UPDATE: 10:35a - OK guys, so I'm no longer driving my kids to school - I REALLY expected a formulaic morning - but I'll run over some stuff here.
First, I started hearing some gossip yesterday that
Danielson Ike and Oklahoma were in trouble but I checked with a few sources and was rebuffed completely about it and can tell you that Oklahoma even had graphics built out for him today.
So this was a fairly big surprise to most everyone.
It sounds like the kid and his Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst head coach
Tony Severino both wanted him at Oklahoma but he has a guardian that apparently saw a better fit at SMU.
My guess is that this was an academics based move and my thoughts kind of echo a source I spoke with today.
"If they think SMU is the better fit, it's unlikely he'd have ever helped (Oklahoma)."
That tends to work out better for everyone - though it stings a little bit just in the loss itself.
I'm told that there will be
NO run at
Enokk Vimahi and that Oklahoma is going to 'focus on the grad transfer and JUCO market'.
I'm told that the Sooners may be looking at TWO grad transfers right now and the two front runners that most people are talking about the moment are
R.J. Proctor from Virginia and
Jonah Jackson from Rutgers.
Jackson looks like it will come down to a battle between Ohio State and Oklahoma after Jackson visited Columbus last weekend. He'll visit Oklahoma next week.
Proctor won't be visiting until March but the Sooners are very much involved there.
The twist? I'm told that Oklahoma has a few guys they'd like to land beyond those two so we'll start checking on that.
But Oklahoma may be in a better spot if they can land a couple of quality guys, ride that out for a year and then get back in on a clear high school prospect that maybe is a bit higher on the food chain than Ike.
UPDATE: 8:54a - I no longer have any belief that Oklahoma will sign anyone else today. It sounds like Oklahoma got "guardian" intervention on
Danielson Ike.
I can say as of yesterday afternoon he was telling me and OU that it was going to be them.
I think everyone is shocked on this deal but SMU is very much the expectation.
ORIGINAL: OK guys, obviously not a lot happening but just a few odds and ends here...
*Danielson Ike is expected to sign his paperwork at 7 a.m. and I still very much expect that choice to be Oklahoma in spite of a few visits elsewhere over the last few weekends.
He had told me a few days ago that he would have his ceremony "some time before 1 p.m." so it's possible any announcement gets held off for a bit but either way, Oklahoma should know the verdict early on.
**The
Brandon Pierce situation is a bit of a mystery but we are under the impression that he won't be signing today. The thing to remember is that he hasn't been to campus yet and that today isn't the
only time you can sign. I'm guessing it gets delayed but we'll keep an eye on it as nothing seems set in stone on that topic.
