Helsley’s Back and Forth: Stay Awake Saturday
By John Helsley
Five things to review and anticipate in the world of OSU sports:
Rewind
1) Rice Remains. The biggest news coming out of the Rice win, other than the win, was the injury list. Jermiah Price (hand). Justin Blackmon (shoulder). Kendall Hunter (ankle). Dez Bryant (hamstring). Perrish Cox (shoulder). The hurts are mounting, and those don’t include the longer list of Cowboys playing with assorted bumps and bruises and aches.
2) Running in Place. OSU’s running game hasn’t been all that. The problem is three-fold: Struggles at guard, where two new starters are in place; Kendall Hunter’s injuries (past and present); an inability to adjust to either of the previous two. While it goes against the grain for Mike Gundy, if allowed to don the offensive coordinator hat (or bench), I’d work in reverse and pass to open things up for the run.
3) Richetti’s Ready? We’ve been waiting to see what made Richetti Jones the touted recruit before his very serious hip injury. Maybe Saturday night’s performance against Rice is a hint that he may be coming around and not becoming the next XLK. Jones looked quick off the ball and provided pressure at DE, something that’s been lacking. It was only a start, but at least it was something.
4) Zac’s Back? Answering a week of heavy questions concerning his health/performance, Zac Robinson played his best game of this season. Passes were sharper. Runs again featured a burst. Upon further review, the opinion (trotted out by yours truly first) that Zac was still overcoming the mental side of his previously sore hammy looks more accurate all the time.
5) Hoops Recruit. The Cowboys added another basketball commit, with Juco swing man J.P. Olukemi pledging to the Pokes. Sounds like a slashing scorer that Scout.com considers one of the top Juco recruits in the country. Travis Ford, with four commits to date, appears to be building something in Stillwater.
Fast Forward
Note: With the absence of opponent story lines — beyond the band — to consider this Saturday, we’re going to provide five players to watch against Grambling.
1) Beau Johnson. Because of a sore shoulder, Johnson wasn’t all that effective against Rice. If he’s better, we may get a better glimpse of what he has to offer. With Hunter’s status still in doubt, the Cowboys need to show some explosiveness at the RB spot, or risk becoming one-dimensional.
2) James Thomas. The sophomore linebacker out of LaMarque, Texas, played extensively against Rice, finishing with five tackles and a pass breakup. DC Bill Young said he made some mistakes, but overall played well. At a position loaded with seniors, Thomas represents the future of the position.
3) Tracy Moore. With Bryant ailing, the true freshman wide receiver from Tulsa Union could get a more prominent role in the offense. OSU coaches need to see what he can offer and there’s better time than this before hitting Big 12 play. At 6-2, 237 pounds and fast, Moore offers an appealing target.
4) Jeremy Smith. Watch to see if his redshirt is yanked. By all accounts, Smith is the real deal. And if the prognosis on Hunter and the running game don’t improve, coaches may be tempted to get Smith involved to help energize things and keep what was supposed to be a special season on track.
5) Alex Cate/Brandon Weeden. No sightings, so far, of the Cowboys’ backup QBs. Surely this Saturday.
OSU signing day update
By Scott Wright
At this point, it appears all of OSU’s 19 high school commitments have signed letters of intent today, joining the four junior-college players who signed early and are already attending classes.
There was plenty of drama from Saturday-Tuesday, but so far, signing day has lacked any surprises.
As for the spot vacated when Demontre Hurst jumped ship to sign with Oklahoma State, right now it looks unlikely that the Cowboys will add another recruit. So 23 might end up being the final tally on this class.
Guthrie prospect Donte’ Foster could still be a candidate for the final spot, if there is one. The biggest concern with Foster is that OSU coaches had anticipated he wouldn’t sign anywhere to play football. They didn’t bring him in for a camp, so they don’t have much of an idea what he looks like on the field, other than his highlight tape. And that almost completely consists of him playing offense, not defense. So there’s some fear of the unknown there.
I don’t necessarily see a lot of risk, because from all accounts, Foster is a good kid who attends class and stays out of trouble. And there’s no arguing that he’s got some special athletic skills, along with a knack for making big plays.
But to paraphrase Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, this is the Big 12, not intramural football. Coaches can’t be tossing around scholarship offers if they’re not 100 percent confident in the situation.
For those fans who are worried about the prospectus at cornerback, here’s an idea where that position stands.
The primary guys at that position will be seniors Perrish Cox, Terrance Anderson and Maurice Gray, with sophomore Markelle Martin also in the rotation. So cornerback isn’t an issue this fall, but next. That’s where Hurst’s defection is most damaging.
But Brodrick Brown redshirted last season and will get some valuable work in the summer and fall. Andrae May signed on Wednesday and should be ready to contribute after redshirting this fall. And Andrew McGee, the junior-college transfer from Mississippi, can play anywhere in the secondary. He plaeyd cornerback and safety at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
So the position isn’t in total disarray. Defensive tackle is far more questionable right now, without a lot of significant experience represented on the depth chart.
That’s one reason it won’t hurt OSU to hold its 24th scholarship from the 2009 class for next year, to add one more spot for a better player at a position of need.
As of now, OSU has 23 players who will be seniors this fall. But with the signing class of 23 today, the Cowboys are four scholarships over the limit of 85. Ryan Robinson has yet to qualify and could end up at a junior-college, but that still leaves three spots to open up by the end of spring.
That leaves 20 scholarship spots to fill next year. And let’s toss Dez Bryant in as an early departure for the NFL — that makes 21 scholarships available for next year’s class.
Not a huge class, so keeping that extra spot around might be a bigger benefit than filling it this late in the recruiting process.
tales from a tuesday
Today, my friends, was a very, very long day. But unless my editor calls in the next hour – and no offense to him, but I really hope that doesn’t happen — it’s over. A couple items crammed in that you might be interested in.
1. I spent today (and a bunch of time over the weekend and yesterday) working on a story about suspended OSU pitcher Andy Oliver. It’s long and complicated, but hopefully it will break things down for you all in a clear way. But to sum it up: Even though school starts in less than a week, nobody knows what’s gonna happen.
2. OSU got a point guard commit for ‘09. Apparently the kid was phenomenal over the summer at the AAU tournaments. Talked to him between reading court documents and emails between the NCAA, former Oliver attorneys and the like.
3. I put my pretty little potted African violet outside for exactly three hours, the same time frame when OSU football practice happened today. They hadn’t had any sun in a while, and I figured that they would be OK for a couple hours. When I got home, the flowers were dead. I’m just saying, it’s brutally hot and I feel for those poor guys out there in football pads. Hope the forecast is correct about things cooling off later this week.
by andrea cohen
Bixby’s Brown unlikely for Cowboys
By Ray Martin
rmartin@oklahoman.com
Bixby tight end Greg Brown hasn’t scratched OSU off of his Division I list, but the junior said schools like OSU hurt their chances after signing so many tight ends in 2008.
OSU signed four to accomodate its multiple tight end offense, which apparently didn’t settle well with Brown. Check out his comments in Sunday’s Oklahoman or on NewsOK.
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
