First off, we've got a really enlightening interview with three-star OL Daniel Akinkunmi coming to the OUInsider YouTube channel. That interview should shed more light on his recruitment, but to summarize my feelings after an extensive conversation (both on and off air) with Akinkunmi, I do think Oklahoma has the relational advantage here. That said, I also think it's way too soon to call this race, especially when you're mindful of the other offensive line targets left on the board for Oklahoma. The England native will be in Norman this weekend for an OV, but he's got subsequent officials on tap with Michigan, Miami, Clemson and Ole Miss.
There's a three-team battle shaping up right now for DFW-area offensive lineman Jaylan Beckley, who ought to end up a top-250 player in the 2025 class and could soar much higher as his technique develops. He's only played one year of football, but he holds over a dozen offers to date and boasts an astronomically high physical ceiling at 6-foot-5, 305 pounds. A very evangelically influenced individual, Beckley is highest on Clemson and Oklahoma right now, with the culture at those two institutions a major draw for him. That said, a source close to Beckley's recruitment also informed me that LSU is recruiting him the hardest right now, so the Bayou Bengals shouldn't be discounted either. Bill Bedenbaugh has done a remarkable job of building early inroads to DFW in the 2025 cycle with guys like Beckley, Ty Haywood and Michael Fasusi, which speaks to the reality of an assertion we've made several times in the past: this staff would like to tighten the geographic diameter of their recruiting efforts as time goes on.
It shouldn't be any major shock, but I received additional confirmation from a trusted DFW source that Oklahoma is in line to get Nigel Smith's commitment next Friday. What did come as a shock to me last night was the shifting of the proverbial tectonic plates in Dominick McKinley's recruitment. You can check out that note here. In a world where the Sooners shock the recruiting world and land McKinley over Texas, Texas A&M, Ohio State and LSU, we're suddenly talking about a class that would indisputably represent Oklahoma's best defensive line haul of the modern era. And that's without the potential additions of Danny Okoye and Williams Nwaneri later on down the line. If Oklahoma were to pull off the coup over the next 10 days and score both McKinley and Smith, what's perhaps most tantalizing is the prospective momentum that could generate with Okoye and/or Nwaneri as the final puzzle piece(s) of the Power Line.
I'll have more on him when I go to see him in person later this season, but right now I'll just say that I really like where Oklahoma stands in the recruitment of four-star Shawnee (Kan.) Mill Valley DE Jayden Woods. Miguel Chavis has made a name for himself in the greater Kansas City area since joining the OU staff, and I think he's poised to do some damage in KC for what could be a third consecutive class (obviously pending the outcome of the Nwaneri soap opera). Woods holds a bevy of elite offers nationwide, including Alabama, Penn State and Oregon, but the Sooners appear to have the early edge here. With Ka'Mori Moore already on board in the 2025 cycle and Isaiah Mozee in line to be the next pledge, Woods and Juju Marks would be two other Kansas City-area names I'd get to know as Oklahoma establishes a strong foothold in the vicinity.
