Does recruiting matter to me? My Wednesday night men's bible study goes from roughly 7 p.m to 8:30. So I'm sitting on the second row (also the back row). At about 7: 28, everybody else is discussing Hebrews. I'm checking my cell phone. It had to be comical if anybody was looking. I spent too much time reading recruiting reports and then had to rush to get there on time. So I left my reading glasses at home.
I have this emergency pair in my car that is only two lenses and a nose piece. Nothing to hold them on either ear. So I've got these very strange looking eight year old wire rim glasses with nothing but my fingers to hold them up to see, and I think it was 7:34 when I re-checked and Josh told us that we had our five star. I tried very hard to successfully make no audible sound. Just smiled, and then went on with what I was supposed to be doing. Praise God that some of the guys use an app on their smart phones rather than an actual bible in traditional book form. So I didn't look too out of place.
There were a lot of questions at Bob's presser yesterday about why only three guys from Texas. The assumption was that Baylor is better and TCU is better and some scribe mentioned twice that Houston is recruiting better. Houston, btw was 44th in the country, eight places behind Mississippi State and ten places ahead of Iowa State, though they did get a receiver or two that were "OU good."
I think several things were a factor in OU losing some pretty important players, while still getting a quality class. One was that there was a terrific runner that early on we were favored to get. But he wanted to play big shot and go down to signing day and we didn't want to play that game with him. I think it's the position. There are too many quality guys to take that risk. So we looked elsewhere and he wanted to be our exclusive. Without committing.
But a bigger factor is a different make up of this staff. A lot was made of three Lackawanna guys. It's because Bedenbaugh knows that staff and trusts them. More importantly, that's where his best relationships are in recruiting. That part of the country. In OLine recruiting, we got a Pennsylvania guy, an Illinois guy an Oklahoma guy and two jucos. Bill's strongest recruiting relationships aren't in Texas.
When we went in another direction at RB, we got a really good kid that Riley knew really well. In the same general area where he also got OUr quarterback. Both were kids he'd been watching for a while, on the Atlantic coast. So instead of Bueschell or Whaley, both from Texas, we got two from North Carolina.
No BJW, with the best Texas hs relationships of just about anybody.
I also think that Mack Brown's way of recruiting is going to be missed. Mack always got his share of quality Texas recruits, but it was usually mostly out of the way by April. We did fight some battles with them. Lost more than we won, but there were not many flips in January. They usually flipped by September. There was lots of time for plan B. Charlie's way of doing things will be different, and harder to navigate.
And then there was the race card. SAE hurt OU and more than we'll ever know I believe. Hoping that it doesn't last for multiple seasons. But that had more to do with Charlie being able to show the difference between his staff of seven African American coaches and three white guys. And the school with the SAE video.
The proximity of TCU and Baylor is a factor. I'd love to know the real reason that the great athlete at safety, who'd been committed to OU for since last summer, started looking elsewhere a month ago. Teenagers do change their minds. Maybe he broke up with his gf. But that was a tough one. And you could tell from the look on Gundy's face yesterday that they had losses exceeding what they'd expected heading into yesterday. Losing Cobb was a lot bigger deal than losing Velus. The latter was committed for less than a week. And we found a quality replacement.
A lot has been made of this being a lousy finish for a team that made the playoff. But I believe that will be a much bigger factor next season, than this. Curiously, in Rivals' rankings, OU finished one spot ahead of Michigan State, whose chief recruiting rival also had a banner signing day which included the top recruit in the country.
Just some other brief observations. When was the last time Oregon finished as low as 28th in recruiting? Apparently Phil Knight's checkbook isn't as deep as it used to be. As mentioned earlier, with all the ballyhooing of UHouston recruiting, they were 44th.
Mizzou's coaching changes put them in a lowly place for an SEC school. They were 53rd, one place ahead of Iowa State's new coaching staff, and four behind VaTech's new HC. Remember when Colorado thought life in the Pac 12 would fit them better? There were ranked 64, four places behind Colorado State.
Texas Tech was one spot behind Houston at 45. They had two recruits ranked over three stars and three under. OSU was 46. Their only recruit with more than three stars was Tramonda Moore, who is very unlikely to qualify.
I have this emergency pair in my car that is only two lenses and a nose piece. Nothing to hold them on either ear. So I've got these very strange looking eight year old wire rim glasses with nothing but my fingers to hold them up to see, and I think it was 7:34 when I re-checked and Josh told us that we had our five star. I tried very hard to successfully make no audible sound. Just smiled, and then went on with what I was supposed to be doing. Praise God that some of the guys use an app on their smart phones rather than an actual bible in traditional book form. So I didn't look too out of place.
There were a lot of questions at Bob's presser yesterday about why only three guys from Texas. The assumption was that Baylor is better and TCU is better and some scribe mentioned twice that Houston is recruiting better. Houston, btw was 44th in the country, eight places behind Mississippi State and ten places ahead of Iowa State, though they did get a receiver or two that were "OU good."
I think several things were a factor in OU losing some pretty important players, while still getting a quality class. One was that there was a terrific runner that early on we were favored to get. But he wanted to play big shot and go down to signing day and we didn't want to play that game with him. I think it's the position. There are too many quality guys to take that risk. So we looked elsewhere and he wanted to be our exclusive. Without committing.
But a bigger factor is a different make up of this staff. A lot was made of three Lackawanna guys. It's because Bedenbaugh knows that staff and trusts them. More importantly, that's where his best relationships are in recruiting. That part of the country. In OLine recruiting, we got a Pennsylvania guy, an Illinois guy an Oklahoma guy and two jucos. Bill's strongest recruiting relationships aren't in Texas.
When we went in another direction at RB, we got a really good kid that Riley knew really well. In the same general area where he also got OUr quarterback. Both were kids he'd been watching for a while, on the Atlantic coast. So instead of Bueschell or Whaley, both from Texas, we got two from North Carolina.
No BJW, with the best Texas hs relationships of just about anybody.
I also think that Mack Brown's way of recruiting is going to be missed. Mack always got his share of quality Texas recruits, but it was usually mostly out of the way by April. We did fight some battles with them. Lost more than we won, but there were not many flips in January. They usually flipped by September. There was lots of time for plan B. Charlie's way of doing things will be different, and harder to navigate.
And then there was the race card. SAE hurt OU and more than we'll ever know I believe. Hoping that it doesn't last for multiple seasons. But that had more to do with Charlie being able to show the difference between his staff of seven African American coaches and three white guys. And the school with the SAE video.
The proximity of TCU and Baylor is a factor. I'd love to know the real reason that the great athlete at safety, who'd been committed to OU for since last summer, started looking elsewhere a month ago. Teenagers do change their minds. Maybe he broke up with his gf. But that was a tough one. And you could tell from the look on Gundy's face yesterday that they had losses exceeding what they'd expected heading into yesterday. Losing Cobb was a lot bigger deal than losing Velus. The latter was committed for less than a week. And we found a quality replacement.
A lot has been made of this being a lousy finish for a team that made the playoff. But I believe that will be a much bigger factor next season, than this. Curiously, in Rivals' rankings, OU finished one spot ahead of Michigan State, whose chief recruiting rival also had a banner signing day which included the top recruit in the country.
Just some other brief observations. When was the last time Oregon finished as low as 28th in recruiting? Apparently Phil Knight's checkbook isn't as deep as it used to be. As mentioned earlier, with all the ballyhooing of UHouston recruiting, they were 44th.
Mizzou's coaching changes put them in a lowly place for an SEC school. They were 53rd, one place ahead of Iowa State's new coaching staff, and four behind VaTech's new HC. Remember when Colorado thought life in the Pac 12 would fit them better? There were ranked 64, four places behind Colorado State.
Texas Tech was one spot behind Houston at 45. They had two recruits ranked over three stars and three under. OSU was 46. Their only recruit with more than three stars was Tramonda Moore, who is very unlikely to qualify.
