Takeaways and notes from Allen Fieldhouse:

We now know Seth Littrell's salary for his first season as OU's offensive coordinator.

I know Brent said he expected to take something like 36-37 out of this recruiting/portal class. We are currently at 38, but I know some are PWOs. Does anyone know how many spots we have left? My worry is that a name or 2 will hit the portal that we would be in good position with, but no spots are available.

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Were we given a heads up on Ferguson’s commitment coming up and OU not being the landing spot and I just missed it?


Also, are we going to find out from Twitter when the time comes that Heard has finally made his decision that we’ve been waiting for and get a heads up that it’s not going to be OU?

Had Zac alley officially been hired or presumed. I can’t find an official anywhere and my buddy swearing bama is trying to hire him? Thanks. I searched thread and says we have, but not officially anywhere

This is dude that can play on an island. He was at Okie St before heading Wash. He might be following Deboer to Bama.

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— Really like where OU stands early in the recruitment of Kole Briehler, who will get a visit from Brent Venables and Todd Bates next week. He'll then make a trip down to Norman for the Jan. 27 junior day. It'll be the second journey to Oklahoma for Briehler, who was also on campus for the Sooners' home finale against TCU in November. I mocked Juju Marks into the fold in my first 2025 class prediction, but at this point, I would probably replace Marks with Briehler or Landon Rink. With Rink being a Texas legacy, though, I believe the Sooners have a better shot at Briehler.

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— Here's one area in which the fallout of Nick Saban's retirement could benefit Oklahoma. I had been keeping an eye on Washington in the recruitment of Cobey Sellers, who has a good deal of family in the Seattle area. I'd definitely gotten the sense that Sellers favored OU over Texas, but Washington's momentum in the recruitment had steadily grown, which is why I'd held out on entering a FutureCast. Sellers is still set to take a trip up to UW later this month, but Kalen DeBoer's hiring at Alabama should help slow down the Huskies' charge, and I'm even closer to entering a FutureCast in the Sooners' favor. I plan on checking around with a few more sources on this recruitment, but don't be surprised to see that prediction drop in the near future. Sellers is due back in Norman on the 27th.

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The Sooners will also get Deyjhon Pettaway back on campus come the 27th. Jaquaize's cousin remains high on Oklahoma and has made several visits up to Norman at this point, so this is a recruitment we'll be continually monitoring. The expectation is that Pettaway will play in the SEC, and all the usual heavy hitters are involved here (Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama, etc.). He and Trystan Haynes are two names I'm watching closely at cornerback as the spring arrives.

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I'm told Oklahoma also expects Lamont Rogers to be in attendance for the junior day, and I'm starting to believe OU has a real shot here. He's a nationally elite offensive tackle, so the obvious obstacle here is likely going to be NIL once schools start to ramp up their financial pitches to Rogers. Nevertheless, this will be the kid's sixth campus visit by my count, and kids don't take six visits to the same school unless they're serious about committing there. I wouldn't expect an early resolution in this process, but getting him back to Norman yet again bodes well for Oklahoma's chances. He's pretty much visited OU at every available opportunity over the last six months. And hey, the Sooners did just land Eddy Pierre-Louis, so it's not as if there is no precedent for an elite OL prospect picking Oklahoma over a more lucrative option.

One of the coaches was fired and a two-year violation for improper NIL with a transfer student:
Florida State also must dissociate from an unspecified collective for a year and from the booster for three years. The NCAA fined Florida State $5,000 and 1% of its football budget.
The organization reduced football scholarships for the Seminoles by 5% over the two-year probationary period, in addition to reductions in official visits allowed, in-person recruiting days and football recruiting communications.

The NCAA said the unnamed booster involved is the CEO of a collective -- an independent organization that raises money and gives it to Florida State athletes as part of NIL agreements. Collectives are typically founded by alumni and other supporters of schools.
Investigators found that the booster encouraged the prospect to transfer to Florida State by offering an NIL deal "as a recruiting inducement," and the assistant coach violated ethical conduct rules by providing "false or misleading information" about his involvement.
According to the release from the NCAA, the penalized coach transported the prospect and his parents to and from an off-campus meeting with the booster. The assistant coach did not attend the meeting.
Investigators determined that the booster offered the prospect "an NIL opportunity with the collective worth approximately $15,000 per month" during his first year with the Seminoles.

The prospect withdrew his name from the transfer portal after that meeting and remained at his previous school. The NCAA said the prospect did not receive any compensation.
"The school and enforcement staff agreed that the meeting with the booster violated several recruiting rules," the release said. "Specifically, the meeting constituted an impermissible recruiting contact because boosters are not authorized recruiters and generally cannot have in-person, off-campus contact with prospects."
The NCAA said the booster also violated recruiting rules by contacting the prospect and his mother by phone. Investigators said the assistant coach twice denied facilitating the meeting, but was "truthful about aspects of the violations."
He admitted to his role in transporting the prospect and his parents to the location of the meeting with the booster.

"We are pleased to reach closure to this situation and view this as another step in strengthening our culture of compliance at Florida State University," Seminoles athletic director Michael Alford said in a statement.
"We take all compliance matters very seriously, and our full cooperation with the NCAA on this case is a clear example of that commitment. We remain committed to compliance with all NCAA rules including disassociation of the booster and collective."
The negotiated resolution cannot be appealed.

lots of people complaining right now that we aren't joining the bidding war to see who can overpay the most for some high rated portal OL. My opinion is that would be the worst thing we could do, as it would blow up the locker room and destroy the culture BV has been building - right as we are on the verge of that investment paying off within the next year or two.

OU's strategy of building culture by recruiting kids who aren't putting themselves up for sale to the highest bidder is paying off. BV salvaged the 2022 class in the midst of the Riley departure chaos and managed to finish top 10. 2023 was our greatest recruiting class in probably 20 years, and 2024 is also great with our best DL group ever. Unless coaching is incompetent, you cant keep bringing in this level of talent without it paying off.

I've read plenty of frantic posts in the last days over our avoiding the bidding war game, many suggesting we'll never succeed if we don't accept that we have to join the circus at least at some level. Well, despite a NIL strategy that some are saying doesn't work, our recruiting class rankings say otherwise. I've also read comments about how we're going to lose HS recruits we have over money issues. Well, the facts show different. Of all the BV recruits, I believe 3 who you wouldn't classify as being processed have left. Only Caden Green left to chase a bag. LeBlanc was apparently homesick, and Smothers apparently left because of a crowded RB room (which isn't a bad thing). So one kid so far - doesn't sound like our recruiting and NIL strategies are failing

What we need to do more than spending money is take another step forward in our performance like we did in 2023, and continue to evolve into the exciting team that kids want to play for like Bama, Georgia, etc. As discussed many times everyone is paying NIL, but they get a "winners discount" and have no problem recruiting top HS players who are dying to play for them without having to engage in bidding wars.

I'm just as concerned about our OL as everyone else, but we cant trash everything we've invested fighting to overpay for portal OL guys

Not that it matters to Oklahoma fans directly.

But I’m told that Lanning is staying at Oregon.

The source is very close to the situation.

When asking the final batch of rankings questions for the class of 2024, top defensive recruit is plenty up for grabs.

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The story about Nick Saban and Bob Stoops' uncle sitting in a bar while it was being robbed is circulating again, and it's still just as good this time around.

Enjoy.

https://oklahoma.rivals.com/news/ni...bob-stoops-uncle-circulating-after-retirement

Some interesting info in there.

Ellie qbs are $1-2M
Players get in the transfer portal just to know their worth.

Ok so my brother and sister in-law are youtube famous they have a farming channel in South Carolina so they have a lot of other friends and people who are fans and stuff in the Bible belt, specifically the GA, SC, and NC region. But I was talking to him and he told me he has a friend that works for the Falcons and he told him today that Kirby is interviewing for the Job there. Now like I said take that with a huge grain of salt, I don't even necessarily believe it but I was thinking "damn if that's true and Smart and Saban are leaving the SEC 🤯🤯" It would definitely make next year more interesting.

While I have been very pleased with our defensive, recruiting and play, I must admit that I was surprised that our defensive rankings this year were not higher. Massive improvement over the Grinch though.

It's been rumored for years that the only job Dabo Swinney would leave Clemson for was Alabama, and now that job is open. Nick Saban is retiring after 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide, and during that time he won:

• Six national titles
• Nine SEC titles
• 10 SEC West titles
• 201 games (29 losses)
• 117 conference games (18 losses)

Will Dabo go home to Tuscaloosa or will it be someone else at the controls when the Tide come to Norman in November?