*** I’ll start with the top 2024 RB in the nation in Longview (TX) RB Taylor Tatum.
This battle between USC and OU has been ever going and one that some saw as a back and forth deal for some time. However, that’s not how OUinsider has viewed it, for the better part of the last month, after Tatum visited the Sooners following his OV with Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.
So, when the announcement comes at 11 am on Longview Game Day (click Longview Game Day to view it live), let’s just say we like the Sooners’ chances to land Tatum, with a plethora of things working in the Sooners’ favor, including their football program — despite what some might say.
Oklahoma has and will be in a battle with USC, and Lincoln Riley, until NSD. The Sooners baseball program — and head man Skip Johnson — have been critical to get OU where they are today as well. However, even with that being a fact, don’t for a second think OU is a program that can’t lean on its own merits when recruiting the composite five-star/high four-star RB. One year does not make a program and OU’s equity is built on years of winning.
Will that play into Tatum’s announcement positively? Again, we think there is a very good chance it does.
*** Having said all of that, what about four-star RB and Sooners legacy, Caden Durham?
I think there is some definite merit to the standings of Texas A&M and LSU in his recruitment. I might even give LSU similar standing to OU, if not right behind the Sooners.
Either way you look at things, it’s hard to sit here on July 21st and boldly state that OU is the clear-cut leader and those closest to Durham feel similarly, as I spoke with a source that has known Durham for over a decade and they told me, “He is a hard read. No one knows where his head is truly at because if I didn’t know he was potentially visiting LSU the last week of July, I’d have thought A&M was more of threat (to OU) than LSU,” the source said. “But now it really feels he is more in step with with his Duncanville teammates and their feelings toward LSU than before … I do think (OU) still is up there, but it’s not a done deal like some feel it is (with Oklahoma).”
The source went on to say that they weren’t feeling the Sooners were trailing or anything like that, but they did think the potential trip to LSU — during the last weekend in July — could muddy the waters a bit, with the Tigers track & field program being several tiers above the Sooners and LSU’s ability to push that.
In the end, Oklahoma is going to have to keep swinging and try to sway Durham to return to Norman before the dead period begins. If that has to be an early in the week visit, so be it. Because if they don’t, human nature and last impressions by the Tigers could be what make the four-star RB spurn the Sooners for the Tigers.
Regardless, I still think OU is at or near the top but I’m not as confident as I once was — and potential Taylor Tatum addition to the 24K class isn’t why either. Those two have become quite close over the last few months, and even if you add the potential presence of close friends Mykel Patterson-McDonald, David Stone and Xavier Robinson to the equation, things aren’t as cut-and-dried as some, including myself, felt it was following Durhams’s OV in June.
Basically, the further it’s gotten away from that, the harder this recruitment has become for Oklahoma and Demarco Murray. Can OU hold on? The next month, and the end of July, will be as telling as they come.
This battle between USC and OU has been ever going and one that some saw as a back and forth deal for some time. However, that’s not how OUinsider has viewed it, for the better part of the last month, after Tatum visited the Sooners following his OV with Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.
So, when the announcement comes at 11 am on Longview Game Day (click Longview Game Day to view it live), let’s just say we like the Sooners’ chances to land Tatum, with a plethora of things working in the Sooners’ favor, including their football program — despite what some might say.
Oklahoma has and will be in a battle with USC, and Lincoln Riley, until NSD. The Sooners baseball program — and head man Skip Johnson — have been critical to get OU where they are today as well. However, even with that being a fact, don’t for a second think OU is a program that can’t lean on its own merits when recruiting the composite five-star/high four-star RB. One year does not make a program and OU’s equity is built on years of winning.
Will that play into Tatum’s announcement positively? Again, we think there is a very good chance it does.
*** Having said all of that, what about four-star RB and Sooners legacy, Caden Durham?
I think there is some definite merit to the standings of Texas A&M and LSU in his recruitment. I might even give LSU similar standing to OU, if not right behind the Sooners.
Either way you look at things, it’s hard to sit here on July 21st and boldly state that OU is the clear-cut leader and those closest to Durham feel similarly, as I spoke with a source that has known Durham for over a decade and they told me, “He is a hard read. No one knows where his head is truly at because if I didn’t know he was potentially visiting LSU the last week of July, I’d have thought A&M was more of threat (to OU) than LSU,” the source said. “But now it really feels he is more in step with with his Duncanville teammates and their feelings toward LSU than before … I do think (OU) still is up there, but it’s not a done deal like some feel it is (with Oklahoma).”
The source went on to say that they weren’t feeling the Sooners were trailing or anything like that, but they did think the potential trip to LSU — during the last weekend in July — could muddy the waters a bit, with the Tigers track & field program being several tiers above the Sooners and LSU’s ability to push that.
In the end, Oklahoma is going to have to keep swinging and try to sway Durham to return to Norman before the dead period begins. If that has to be an early in the week visit, so be it. Because if they don’t, human nature and last impressions by the Tigers could be what make the four-star RB spurn the Sooners for the Tigers.
Regardless, I still think OU is at or near the top but I’m not as confident as I once was — and potential Taylor Tatum addition to the 24K class isn’t why either. Those two have become quite close over the last few months, and even if you add the potential presence of close friends Mykel Patterson-McDonald, David Stone and Xavier Robinson to the equation, things aren’t as cut-and-dried as some, including myself, felt it was following Durhams’s OV in June.
Basically, the further it’s gotten away from that, the harder this recruitment has become for Oklahoma and Demarco Murray. Can OU hold on? The next month, and the end of July, will be as telling as they come.
