quigley

Getting a known P5 quality OT is rare. Really good get by them. On the TN side, Heupel has an opportunity to remake the roster I guess...with a poor recent history and sanctions looming. The only analogous situation I can think of is Penn St after JoePa died.

As I've stated before, Bookie was 1. Apparently a good locker room guy. OU players like Bookie. Several of them have tweeted about how much he helped them. 2. Definitely overmatched on the field and prone to goofball mistakes 3. Supposedly got a big following in the SoCal high school football scene and at IMG. Riley's got to achieve a few things with Bookie at this point: 1. Keep his locker room. His team likes Bookie. Why upset them? 2. Get better play at NB. Getting Bookie out gives more reps to players who fit better. 3. Recruit SoCal and IMG. OU just got a commit from a Mater Dei RB and will need to go back to SoCal and IMG annually. Having Bookie leave on good terms fulfills all of those agendas. Of all the guys OU's had portal out, there is only one you could say the OU coaches have said negative things about, and even that would be a stretch. When Rambo left, the WR coach retweeted a Devonta Smith quote about sticking through adversity. The OU staff has figured out that taking the high road is obviously the best way to handle things.

Dude, the pollen is really bad. And it's windy.

If you recall, the Trevor Knight buzz was reaching its crescendo at the time Baker was transferring (see Sugar Bowl 2014, OU vs Alabama). It would have OU may have been weird for OU to be in the market for a transfer QB. If OU was in the market for a transfer QB, it would have been a duel threat QB like Knight and Bell (they took a duel threat prep QB in Feb 2014 too). Baker was injured, replaced, a pain in the ass, and a QB that didn't fill the Sooners offense. As you see above, I'm willing to call it when OU coaches are blatantly lying (re: transfer tampering). I don't think Stoops was this time.

For about the past 4-5 years, the same scenario has played out once or twice annually: OU is reported overwhelming leader for a player for some period and then there is a sudden flip. When it happens with Ohio St that may be the Buckeyes reputation for success or the bag. When it happens with Mississippi State, it's the bag. LSU with Jacob Phillips is the story OU fans really enjoy.

Baker walked on at OU too. There was no contact between OU and Mayfield pre-transfer. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1885656-baker-mayfield-to-transfer-after-1-year-at-texas-tech That said, Riley admitted tamper with transfers. This is easily done with deniability from all. The intermediary is the player's high school coach, which is why it's convenient to have recruited the player during their prep days. Once OU had Wanya Morris on board, it's easy to see him as the link to Gray and Lawrence (who the Sooners also recruited out of high school).

Getting defensive holding on a play where the DL gets a sack is his specialty.

I'm surprised to see this level of vitriol from the UT fanbase. While he was well-liked by his coaches and teammates, his mistakes on the field were plentiful and painful. Outside of one play in the playoff game versus LSU, he wasn't a dirty player (he apologized for that one after the game). There were many instances of Bookie making a good play on 2nd down, and then celebrating and talking trash to the point that he and is teammates weren't ready for the next play. The distraction would result in him getting burned on 3rd down. If there were a player similar to him on a rival team, someone who could be relied upon to commit errors at critical times, I'd hope that he played for them forever.

I'm surprised to see this level of vitriol from the UT fanbase. While he was well-liked by his coaches and teammates, his mistakes on the field were plentiful and painful. Outside of one play in the playoff game versus LSU, he wasn't a dirty player (he apologized for that one after the game). There were many instances of Bookie making a good play on 2nd down, and then celebrating and talking trash to the point that he and is teammates weren't ready for the next play. The distraction would result in him getting burned on 3rd down. If there were a player similar to him on a rival team, someone who could be relied upon to commit errors at critical times, I'd hope that he played for them forever.

This was rumored a couple of weeks ago, and then crickets. What I'm reading into this is that Bookie, who's playing time diminshed as the season progressed, was facing the possibility of further reduction in PT with development of other options at NB. Getting Wanya Morris in the portal was great. Having Bookie leaves is almost as good. Personal foul would also have worked.

double post

Just a reminder, I didn't bring up OU's use of transfers here. Your confederates did in response to the Sooners' success in the portal this cycle. My responses have pointed out that OU's use of transfers isn't new, and there is no data to say it's been bad for recruiting HS players. I agree with you that OU's improved recruiting is due to a better on-the-field product. These positions are congruous.

OU has a history of taking transfers with multiple years of playing time available, JUCO transfers. From 2017-2020, they took 11. The Sooners recruiting has improved over this time. Empirically, the data supporting the assertion that taking transfers with multiple years available hurts HS recruiting isn't there. OU recruiting 2017: JUCO 3, 4 yr college transfer 1 (grad transfer) 2018: JUCO 2, 4 yr college transfer 0 2019: JUCO 3, 4 yr college transfer 2 (both grad transfer) 2020: JUCO 3, 4 yr college transfer 3 (2 grad transfer, 1 multiyear) 2021: JUCO 0, 4 yr college transfer 5 (1 grad transfer, 4 multiyear) Public comments about each of the multiyear transfers - Morris and Gray (4 to play 3): would go pro if they has a good 2021 (both are eligible) - Bowens (5 to play 4): likely re-portal in a year or two - Lawerance (5 to play 4): unclear One thing to consider is that most of the transfers won't be around when the HS recruits are upper classmen. 2022 and 2023 will teach us if there's something unique about getting multiyear transfers from 4 yr schools.

There are two responses: 1. They can get recruited over with high school kids, JUCOs, and even walk-ons at OU (walk-ons have started at QB, WR, RB, OL, LB at OU in the last 5 yrs). So what's the difference in transfers from 4 yr colleges doing the same thing? 2. Empirically, doesn't seem to matter. OU brought in transfer QB 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020 and has gotten #1 prep QB in 2019 and 2021. OU brought in two transfer WR last year and got the #4, #17, #22 WR in the country. They were second for the #1 WR, but I don't think he preferred Ohio St over OU because of transfer WRs coming in.

The data doesn't really support that assertion that there are more players leaving OU. I showed this either here or in the OU 2022 recruiting thread. It's been high (~ 50%) over the last five years. Several years ago, I went back looked at another long stretch and found similar numbers (you can rerun that yourself, if interested, I'm not going to do it again). The ability to have transfers with multiple years of eligibility is the difference. I that situation, the new school has seen you perform vs college athletes, knows your grades in college classes, and knows you can be trusted to live in dorms. So a lot of the projection isn't needed. I could see OU, and other smart programs, take advantage of this. Please spell out for me why this would be a negative to high school recruits. They know there are new players coming in behind them who are going to be talented. Whether the new players are from high school, 4-yr college transfers, JUCO tranfers, what difference does it make? I agree with you about 2021 being pivotal for OU on the national stage. Of the four regulars in the playoff (Bama, Clemson, Ohio St, and OU), the Sooners are the only one with a returning QB. Certainly, the others all have top flight youngsters, but this situation doesn't come around that often. Regionally, OU's not going anywhere as long as Riley's around. Sark may bring UT back, but it'll be like the Stoops-Brown era when you had annual top 10 match ups in the Cotton Bowl. I'd take that, wouldn't you?

Four of the six 2021 transfers have the option to play multiple years at OU (I annotated your summary, which was correct). I think OU views these guys with multiple years to play as part of the 2021 recruiting class. Prior to this year's (2017 - 2020), OU only had one transfer with an option to play multiple years (Murray, interior OL, UCLA, 2020). If the NCAA continues to have a relaxed policy on undergrad transfers, I think OU should, based on their history of poor retention of high schoolers, continue to look at the transfer portal for multi-year player with high upside. OU may have a slot still open for a portal or JUCO transfer. Arik Gilbert is still out there. I think they'd still take a high impact RB, WR, or safety.

Yeah, going 3-7 AND cheating...they aren't even cheating well. At least Hugh Freeze was winning games and putting guys in the league. vs Vanderbilt 4 - 5 (though won the last 2) vs Bama lost 14 in a row and only 2 of those were within 10 points and average loss was by 25. Vanderbilt had an easier time hiring than TN. Heupel + sanctions = further slide. It's unlikely that any of the transfers will still be around, but OU plays at TN in 2024.

That's why the quotation marks. PS - How'd you figure out my name?

His dad is Stockard, who played at OU. I guess OU's preference for tall DL may be the reason for no offer from the Sooners out of high school. He was very productive at a high level of high school ball and now in college too. May be another case of lack of height obscuring that fact that he can just really play.

Nebraska is OU's big non-conference game for 2021 (Norman, 50th anniversary of "game of the century") and 2022 (Lincoln). Sooners have been lucky (I guess) lately getting Tennessee and Nebraska in down cycles. Scott Frost was QB for the Huskers for a couple of epic beatdowns of the Sooners in the 1990s (Huskers hung 70 on OU) both games. I don't think OU will hold back.

Don't know. OU OL recruiting/transferring isn't predictable right now with Morris still in limbo and the take of the AZ interior lineman.

One thing to watch for is that Wanya Morris doesn't appear to have landed at OU yet.

That's a lot of revision there. Please refer to Murray thread on this board to learn what the UT fanbase thought of Murray after his performance at A&M. There were plenty of people questioning whether Hurts could succeed at OU in the Sooner fanbase. There were still people who questioned if he could throw the ball even after he was a Heisman finalist and NFL draft pick. And there was a bias against transfer QBs (with merit based on their success) prior to the OU experience of Mayfield, Murray, and Hurts. So yeah, market inefficiency. I know what it means too.

I can't post gifs!

How so? As long as they're upfront about it, I don't see this as a negative.