UPDATE: 5:28p - I've gone ahead and changed my forecast on Ahmad Moten to Miami.
In the end it sounds like the Hurricanes will win him over with staying closer to home and much of the same rhetoric we've always heard from Miami with a new staff.
That said I continue to hear confidence about R Mason Thomas and feel good about where that is.
What's also interesting is that Oklahoma doesn't seem to have given up on Kevonte Henry. I think there is realism about the situation but he has not told OU he's headed to Arizona or anything like that and he's got a good relationship with Miguel Chavis. We'll see where it goes, and I'm still picking Arizona, but it doesn't feel as though Oklahoma thinks that race is run.
UPDATE: 11:46a - Also, I wanted to touch on the decommitment yesterday of 2023 athlete DeAndre Moore.
I'm told that this had nothing to do with Moore losing interest in Oklahoma - a reality that Moore himself backed up.
"OU is my dream school so if they want to recruit me for sure (they'd still be considered)," Moore said.
And that pretty much leads to the reality we'd been hearing, the new Sooners staff wanted to see more of his game before being ready to honor that offer. As such there hadn't been a lot of communication - if any - between Oklahoma and Moore as of late.
It's a sign that the Sooners are doing very sincere work in their evaluations but the reality is they just weren't ready to take Moore at this point.
We'll see if that changes but my feeling is that isn't likely.
UPDATE: 10:37a - OK, have had a chance to have some more conversations and it's insane that I finally gave in on Ahmad Moten and almost from that moment forward the trend seems to be moving in the wrong direction.
I've not heard anything I'm confident enough in to say 'yeah, he's gone' but it sure feels like the momentum is with Miami at the moment.
ORIGINAL: Guys, about to head to school drop off (I know, you all love to hear these updates) but I just had to pass along the first bit of information I got late last night.
Basically, what a difference a day makes...
While yesterday I was talking to sources outside of Norman who told me there was a lot more faith in the chance for Ahmad Moten than there was for R Mason Thomas my conversations late last night from sources a bit closer to the 405 area code had a near opposite feeling.
What I was told gives me more confidence in the situation with Thomas than I've had at any other point -I'd have a forecast in if you could do that on Rivals for a player who is currently still listed as a commitment, in short...you can't.
Meanwhile on Moten from those same sources as the Thomas news, there's a lot of '50/50' conversation between the Sooners and hometown Miami. I'll say again that Coral Gables sources I've talked to and heard from don't seem to have much confidence but we'll see where things go.
I'm not sure what to make of the wildly varied stories on Moten but as confident as I am in Thomas one would have to think it helps tremendously with his friend and teammate and, as such, I'm still going to stick with my forecast from yesterday - though I admit my confidence wanes, at least a little.
I'll have some more but wanted to get this out before getting onto other things this morning.
In the end it sounds like the Hurricanes will win him over with staying closer to home and much of the same rhetoric we've always heard from Miami with a new staff.
That said I continue to hear confidence about R Mason Thomas and feel good about where that is.
What's also interesting is that Oklahoma doesn't seem to have given up on Kevonte Henry. I think there is realism about the situation but he has not told OU he's headed to Arizona or anything like that and he's got a good relationship with Miguel Chavis. We'll see where it goes, and I'm still picking Arizona, but it doesn't feel as though Oklahoma thinks that race is run.
UPDATE: 11:46a - Also, I wanted to touch on the decommitment yesterday of 2023 athlete DeAndre Moore.
I'm told that this had nothing to do with Moore losing interest in Oklahoma - a reality that Moore himself backed up.
"OU is my dream school so if they want to recruit me for sure (they'd still be considered)," Moore said.
And that pretty much leads to the reality we'd been hearing, the new Sooners staff wanted to see more of his game before being ready to honor that offer. As such there hadn't been a lot of communication - if any - between Oklahoma and Moore as of late.
It's a sign that the Sooners are doing very sincere work in their evaluations but the reality is they just weren't ready to take Moore at this point.
We'll see if that changes but my feeling is that isn't likely.
UPDATE: 10:37a - OK, have had a chance to have some more conversations and it's insane that I finally gave in on Ahmad Moten and almost from that moment forward the trend seems to be moving in the wrong direction.
I've not heard anything I'm confident enough in to say 'yeah, he's gone' but it sure feels like the momentum is with Miami at the moment.
ORIGINAL: Guys, about to head to school drop off (I know, you all love to hear these updates) but I just had to pass along the first bit of information I got late last night.
Basically, what a difference a day makes...
While yesterday I was talking to sources outside of Norman who told me there was a lot more faith in the chance for Ahmad Moten than there was for R Mason Thomas my conversations late last night from sources a bit closer to the 405 area code had a near opposite feeling.
What I was told gives me more confidence in the situation with Thomas than I've had at any other point -I'd have a forecast in if you could do that on Rivals for a player who is currently still listed as a commitment, in short...you can't.
Meanwhile on Moten from those same sources as the Thomas news, there's a lot of '50/50' conversation between the Sooners and hometown Miami. I'll say again that Coral Gables sources I've talked to and heard from don't seem to have much confidence but we'll see where things go.
I'm not sure what to make of the wildly varied stories on Moten but as confident as I am in Thomas one would have to think it helps tremendously with his friend and teammate and, as such, I'm still going to stick with my forecast from yesterday - though I admit my confidence wanes, at least a little.
I'll have some more but wanted to get this out before getting onto other things this morning.
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