It's almost 1:30 a.m. and I've got to be up early in the morning to head to Stillwater, but I figured I would fire off some quick hitters for y'all before I call it a night. Let's start with one of the guys I watched tonight, four-star Oklahoma safety commit Jaydan Hardy. Miami had covertly been trying to flip him for quite some time, which is something we had always strayed away from concretely reporting so as not to raise unnecessary consternation. Hardy played on a Miami-based 7-on-7 program this offseason, and there were certain connections and dynamics within said program that made a flip to the Hurricanes a quiet concern. There's a lot more that could be written about that situation, but it's all moot now, as I spoke with Hardy tonight about Miami's continued push. He told me he recently informed the Miami staff that they needed to stop hitting him up, and that he's 100 percent locked in with Oklahoma. He intends to visit Norman for each of the Sooners' final two home games.
Though he maintains that he'll take some big-time visits to programs like Ohio State, Florida and Georgia this offseason, we are inclined to believe that elite 2025 OT Michael Fasusi ends up picking between Oklahoma and Texas. That notion is reaffirmed every time either Brandon or I speak to the 6-foot-5, 285-pound standout, who is Hardy's teammate at Lewisville High. Hardy is consistently in Fasusi's ear pushing OU, and I would expect that Fasusi accompanies Hardy to one (if not both) of the Sooners' last two home games of the 2023 season. Fasusi told me tonight that he intended to visit the Forty Acres tomorrow, but in his own words, he's "too damn tired." Thus, that trip won't happen.
I'm inching closer and closer to officially entering a FutureCast for four-star CB Cobey Sellers to Oklahoma. I'll take the prudent and patient approach for the moment, as I do want to see whether some late-season visits to other schools materialize, but the trend is strongly in Oklahoma's favor as of late and I can see myself pulling the trigger on this prediction before the end of the calendar year. Sources I speak with about the Houston-area corner are bullish on the Sooners' chances here.
Let me preface this by saying Eddy Pierre-Louis is NOT "gone," and the moment I believe he is, I'll flip my FutureCast to UCF. But one player Oklahoma is monitoring, and may elect to offer if Pierre-Louis picks UCF, is two-star Tulane commit Tyler Mercer. I will now log off and go to sleep so that the more cynically minded members of the board can cackle and fantasize about Bill Bedenbaugh ending up with a two-star kid instead of a national top-50 prospect. However, as the meltdown ensues, please keep in mind that the Sooners still expect Pierre-Louis on campus next weekend. My prediction for EPL still sits on Oklahoma, as does that of our esteemed Southeast regional recruiting analyst John Garcia. If and when that changes, we will keep you apprised.
