Oklahoma football: Are OU, OSU recruiting enough Okies?
OU and OSU signed eight Oklahomans on Wednesday. That’s eight total.
The Sooners signed Edmond Santa Fe defensive end Mike Onuoha, Jenks tailback Alex Ross and Heritage Hall flanker Sterling Shepard. The Cowboys signed Tulsa Washington (and Navarro Junior College) defensive tackle Calvin Barnett, Madill tailback Caleb Muncrief, Wagoner cornerback Kevin Peterson, Broken Arrow tight end Zac Veatch and Stillwater kick returner Jesse Vester, though Vester might not qualify academically.
Now, both schools offered scholarships to a variety of other Oklahomans. Norman tailback Donovan Roberts. Heritage Hall tailback Barry J. Sanders, Owasso receiver Keon Hatcher. Maybe others.
But still, that’s not a huge haul. And it’s been the trend for several years. Both the Sooners and Cowboys are signing fewer and fewer Oklahomans. And Mike Gundy says that might be a mistake.
“I think we mess it up sometimes,” Gundy said. “There’s better players here than sometimes we think. It’s like the girl who lives down the street isn’t as pretty as the girl who lives across the country. We’re not doing a good enough job. We look hard at Oklahoma kids. But sometimes, when we feel somebody else is better, because of that, they’re like, ‘fine. Whatever.’ We need to do a better job combing with a fine tooth comb.”
OU walkon tailback Dominique Whaley is Exhibit A. Coming out of Lawton MacArthur, Whaley drew little interest. So he went to Langston University, was a backup tailback there, then transferred to OU without a scholarship.
In 2011, the Sooners also had the following in-state players contribute: flanker Ryan Broyles, guard Gabe Ikard, defensive end Ronnell Lewis, safeties Aaron Colvin and Jevon Harris, tight ends Trent Ratterree (another walkon) and Austin Heywood, defensive tackle Stacy McGee, cornerback Gabe Lynn, kicker Jimmy Stevens, deep snapper James Winchester and punter Tress Way. That’s a decent amount of in-state players.
You could argue either way, depending on perspective. The Sooners have been winning Big 12 titles (four in the last six years) without much in-state talent. Or you could say, some of the OU off-field issues came from players not caring enough about the program, which generally is not the case with homegrown talent.
What’s really happening at OU is a commitment to more national recruiting. The Sooners signed players from 11 states on Wednesday.
Bob Stoops didn’t apologize for the coast-to-coast approach, though he did say, “To recruit regionally is something you always want to do.”
OSU is not recruiting nationally so much, though the Cowboys have gone hard into Georgia and went West to Arizona and California this time. But OSU has focused primarily on Oklahoma and Texas, with more and more of that focus in Texas.
Still, the Cowboys had their share of in-state contributors in 2011, starting with three all-Americans: quarterback Brandon Weeden, receiver Justin Blackmon and offensive tackle Levy Adcock. Also from Oklahoma were receiver Josh Cooper, safety Daytawion Lowe, tailback Jeremy Smith, defensive tackle Cooper Bassett, receiver Tracy Moore, defensive tackle Christian Littlehead, offensive tackle Michael Bowie, fullback Kye Staley, receiver Colton Chelf, linebacker Tyler Johnson and center Casey LaBrue.
“Oklahoma players have been great for us,” Gundy said. “We’re finding, in in our league, guys coming out of Oklahoma are doing really well.”
In recent years, OSU’s ascension has garnered more respect outside the state than inside. Gundy said he thinks that is changing, with the Big 12 title and the Fiesta Bowl victory. “There’s some truth to the respect,” Gundy said. “More respect in the state of Oklahoma and other states. It’s something you have to earn. Recruiting is about being persistent. These young men want to be in a program where they have a chance to win it all. They want to be in the action.”
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
I agree with Gundy….I think we judge our own more critically because we know more about them. Without a healthy dose of what the identity and traditions are in a program, once a leak occurs like with TT and BU, it is hard to stop the flooding. PRIDE in a program matters. 2 years ago with all the injuries and losses, OU lost most of those games by single digits. Did we have more Okies on that team than this year? True we only lost to TT and BU by single digits, but in one of the biggest games of the year – Bedlam- no one showed up. Definitely not like OU. I am sure there are many reasons…things are complicated…but is one of the complications not having enough OKies and therefore not heart and pride in the program?
Or are we just chaing the best of the best in states that produce great talent?
I think it is a two-way street. I think some Oklahoma players need to show more interest in staying in state. I know there have been several in the past few years who were recruited but elected to leave. So, I don’t think it is just OU and OSU not recruiting them.
I agree. OU and OSU or even Tulsa will find it harder to get in state talent. We live in a more “global” world outside the world of college football and it also makes more sense that the technology that has expedited globalization in business, economics, and the way we live, has also impacted college football. Recruiting today has to be a nightmare…no longer is it about taking what you want from your own state or region – those kids are going to be lured away to other programs, coaches must be competitive nationally as well or settle for leftovers in their own small world. Hadn’t thought about that until Kenneth’s blog. Stoops is just adapting to a changing world…there is a reason why he gets paid the bucks he makes! Technology is greatly impacting allegiance and loyalties, customs and traditions, in all aspects of our life today.
Like the article. Point well-taken. Could there possibly be greater depth of Oklahoma talent than the prevalent opinion. (Even locally?) Most likely. Certain areas of the nation have greater exposure of their talent-i.e. southern California, Texas, Florida. (A “regional rep” probably adds at least a half a star.) Frankly, my opinion is the talent in the State of Oklahoma is rapidly ascending.
[...] Great call here by Berry Tramel: OSU and OU aren’t recruiting enough Oklahomans. (NewsOK) [...]
OU has had a lot of succes over the years with lots of in-state kids (e.g., Calmus, Lehman, Perkins, White, Bradford, Runnells, Sims, McCoy, Lofton and the others you mentioned), but OU has also signed a number of in-state kids, all of whom quit, transferred, flunked out or were booted despite being home-grown: Jameel Owens, Austin Haywood, Gus Jones, David Anderson, Jontae Bumpus, Kody Cooke, Jordan Nix, Chase Beeler, Chad Roark, Ben Barresi, Billy Blackard, Brandon Keith Courtney Tennial, Brian Zimpel, Cliff Takawana, Josh Tucker, Ronbrose Jones, Jacob Hagar, Bobby Klinck and Avery Shine.
All of those kids I’m sure had their reasons for leaving–some of which will be better than others (hard to blame Beeler for transferring to Stanford, for example)–but the premise that in-state kids are more loyal or less likely to quit just isn’t true. That has more to do with a kid’s character than where he is from.
But I agree that there are more in-state kids that could help OU and OSU than what they offer.
I feel OU needs to go up to Tulsa and Northeastern OK and really do some heavy duty recruiting. Stop the pipeline to Arkansas, etc.