upon various campuses for official visits. As we officially turn the page to the second weekend of June, the 2024 recruiting cycle will only continue to heat up from here.
Texas A&M and head coach Jimbo Fisher’s busy month of June continues to move along as the Maroon and White welcome close to double-digit visits from a handful of top football prospects. The coming weekend of June 9 will see some of the best recruits on both sides of the ball get a preview of Aggieland, with the hope that they see College Station as their next home for the future.
While a handful of this weekend’s visitors are still taking their time through the decision process, there are at least two current commits making their way to Aggieland.
Here’s the list of the top 2024 football prospects visiting Texas A&M this weekend, June 9:
