Guys, first off, no other way to put it, it's a PUTRID finish for Oklahoma in the class of 2021, I'm not one to sugarcoat and in this situation Oklahoma thought they knew the score with several players and just came out on the wrong side.
On Emeka Egbuka, Oklahoma thought they had him, recruits with him, thought they had him, and they just lost out. That one was always going to be tough as Ohio State had such a big head start.
With Bryce Foster, I can say I spoke to several sources who are VERY close to the situation and was told 'Bryce talks like he's already (at Oklahoma)'. But it was the first time, to me, that you felt like the pandemic caught Oklahoma off guard. As one source told me "it's hurt us not being able to see these guys in person and really get a feel for what's real and what isn't".
Next was Camar Wheaton, this was absolutely an issue that the pandemic hurt with. Not so much that he would have been communicative but at least they could have shown up and talked with him. They were basically left at his whim and his whim was pretty much not to communicate.
Those, I think you can understand how the situation played out like it did - or well, I can understand, I know you all don't care to understand and are just furious.
The situation with Tristan Leigh, feels very, very different.
I've covered this for nearly 20 years and I can only think of one time that I've seen Oklahoma so upset about an outcome - Dorial Green-Beckham.
People are FURIOUS.
As one person told me "he and the family flat out lied to (Oklahoma), he told (them) he did not sign and just lied about it. I've never had a kid do something like that."
To my understanding the same was true of every staff in his recruitment, I don't mean to make that as an attack on him, but these are guys who lose recruits, it's part of the game. But it's just the reality of how things played out here - there's a feel from multiple people that this thing ended badly between him and multiple staffs.
And for those thinking that Leigh to OU was just some sort of blind thing everyone was misled by I can flatly tell you that he told at least one reporter flat out that Oklahoma led even following the two LSU trips. He didn't visit Clemson in that time so it's hard to believe things changed that dramatically but who knows.
Again, for those that want to believe we don't know what we're doing on this, on Egbuka, I was alone and I wrong, I'll own that. The other three, we were ahead of most everyone but they all followed right down that path - so clearly many either went with us or had their own information that coincided with ours.
So that's not really 'oh your sources suck', that's there's some weird stuff happening.
And long-time members can tell you the same thing I'm about to - I've NEVER had a year like this where I was so lost and much like the staff (as I mentioned above) I feel largely hard done by lack of in-person contact so I can ask a guy what he's thinking and have a real, or at least better, feel for it.
But I want to be very, very clear, this is on me, this is not @Carey Murdock, this is not @BPrzybylo, and this is not @Eddie_Rado, let them enjoy their weekend. Come at me, be angry.
They got you a win on Wednesday, I lost you four 5-star recruits - or something like that so...
Let's gets this screaming match going.
On Emeka Egbuka, Oklahoma thought they had him, recruits with him, thought they had him, and they just lost out. That one was always going to be tough as Ohio State had such a big head start.
With Bryce Foster, I can say I spoke to several sources who are VERY close to the situation and was told 'Bryce talks like he's already (at Oklahoma)'. But it was the first time, to me, that you felt like the pandemic caught Oklahoma off guard. As one source told me "it's hurt us not being able to see these guys in person and really get a feel for what's real and what isn't".
Next was Camar Wheaton, this was absolutely an issue that the pandemic hurt with. Not so much that he would have been communicative but at least they could have shown up and talked with him. They were basically left at his whim and his whim was pretty much not to communicate.
Those, I think you can understand how the situation played out like it did - or well, I can understand, I know you all don't care to understand and are just furious.
The situation with Tristan Leigh, feels very, very different.
I've covered this for nearly 20 years and I can only think of one time that I've seen Oklahoma so upset about an outcome - Dorial Green-Beckham.
People are FURIOUS.
As one person told me "he and the family flat out lied to (Oklahoma), he told (them) he did not sign and just lied about it. I've never had a kid do something like that."
To my understanding the same was true of every staff in his recruitment, I don't mean to make that as an attack on him, but these are guys who lose recruits, it's part of the game. But it's just the reality of how things played out here - there's a feel from multiple people that this thing ended badly between him and multiple staffs.
And for those thinking that Leigh to OU was just some sort of blind thing everyone was misled by I can flatly tell you that he told at least one reporter flat out that Oklahoma led even following the two LSU trips. He didn't visit Clemson in that time so it's hard to believe things changed that dramatically but who knows.
Again, for those that want to believe we don't know what we're doing on this, on Egbuka, I was alone and I wrong, I'll own that. The other three, we were ahead of most everyone but they all followed right down that path - so clearly many either went with us or had their own information that coincided with ours.
So that's not really 'oh your sources suck', that's there's some weird stuff happening.
And long-time members can tell you the same thing I'm about to - I've NEVER had a year like this where I was so lost and much like the staff (as I mentioned above) I feel largely hard done by lack of in-person contact so I can ask a guy what he's thinking and have a real, or at least better, feel for it.
But I want to be very, very clear, this is on me, this is not @Carey Murdock, this is not @BPrzybylo, and this is not @Eddie_Rado, let them enjoy their weekend. Come at me, be angry.
They got you a win on Wednesday, I lost you four 5-star recruits - or something like that so...
Let's gets this screaming match going.
