Sooner Maze

I thought I would show some accountability on my recruiting efforts to follow up on my recruiting article on the Maze. Here is my review for my recruiting efforts this past season.

This past season's recruiting for Oklahoma involved filling 12 scholarships as well as welcoming chainsaw4 back to Oklahoma State. We have a 20+ season history fighting for recruits so I was curious if we would get right back to old business or wait a season.

I had the #1 GUESS rated QB William Hankins 196 miles from me. I was the closest elite program to him. First cycle results came back as 3 potential with Kansas as the only human coach challenging me for him. With 55 WE, high potential, 76 GI, 64 Tec, and 65 STR I was ready for war. I bumped Kansas off of him the second cycle and spent the rest of the time between then and signing day for an elite to trespass and pay with their life. I pumped a good amount of cash into him and had $150k+ waiting for the fight. Interestingly enough Florida was the only school that turned him yellow. I called Florida's best recruits to see if they wanted to play at Oklahoma without any luck. I turned the QB back to green and waited for signing day.

I lucked into having the #5 and #11 GUESS rated OLs in my backyard, as well as the #5 TE, #8 LB, and #10 DB. That is extremely rare for me to be able to fill those very close. Only minor bloodshed occurred with these as a couple coaches wondered if those recruits were for them - they weren't.

I watched a fascinating game unfold with the #3 GUESS WR. He was 169m from me and 179m from Texas. I scouted him the first cycle but wanted to save some cash for the QB - LSU has taught me that lesson once and once was enough. The WR scouting report came back as a 3 so I built a plan going forward that even though I had a Sr K and P I would recruit an undecided P as well as a K for next to no money. I also grabbed an undecided RB and LB that both would work for me in limited roles for the next four seasons. I figured I would hoard cash, wait for trespassers on the QB, then jump the WR that Texas was saving for me (he just didn't know it). The fascinating game that unfolded is first season Tulsa coach Groobsauce jumped Texas's WR. Tulsa had 16 scholarships and no bowl money. The poor guy didn't know that WR didn't belong to him. I figured this could work in my favor if Tulsa could somehow keep that WR yellow until signing day so I could take it after my QB signed.

Things didn't go as planned (imagine that in Wilkinson recruiting!) and Tulsa couldn't keep the WR yellow. Groobsauce died a horrible death filling 2 of his 16 available scholarships. Better luck at his next school.

After signing day I welcomed my new favorite QB to OU. I loaded up the armored truck full of cash and went out on the recruiting trail. Texas took the WR so I looked in Colorado at a Colorado vs USC battle. I also found a LB that Colorado and BYU were battling for. I looked at a couple other battles. Nothing looked fun. I thought about carrying over an insane amount of cash and just signing my K & P & undecided RB. I liked my class but that isn't how I roll.

I scouted WR Donald Anthony and he was a 3 with a 42 WE. He is only rated a 73.3 on GUESS. But he has 75 Ath and a 3.6 GPA. If I red shirted him and then had him play on my run offense for two seasons he could be a solid #2 receiver. I originally wanted to recruit and redshirt stud QB RB WR. I got the QB. I didn't love any RBs. My So* RB is a great receiver and my Fr* RB will be a great power runner. I can just skip a RB this season and get 1-2 next season when I have 18 scholarships.

I decide to send some CVs to the WR that is close. He was being pursued by Oklahoma State and Groobsauce's upstart at Tulsa. I signed him on the first cycle I chased him and kicked some dirt on Groobsauce's grave. I probably overspent.

That left me with one position to fill. I looked at the remaining battles again and found DB David Rodriguez that Arkansas and Kansas were on. High potential and 59 Work Ethic but only a 65.3 GUESS rating starting off. His 3.6 GPA starts appealing to me thinking if I red shirt him, as well as the WR project and my stud QB that wouldn't be a horrible class. I didn't know how much had been invested in him yet so I decided to send 100 CVs to him just to say hi to Arkansas and Kansas. He accepted 60 CVs and signed on the same cycle. I received a congratulatory site mail from hatroq thanking me for taking that DB so he can now work with a couple walk-ons that tell him they can really ball hard.

I send the Punter and a decent RB back to the pool. My class is done. Decent class. Eight high potential recruits, three average recruits, and a kicker. I told my stud QB recruit to expect to play in two NC games his Jr* and Sr* seasons.

I hope everyone else had a fun time out on the recruiting trail!