Tales from the recruiting trip
In an effort to give readers an expanded look at recruiting, OSU video coordinator Darnell Mayberry and I spent a couple of days in Dallas video taping and interviewing five high school players who have committed to OSU in the 2008 class. An intriguing revelation among a small sample of five players is OSU’s coaching staff, and their goal of helping every recruit earn a degree, arguably are as important of factors as the $284 million improvements on Boone Pickens’ Stadium.
Don’t get me wrong. OSU’s state-of-the-art changes at Boone Pickens Stadium will assist recruiting. But feeling comfortable with a coaching staff, convincing players OSU is a program on the rise, and a concentrated effort on graduating players, is music to parents’ ears. All five recruits mentioned getting a degree was extremely important. Four of the five said the reason they committed early last summer was “feeling comfortable” with the coaches.
Coach Mike Gundy and his staff have a shot at signing their third consecutive top 25 class in two weeks. Gundy has said he looks forward to the day the entire stadium, with new locker rooms and meeting rooms, will be completed in 2009. Recruits, though, already are buying into Gundy’s message. The big question is whether this is the season higher ranked recruiting classes start to pay dividends on the win-loss record?
Mike Baldwin
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment