Gonna go ahead and fire a FutureCast in favor of Oklahoma for three-star DE Kade Pietrzak, who attends West Fargo (N.D.) Sheyenne High. He recently dropped a top four of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Kansas State. If you have not yet watched his film, treat yourself. He is, as Brent Venables would say, hell on wheels.
I'm projecting him to land alongside blue-chippers Alex Shieldnight and CJ Nickson in a threefold class of defensive ends for Oklahoma. I don't know for a fact that Pietrzak ends up in the class; he's not a silent or anything. But I do know a few things about this recruitment that have given me confidence to move ahead with the prediction, especially after checking in with several different sources in the last few days.
1) As I outlined in an update last month, Pietrzak came very, very close to committing to Oklahoma on his very first campus visit.
2) Distance from home isn't expected to be a major factor in Pietrzak's eventual decision. He's more Wyatt Gilmore than Grant Brix.
3) When I checked in with sources at the other three schools in the running for Pietrzak's commitment, there was a general consensus that Oklahoma is in the pole position.
4) I've got Max Granville pegged to A&M, and Smith Orogbo could end up just about anywhere. There are also some genuine frame concerns with the latter prospect.
5) I'm told the head ball coach loves Pietrzak. And as we saw with Marcus Wimberly, if a kid's got the stamp from the head ball coach, that can make all the requisite difference.
Everything seems to line up here. Pietrzak has already visited all four of his top schools, but he's only tried to commit to one of them. He's a priority for the staff, and especially Venables. A battle with Nebraska, Kansas State and Wisconsin should be a battle that OU wins when official visits roll around. That's not necessarily a guarantee, as we saw last cycle with Brix. But this feels like a prediction that has good odds of hitting the mark. So I'm pulling the trigger.
My other current FutureCasts include...
Four-star CB Trystan Haynes (committing tomorrow, May 7), 90% confidence
Four-star DE CJ Nickson (no commitment timeline), 75% confidence
Three-star OL Antoni Ogumoro (committing May 21), 70% confidence
Three-star DL Christian Evans (commitment expected this month), 65% confidence
Four-star DL Kole Briehler (commitment expected in June/July), 60% confidence
Three-star WR Emmanuel Choice (no commitment timeline), 60% confidence
Four-star TE DaSaahn Brame (commitment expected in June/July), 25% confidence
This haul, plus Pietrzak, would put Oklahoma at 22 total commits in the 2025 cycle. We expect that Oklahoma adds an additional offensive lineman, an additional safety and one additional receiver beyond what I have them currently projected to land. In an ideal world where everything goes according to plan, that would put the class size in the neighborhood of 25 commits, and you can almost always subtract one or two from that "ideal" number. So I would project 22-24 total commits at this time.
