Two of the nation's top recruits were asked this question: How strong are your commitments to Oklahoma?
Adepoju Adebawore and Cayden Green, two Kansas City-area stars, met with the Tulsa World this week to talk about OU's season, late flips and the message from Sooners coaches.
Two of the nation's top recruits were asked this question: How strong are your commitments to Oklahoma?
Eric BaileyKANSAS CITY, Mo. — Oklahoma’s roller-coaster football season has been hard for Sooner Nation to accept.
But have the results put commitments from a pair of major 2023 recruiting targets in jeopardy?
Defensive end Adepoju Adebawore and offensive tackle Cayden Green met with the Tulsa World this week and were asked this question: How strong are their pledges?
“I’m very firm. It’s a very strong commitment,” Adebawore said. “If it wasn’t firm, I wouldn’t have committed. It’ll stay that way.”
Said Green: “I won’t be decommitting. I’m signing next month and I’ll be at school in January.”
The Kansas City-area stars are scheduled to attend Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. Bedlam game in Norman. They plan to sign with the Sooners on Dec. 21 and move to Norman on Jan. 14.
Rivals lists Adebawore (North Kansas City High School) as the nation’s fourth-best defensive end and 53rd-best player overall. The recruiting service also has Green (Lee’s Summit North High School) as the 39th-best player overall and fourth-best offensive tackle.
Oklahoma’s 5-5 record isn’t ideal, but being patient is important for both recruits.
“They know they have a lot of rebuilding that they have to do, which takes time,” Adebawore said. “I feel like you really can’t judge them too much off the season because you have to give them time to rebuild.”
The coaches’ messages have been encouraging to Green.
“They know that this is just the beginning,” he said. “Coach (Brent) Venables hasn’t been in the office that long. They say don’t give up hope. I know. I know by the time my class gets older, we’ll have a national championship. That’s why I signed up for it a long time ago.”
Recruiting never sleeps. While Green isn’t drawing many late contacts from schools, schools are still trying to contact Adebawore. He understands that’s part of the process. Two heavyweight programs have reached out via text just this week.
How does he handle those situations?
“I understand if they want a guy, they’re going to continue to try and go for them,” Adebawore said. “I just laugh sometimes. The stuff they say sometimes … sometimes you can respect some people. Sometimes it’s like they try to bash the college I’m committed to. Don’t do that. It just makes it worse.”
Venables was asked during his Tuesday news conference about OU’s challenges about recruiting with a 5-5 record.
The first-year coach mentioned the roster turnover that’s been unprecedented at Oklahoma. Venables spoke about three one-score losses where a little bit crisper play could have turned things around.
And then he talked about history and creating relationships with recruits.
"Schemes on both sides of the ball and coaches’ experience in big games and successful teams and things of that nature, I think that goes a long way,” Venables said. “And we have a long history, not a winning season here, winning season there. I'm talking about a long history of success.
“And then (prospects) in the recruiting game, on their side of it, they're trying to know people and what's real and what isn't as well. And so you come from a place of genuineness and authenticity. I think people see that, you know, when you're being real and you're being honest and it is relationship driven.”
Adebawore is excited about his position coach, Miguel Chavis.
“You can see he’s different,” Adebawore said about his first interaction with the OU assistant. “He was in the car and was on FaceTime — he loves FaceTime, we don’t’ call. It’s always FaceTime. He’s just a great dude, a standout dude.”
Adebawore admits it was tough to see defensive end Colton Vasek recently flip his pledge from OU to Texas.
“If definitely sucks for the OU program, but if that’s what he feels is best for him, you’ve got to support him,” Adebawore said. “You don’t want a kid going to a school that he really doesn’t want to go to.
“I wanted to make sure before I committed to OU that I didn’t want it to be a commitment and then I’m still thinking about another school. In my mind, that’s not a real commitment,” Adebawore said. “If he feels that it’s home, let it be. I would hate for someone to come to college and not be at peace of mind ...”
The 2023 recruiting class has a group chat where staying together is important for this recruiting class.
“Of course I hope that the class stays intact and I hope we can get a couple more guys,” Green said. “At the end of the day, as a recruit, you got to do what’s best for you. If these guys feel elsewhere is best for them, good luck to him.
“But I think overall we’ll still finish with a top-10 class, so I’m excited.”
