Douglass football team to open season on TV at Cowboys Stadium
The Douglass Trojans will begin the defense of the Class 4A state football championship on national television in September.
The Trojans have been invited to play in the Kirk Herbstreit Kickoff Classic, which will be held on Labor Day, Sept. 5, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The event will feature four games in all, with Douglass taking on DeSoto (Texas) High School in the third game of the day, set to kick off at 4:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Oklahoma (Cox 37).
Tickets will be good for all four games and will be sold in advance at Douglass at a cost of $15 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets purchased at the event will be more expensive.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Edmond North camp featuring a lot of new faces
Will there be name tags available at Edmond North for the three-day camp that begins Wednesday?
I kid, well, kind of. However, there are going to be a lot of new faces in some of the familiar places when the 15 teams get together.
This is a big ‘get’ for Edmond North as this camp continues to get bigger and bigger. I joked with coach Jeremy Dombek about whether or not the Huskies had enough room to have 15 teams practice. The North campus is big, but that’s a lot of teams.
Off the top of my head, here are the new coaches showing up: Justin Jones (from Woodward to Bishop McGuinness), Chad Stone (from Edmond North assistant to Altus), Tucker Barnard (from Arkansas to Stillwater), Wade Standley (from Kansas to Norman North) and Lance Manning (from Norman North to Edmond Santa Fe).
Yep, this will be the first opportunity for former Timberwolves coach, Manning, to go against Norman North now that he’s in charge at Santa Fe.
If the camp stays at the same schedule it’s had in the past, the teams will go from station-to-station to 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Then from 11 a.m. to noon, it’s been broken up into 20-minute scrimmages.
Each set of teams had 50 yards to work with. However, that’s when there were 12 teams instead of the 15. It’s a heavy west-side flavor, but Bixby’s Spartans will once again be making the trek, too.
Either way, I plan on being camped out at North the next three days for videos, observations and all those other good things.
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Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
Jim Thorpe Football game rosters
Jim Thorpe Football Rosters
Here are the rosters for the Jim Thorpe football game at 7 p.m. on Friday at Mustang.
Suburban
Darren Davenport, Bethany; Devin Campbell, Bethany; Zach Ray, Blanchard; Jake Stubblefield, Blanchard; Quincy Johnson, Carl Albert; Kenton Whittington, Carl Albert; Kyle Croak, Carl Albert; Tanner Hessman, Choctaw; Isaiah Byrd, Deer Creek; Michael Coleman, Deer Creek; Cody Shaw, Del City; Kameron Doolittle, Edmond Memorial; Travis Townsend, Edmond North; Kyle Aschenbrenner, Edmond North; Lex Rosson, Edmond North; Patrick Hinton, Edmond Santa Fe; Brandon Reece, Edmond Santa Fe; Greg Austin, Midwest City; Jesse Venzor, Midwest City; David Cowan, Moore; Ryan Crain, Moore; Blake Riojas, Newcastle; Landon Chappell, Newcastle; Jimmy McDade, Newcastle; Stephan McElroy, Norman; Jaime Myers, Norman; Daniel Davis, Norman North; Raymond Demby, Norman North; Jordan McAdoo, Piedmont; d’Vante Henry, Southmoore; Lucas Stalnaker, Southmoore; Tanner Koons, Tuttle; Kenneth Mayfield, Western Heights; Cody Cates, Westmoore; Eric Granado, Yukon; Jake Doyle, Yukon.
Urban
LaRone Richardson, McGuinness; David Krenger, McGuinness; Jamaal Whitney, McGuinness; Ontineil Zavaler Jr., Capitol Hill; Blake Giles, Crooked Oak; Shawneil Skanes, Crooked Oak; Trevon Jones, Crooked Oak; Donell Ward, Douglass; Ian Robinson, Douglass; Ravi Riley, Douglass; Denzelle Johnson, John Marshall; Dejon Brison, John Marshall; Kody Stamm, John Marshall; Jeremy Barnhill, Jones; Larry Seals, Millwood; Michael Cole, Millwood; Kevonte Richardson, Millwood; Andrew Aguilar, St. Mary; Cale Witter, Mustang; Tyler Webster, Mustang; Justin Moore, Northeast; Brison Currin, Centennial; Cole Kimmell, Putnam City; Caleb McFarland, Putnam City; Carson Lynn, Putnam City; Covin Conrady, Putnam City North; Andy Bates, Putnam City North; Matt Kemp, Putnam City West; Jay Gogue, Southeast; Anthony Frazier, Southeast; Nelson Williams, Southeast; Stevo Henderson, Star Spencer; Alex Levescy, US Grant.
Jarion Tudman, Jared Benway make Edmond North dangerous
Concluded my spring football two-week tour with a stop at the Edmond North Navy-White scrimmage Friday night. Forgot just how many good players are coming back for Jeremy Dombek.
I’ve spent a good time thinking about how big it is that RB Jared Benway will be back after his leg injuries, but he’s just one cog of a lot of solid parts for the Huskies.
It was a long day for North kids. Finals were Friday. They watched film, lifted weights. Basically, nobody was at their best in the hour-long (give or take) scrimmage. However, you see the potential of why this could be the most explosive team North has had in a while.
The combo of Benway and Jarion Tudman could be downright scary. Benway with the power and Tudman with the sprinter’s speed. Tudman never got to see Benway being Benway because of last year’s injury so Tudman admitted he’s pretty pumped about watching Benway. And having Benway block for him won’t be bad.
At receiver, looking at Garrett Molinsky and Troy Davis. No speed burners there, but two incredibly reliable possession receivers. And Heath Newland is anchoring the offensive line.
Defense dominated the day for the most part Friday. I really like the development of Christian Peterson this year, think he’s a budding star in the secondary. Upfront, love the work of Brock Byford. Also will have one of the best kickers around in Camden Bohnert.
Figured Jesse Mathews would have the QB spot wrapped up, but I liked what I saw from Luke Hoskins. Mathews will find his way on the field one way or another, regardless.
In breaking it down, agree with what Dombek said about Friday. It was good effort but not a good evaluation of what the team has. For that, well, we might find out more next week as 15 teams are rolling into Edmond North for a three-day camp (I’ll be there all three days).
Look for video with Tudman on NewsOK this weekend.
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Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
George Kittle, Norman offense will be fun to watch
Slowly making the rounds for spring football. We’re just about done and one of my final stops was Wednesday evening at Norman to watch the Tigers’ Orange-White scrimmage.
If you wanted to see how good running back Donovan Roberts looks, well, you were out of luck. Roberts had less than five carries. However, he did throw a touchdown pass on the first play of the scrimmage. You can’t expect Roberts to get a test in spring so that made sense.
However, if you wanted to see the development of the passing game, bingo, you were in luck. Last year I became enamored with Roberts and Jaime Myers that I didn’t really notice anybody else. This year? Um, it’s hard to not notice George Kittle.
Kittle recently earned an offer from Air Force and you can see why. Not only does he have tremendous size (6-4 and at least 200 pounds), but he is a solid athlete.
Talking with Scott Wright, and he was mentioning how Kittle is able to dunk with ease. That makes sense. Kittle made a lot of nice plays and caught a touchdown.
Kittle makes life a lot easier for quarterback Zach Long. No longer a young pup, Long looks a lot bigger and a lot more comfortable playing the part. Coach Greg Nation said Long still has aways to go, but he’s making a lot of progress.
Also my first chance to see OL Foster Hare. If you didn’t know who he was, it wouldn’t take you long to find out. At 6-7 and 300 pounds, he towers over the rest of the Norman players.
The scrimmage split up the seniors and then let the senior captains pick their players. It was a fun time, but you cannot learn too much from a spring scrimmage with the way the teams are divided.
Either way, I didn’t have Norman sniffing the top 15 yet alone the top 10 last year. This year? Um, don’t be shocked to see the Tigers in the single digits. Replacing nine of 11 starters on defense will be tough. But when you have Roberts, Kittle and Long, that will offset some of the pressure.
Norman will be a team camp in Tulsa in early June (hmm, not sure if I can get out there). Definitely would like to see this team in the summer. We’ll see.
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Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
Lawton’s D.J. Ward adds Oklahoma State, Oregon State to offer list
Take everything I said here, and let’s just add to it. Lawton junior-to-be defensive end D.J. Ward added offers from Oregon State and Oklahoma State on Friday.
Ward has picked up four offers from big-time programs in the last four days. Texas Tech on Tuesday, Oklahoma on Thursday and now the Cowboys and Beavers on Friday. He has eight offers total.
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Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
Mustang announces hiring of Scott Selby as baseball coach
After 15 years as a college head coach, Scott Selby is returning to the high school ranks.
Selby is leaving Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford to become the new baseball coach at Mustang High School.
“Scott Selby is a home run hire for Mustang High School and our baseball program. He has built top notch programs and experienced success at a very high level,” said athletic director Chuck Bailey. “We feel very fortunate to land a coach of this caliber for our program.”
Selby was an assistant coach at Yukon from 1988-1997 when he was hired as the head coach Southern Nazarene University. He left after the 2007 season and spent four years at Southwestern, concluding with a 33-win season and top 25 ranking this spring.
Selby was an All-State second baseman at Duncan High School in 1982. He replaces former Mustang coach Tony Evans, who resigned on May 9.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
All-state slowpitch softball rosters
All-state slowpitch softball rosters
Here are the rosters for the Oklahoma Slowpitch Softball Coaches Association’s all-state games June 18 at the University of Oklahoma Softball Complex.
Large West
Nicole Nelson, Blanchard; Logan Huey, Purcell; Peyton Watson, Little Axe; Kendra Pierce, Westmoore; Bailey Goldsby, Purcell; Haley Strawn, Southmoore; Lacey Williams, Little Axe; Hannah Coker, Moore; Olivia Meek, Norman; Hilary Murphy, Bristow; Chelsea Reeves, Sulphur; Sam Plott, Blanchard; Kalie Marcum, Purcell; Tara Goodman, Tecumseh; Presli Manuel, Byng; Masie Cully, Moore; Tanner Moody, Norman North; Rachel Rischard, Westmoore; Shelby Smith, Blackwell.
Large East
Heather Bunn, Hugo; Samantha McGraw, Tulsa Union; Shelby Winters, Muskogee; Leiloni Smith, Vian; Erica Sampson, Tahlequah; Courtney Allison, Poteau; Tori Venable, Muskogee; Carlie Robertson, Roland; Jessica Patrick, Tahlequah; Rachel Hankins, Jenks; Ashley Boswell, Tahlequah; Emily Emberson, Keys; Mallory Martin, Stigler; Kelcie Franklin, Valliant; Fontana Tate, Muldrow; Joely Rogers, Sand Springs, Ashley Neritt, Fort Gibson.
Lawton’s D.J. Ward picks up Oklahoma offer
It’s rare for Oklahoma to make an offer to a football recruit that’s not for the upcoming year and is also an in-state product. But that’s the type of talent Lawton defensive end D.J. Ward has.
Ward, who will only be a junior in the fall, picked up an offer from OU on Thursday to give him six total and second from a Big 12 school this week. Texas Tech offered Ward on Tuesday.
“D.J. is a kid who just does everything that is asked of him,” coach Randy Breeze said. “He’s never content. He’s always wanting to do more to help the program.”
Ward burst onto the scene last year and received some looks when scouts were looking at stars wide receiver Tyrequek Zimmerman and linebacker Jabral Johnson. Zimmerman and Johnson are headed to Oregon State.
Ward, 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, had 94 tackles and nine sacks last season. He is considered my many recruiting experts as the top in-state prospect for the class of 2013. Ward also has offers from Tulsa, Texas A&M, Kansas State and Arizona.
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Not much to add here, except I loved getting to watch Ward last year. I haven’t been able to see him this spring, but nobody should be doubting his ability. He is the real deal.
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Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
Dillan Dansby returns for Carl Albert
It was a good battle for as long as it lasted last year between Taylor Hawkins and Dillan Dansby for the starting quarterback spot at Carl Albert.
Dansby earned the nod and Hawkins became one of the leaders on defense. However, Hawkins was thrust back into the role when Dansby went down. The Titan offense was starting to click with Dansby. But during a dominating win at Duncan in Week 3, Dansby tore his ACL.
The whole dynamic of the offense changed, obviously. But I remember coach Gary Rose talking about how much it impacted the defense because Hawkins could no longer be that leader on that side of the ball.
So in going out to Carl Albert earlier this week, great to see Dansby doing what he does. You could tell he was happy to be moving around and feeling healthy again, too.
He’s going to have to be healthy because it might be an uphill battle initially. You don’t lose stud linemen like Kyle Croak, Anthony Frazier and Colin Walker and not miss a beat. Rose knows this and basically cut me off before I could finish the question. Rose knows how important the line is with only one returning starter.
As Rose has always done, there will be no team camps for the Titans, and CA was only out Monday-Wednesday of this week. He lets them be kids in the summer and then ready to work in August.
It will be interesting to see if Hawkins and Alex Polston decide to once again keep up with summer baseball. Rose doesn’t mind it one bit that his kids play other sports. He encourages it and says it’s a great problem to have.
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Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
