Tilting at Windmills

Atlantasooner already wrote an excellent piece on the kid they’re calling the number one ranked QB in the state of Texas for 2010 class, Connor Wood, who has chosen Tex-mex over titles. Wood’s choices came down to OU and TX, and apparently seeing the relative talent levels coming into both programs, figured he would have an easier time starting over the other two Texas quarterbacks the Horns have signed.

Atlanta makes a salient point about OU not necessarily needing Texas prep phenom quarterbacks in order to succeed:

Actually, UT might have done OU a favor. OU seems to have far more success under Bob when they don’t have a Texas kid at QB …

Let’s look at what Texans the Sooners have trotted out under center. OU’s had a couple (three, actually) of those jokers. One of them would probably be able to handle a little ribbing about being from the heart of Longhorn territory. The other two, screw em.

Call me if you decide you want a test drive.

Paul Thompson has to be one of the most unselfish, finest leaders the program has had. A superior, all-around athlete playing multiple positions for Leander HS, Thompson came to OU knowing he’d be third on the depth chart behind Jason White and Tommy Grady. After Jason graduated in 2004 and OU signed the only other Texas prep QB Stoops has started, Rhett Bomar, PT had to fight his way into an opening day starting job in 2005. His awful performance in a losing effort to TC-freaking-U (one of only two Stoops losses in Norman) was probably magnified by the fact he was following a guy who now has a statue outside the stadium. In that game, he gave way to the redshirt freshman Bomar, who was the number one quarterback in the nation coming out of high school. Thompson unselfishly agreed to move to receiver, another position he had previously played. He ended up catching 11 of Bomar’s passes for 106 yards, with 11 standing ovations from the Sooner faithful.

After Bomar’s crap got to be too much to stand, especially after bringing the NCAA to Norman, Thompson became OU’s starting quarterback in 2006. PT wasn’t the most talented QB Stoops has had by a long shot, but he was smart, made good decisions and was a true leader. He threw for almost 2,700 yards with a respectable 22 touchdowns and 11 picks. He saved one of his best games for the Big 12 championship, throwing for 265 yards and 2 TDs in a win over Nebraska.

Thank you for your service, PT.

Bomar and Adrian Peterson were the stars of the 2004 recruiting class. Bomar had the luxury of redshirting behind Jason in 2004, then was forced into duty after the aforementioned TCU debacle. Honestly, he wasn’t as bad as a lot have made him out to be. He threw for 2,018 yards and 10 TDs with 10 picks. He got to hand the ball to AD for most of the year (Peterson missed most or all of four games), which took some of the pressure off. He also made some dumbshit, freshman, WTF plays and was just terrible against Texas. He finished the year as the MVP of the Holiday Bowl and some had OU in the Top 5 the following preseason, based on Bomar and AD returning. Then, for some reason that escapes my memory, he was booted from the team and you saw Thompson do what he did in 2006.

The only other two Texans at quarterback for Stoops have been Hunter Wall, who in 2001 played in one game before being dismissed for burgling dope in 2002, and Hays McEachern, a walk-on UT legacy from Austin High School whose job was to placehold for Garrett Hartley in 2006. Hays almost cost OU the ’06 Big 12 championship that PT won, bobbling a snap on a field goal try and nearly throwing a pick in the ensuing chaos.

So, congratulations on another in-state quarterback get, Texas. I’m sure you guys will get along famously. OU’s already set their sights on Wichita (KS) signal-caller Blake Bell, who also has offers from the entire Big 12 North, Miami, Notre Dame and LSU. Stoops has won five Big 12 titles with quarterbacks from South Dakota, Georgia and Oklahoma. Odds are the man knows a little about scouting talent

Texas can have their February “win” again. We’ll take the trophies.

Well, if you read recent message board threads and our friends over at Barking Carnival, you’d think UT has already signed all the best prospects and OU will be lucky to field a team.

So let’s review where we are.

UT’s off to a great start in recruiting, and by getting Connor Wood managed to snag OU’s number one QB target. UT may very well be done with recruiting by May at this rate.

However, right now for all of UT’s success, four of the five players in Texas are still up for grabs.

Seastrunk RB, Jeffcoat DE, Wilson DE, Darius White WR. And that list is pretty fluid but they appear to be the five star type guys from Texas. Granted it’s a matter of time until White is probably a Horn, and Ahmad Dixon already is. The next 3 are definitely in play overall. And that’s presuming that the recruiting lists match the Sooner coaches’ evaluations. OU has already offered Torrea Peterson at DT, who is not currently highly rated by any service (then again, they don’t have film on him either). OU offered Peterson the same time they offered UT verbals Bible and Cotton and their own DT verbal Noble. I’m not saying Peterson is as good as the other 3 DTs, but it would appear the OU coaches are. 

So for all of OU’s struggles OU already has two verbals from the top 50 players in Texas:

Eddrick Lofton FS 6-0,200 and Daniel Noble DT 6-4,275.

OU in fact right now appears to be making a bunch of offers to skill folks in Georgia, Florida, and rest of SEC territory. In addition, OU is going after recruiting targets in Kansas, Missouri, and New Jersey.  The Barking Carnival article is based on an accurate lie: that Oklahoma’s success is based solely on Texas recruiting. It’s not. 

For instance, OU’s top TE target is probably Xavier Grimble from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman. I don’t have to tell OU fans about OU’s current recruiting success from that school. In a potential hilarious recruiting story, OU has targeted Atlanta RB Mack Brown. Although he’s in the heart of SEC territory, Brown has been angling for an OU offer for months, and will visit OU this summer. OU just offered Gainesville, GA WR Tai-ler Jones who seems very interested in the Sooners. 

Out of OU’s top 10 returning players, (McCoy, Gresham, Williams, Bradford, Murray, Franks, Jackson, Lewis, Beal, Alexander), four are from Oklahoma, 4 from Texas, and 2 from elsewhere. Out of OU’s top 6 All American Recruits, 2 from Oklahoma, 3 from Texas, elsewhere. So, OU needs to recruit Texas very well, but it’s not the end all be all to OU’s success. Ideally OU can land one or two of those top kids from Texas, keep 4 stars kids in state going to Norman, and land a high four/five star kid from out of region. 

So OU has lost out on Connor Wood, where does QB recruiting go? It goes to Kansas to Blake Bell a very talented 6-6, 210, 4.6 QB who projects very close to Connor Wood nationally, and will get Elite 11 QB attention.   Will OU get Bell? Who knows, but prior to the start of recruiting Bell clearly mentioned the Sooners as his favorite. He’s now in the recruiting whirlwind, but those kinds of statements are often good predictors. Actually, UT might have done OU a favor. OU seems to have far more success under Bob when they don’t have a Texas kid at QB, but I’m really hoping that Drew Allen breaks that trend.

The biggest blow to OU recruiting that UT appears set to hit on is actually Demarco Cobbs the top player in the state of Oklahoma and a WR as well. He seems very interested in the Horns and may give them a verbal. I’m actually surprised that UT offered him, but he’s a very talented WR a position that OU really needs. UT’s already at 2 WR verbals depending upon where folks project in college, so it will be interesting to see if UT still has room for Cobbs when they get Darius White. 

Last comment, please remember recruiting is a marathon not a sprint. And from prior historical perspective, OU appears to be off to a good start.