Spent the first Friday night of the 2023 season up in the Kansas City area, where I took in a highly anticipated matchup between two state powerhouses in Lee's Summit North and Liberty North. Wanted to pass along a few things from the evening that will be of interest to y'all.
— For one, three-star 2025 DL and Oklahoma commit Ka'Mori Moore was a wrecking ball on the interior. He wrapped up the night with five tackles, a pair of TFL's and a sack. The box score doesn't entirely do justice to his performance, either... he was a big portion of the reason why Liberty North was unable to run the football effectively all night. Really impressed by how much quicker Moore looks than last season, when he played north of 310 pounds. He's since trimmed his frame down to a much more muscular 288, and if his performance last night was any indication, his stock should continue to rise into blue-chip territory. He'll be back in Norman next week for the season opener.
— In some parallel universe, Jayshawn Ross is committed to Oklahoma right now. However, that's not the universe we live in, as the Sooners decided to move on from their pursuit of the four-star defensive end back in June. He's since reopened his recruitment to schools beyond his initial top five, a pretty clear indication that some or all of his other top schools had similar concerns about Ross and backed off as well. However, there's no denying that he's got talent by the truckload. He applied consistent pressure off the edge and made things difficult in the run game for Lee's Summit North. Although he won't sign with Oklahoma in 2024, this is a name I would remember in the years ahead, because given the trajectory of his recruitment right now, I don't think it's an impossibility that he'll end up at a school for which he's simply too good. If he keeps his head on straight and balls out for a couple of years at his school of choice, there may come a time down the road in which he's a highly coveted portal commodity. It's something we see often in this era of college football. And if that scenario were to come to fruition, I sense that he would be more than willing to rekindle his relationship with Miguel Chavis and Oklahoma.
— Isaiah Mozee had the play of the night, a 59-yard touchdown reception just before the half. A trio of Liberty North defenders had Mozee dead to rights in the middle of the field after a gain of about 20 yards, but he somehow wriggled away and made the house call. The four-star 2025 WR is a top-100 player in my book, and he's noticeably quicker and more elusive in the open field than he was a year ago. I think he's poised for a huge junior year as the key cog in the LSN offense, and could be another early addition to Oklahoma's 2025 class if the Sooners can hold off Oregon in the race for his pledge. It's those two teams above the rest right now for Mozee, who is eyeing a decision after the season.
— We're less than two weeks removed from Nwaneri's commitment to Missouri, but I've said it already and I'll continue to say it: there is a tangible belief on both the OU side and the LSN side that the Sooners will turn the tables in the long run. I don't want to drive the optimism too high too soon, but let's just wait and see if Nwaneri is back in Norman at any point over the next couple of months. There are a myriad of ways to explain away the Oklahoma gloves, but it's not an insignificant thing, and conversations with a few well-placed sources on both sides have me sticking to my gut feeling on this one. I truly do believe Norman is where Nwaneri wants to be. The biggest question is whether the Sooner staff can get his whole family 100 percent sold on everything that OU can offer, and in that respect, this recruitment bears some definite parallels to that of Peyton Bowen. For me, the biggest X-factor in this ordeal might be the momentum that OU accumulates over the next 6-8 weeks, both on the recruiting trail and the gridiron. If the Sooners start the 2023 season hot and close out Nigel Smith, the noise is going to start to grow louder. Naturally, it becomes a lot harder for a five-star DE like Nwaneri to say no to Oklahoma if the Sooners are firing on all cylinders (again, on both the trail and the field) by this time next month. Getting David Stone on board is a pretty huge step, and having Moore in such close proximity to Nwaneri on a daily basis helps too.
I'm sure this is a topic we will discuss in much greater detail in the days and weeks ahead, so I'm not going to write you a thesis on the whole deal. I'll just sum it up with this: I could have easily flipped my prediction to Missouri in the minutes leading up to Nwaneri's announcement. There are a number of reasons why I didn't, but the main reason is because I do not believe the final verdict in this recruitment was rendered on August 14. A number of the conversations I had last night validate that belief. There is reason behind my opinion here. Now, as with Bowen, I'm not making any promises. I can't make any promises. But we're 116 days from ESD. As one source on the OU side remarked on the day of the decision, "Chavis will visit KC as many times as allowed." And as another source on the LSN side put it to me last night, "I do think persistence is going to win out."
— For one, three-star 2025 DL and Oklahoma commit Ka'Mori Moore was a wrecking ball on the interior. He wrapped up the night with five tackles, a pair of TFL's and a sack. The box score doesn't entirely do justice to his performance, either... he was a big portion of the reason why Liberty North was unable to run the football effectively all night. Really impressed by how much quicker Moore looks than last season, when he played north of 310 pounds. He's since trimmed his frame down to a much more muscular 288, and if his performance last night was any indication, his stock should continue to rise into blue-chip territory. He'll be back in Norman next week for the season opener.
— In some parallel universe, Jayshawn Ross is committed to Oklahoma right now. However, that's not the universe we live in, as the Sooners decided to move on from their pursuit of the four-star defensive end back in June. He's since reopened his recruitment to schools beyond his initial top five, a pretty clear indication that some or all of his other top schools had similar concerns about Ross and backed off as well. However, there's no denying that he's got talent by the truckload. He applied consistent pressure off the edge and made things difficult in the run game for Lee's Summit North. Although he won't sign with Oklahoma in 2024, this is a name I would remember in the years ahead, because given the trajectory of his recruitment right now, I don't think it's an impossibility that he'll end up at a school for which he's simply too good. If he keeps his head on straight and balls out for a couple of years at his school of choice, there may come a time down the road in which he's a highly coveted portal commodity. It's something we see often in this era of college football. And if that scenario were to come to fruition, I sense that he would be more than willing to rekindle his relationship with Miguel Chavis and Oklahoma.
— Isaiah Mozee had the play of the night, a 59-yard touchdown reception just before the half. A trio of Liberty North defenders had Mozee dead to rights in the middle of the field after a gain of about 20 yards, but he somehow wriggled away and made the house call. The four-star 2025 WR is a top-100 player in my book, and he's noticeably quicker and more elusive in the open field than he was a year ago. I think he's poised for a huge junior year as the key cog in the LSN offense, and could be another early addition to Oklahoma's 2025 class if the Sooners can hold off Oregon in the race for his pledge. It's those two teams above the rest right now for Mozee, who is eyeing a decision after the season.
— We're less than two weeks removed from Nwaneri's commitment to Missouri, but I've said it already and I'll continue to say it: there is a tangible belief on both the OU side and the LSN side that the Sooners will turn the tables in the long run. I don't want to drive the optimism too high too soon, but let's just wait and see if Nwaneri is back in Norman at any point over the next couple of months. There are a myriad of ways to explain away the Oklahoma gloves, but it's not an insignificant thing, and conversations with a few well-placed sources on both sides have me sticking to my gut feeling on this one. I truly do believe Norman is where Nwaneri wants to be. The biggest question is whether the Sooner staff can get his whole family 100 percent sold on everything that OU can offer, and in that respect, this recruitment bears some definite parallels to that of Peyton Bowen. For me, the biggest X-factor in this ordeal might be the momentum that OU accumulates over the next 6-8 weeks, both on the recruiting trail and the gridiron. If the Sooners start the 2023 season hot and close out Nigel Smith, the noise is going to start to grow louder. Naturally, it becomes a lot harder for a five-star DE like Nwaneri to say no to Oklahoma if the Sooners are firing on all cylinders (again, on both the trail and the field) by this time next month. Getting David Stone on board is a pretty huge step, and having Moore in such close proximity to Nwaneri on a daily basis helps too.
I'm sure this is a topic we will discuss in much greater detail in the days and weeks ahead, so I'm not going to write you a thesis on the whole deal. I'll just sum it up with this: I could have easily flipped my prediction to Missouri in the minutes leading up to Nwaneri's announcement. There are a number of reasons why I didn't, but the main reason is because I do not believe the final verdict in this recruitment was rendered on August 14. A number of the conversations I had last night validate that belief. There is reason behind my opinion here. Now, as with Bowen, I'm not making any promises. I can't make any promises. But we're 116 days from ESD. As one source on the OU side remarked on the day of the decision, "Chavis will visit KC as many times as allowed." And as another source on the LSN side put it to me last night, "I do think persistence is going to win out."
