JimBob
01-20-2008, 09:08 AM
Region gets wise to state's hot recruits
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
1/20/2008
Oklahoma has become a football recruiting hotbed.
In the inexact business of college football recruiting, virtually nothing is certain.
So does it mean anything when Texas Tech has verbal commitments from four high school seniors ranked among the Rivals.com Oklahoma Top 25 -- more than Oklahoma (three), Oklahoma State (two) or Tulsa (three)?
Does it mean anything when eight of the state's top 25 players are strongly considering going to Kansas State, while only five are considering OU and eight have OSU on their lists?
"Often when you don't take these Oklahoma kids that are available, maybe a lot of times you feel you can get something better and sometimes what you're not recruiting is who's going to play real hard and who wants to be at your institution. I think sometimes that's overlooked," said East Central coach Travis Hill. "I think it's very, very important for any college program to have kids there whose primary reason to be there is not to go to the NFL, it's to play for that school and play at a high lev el and represent that school."
Oklahoma has always made a living recruiting in Texas. Sooner dynasties in the '50s, '70s and '80s were all built on talent harvested south of the Red River. Oklahoma State has always had moderate success in Texas, too, and in recent years has ramped up its efforts there.
And Oklahoma high schoolers, from Will Shields to Kevin and Aaron Lockett to LeShon Johnson to Wes Welker to Felix Jones, have repeatedly slipped through the cracks at OU and OSU.
But this year, the efforts of recruiters at other Big 12 Conference schools may be reaching new levels.
"There's always good players up there in Oklahoma," said Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. "And we've got several on our staff who are familiar with the state.
"If there are players, you just turn over stones until you find some."
Leach's point man in Oklahoma is former Sooner fullback Seth Littrell. At Kansas, it's Sooner State veteran Bill Young, who coached at Oklahoma high schools in the 1960s, at OSU in the '70s, at TU in the '80s and at OU in the '90s. And at Kansas State, it's Tim McCarty, who was head coach at East Central University in Ada from 2004-05 and has established deep ties here.
"Bill Young at the Univer sity of Kansas is about as thorough as it gets," Hill said. "All those guys are Oklahoma people and have coached here in the state, participated in the state, so that may have a large impact. . . . It's all about who you know."
Kansas, which grabbed three of Rivals.com's Oklahoma Top 25 last year, went 12-1 in 2007 with 14 players from Oklahoma, including six starters. Missouri won the Big 12 North with six Oklahomans, including two starters. Kansas State had three Oklahomans on its '07 roster, including two starters. In 2006, Iowa State mined five players from the Sooner State, two of whom started against OU this year.
But it's not like OU and OSU are failing in state. Both Oklahomans who made first-team All-Big 12 this season -- Curtis Lofton and Reggie Smith -- played at OU and are now going pro.
OU has secured Oklahoma's No. 1 player each of the last five years, and in 2006, when the state produced one of its best crops in years, the Sooners signed eight of the state's top 10. OSU signed seven players from Rivals.com's Oklahoma Top 25 the last two years and has two verbal commitments so far this season.
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
1/20/2008
Oklahoma has become a football recruiting hotbed.
In the inexact business of college football recruiting, virtually nothing is certain.
So does it mean anything when Texas Tech has verbal commitments from four high school seniors ranked among the Rivals.com Oklahoma Top 25 -- more than Oklahoma (three), Oklahoma State (two) or Tulsa (three)?
Does it mean anything when eight of the state's top 25 players are strongly considering going to Kansas State, while only five are considering OU and eight have OSU on their lists?
"Often when you don't take these Oklahoma kids that are available, maybe a lot of times you feel you can get something better and sometimes what you're not recruiting is who's going to play real hard and who wants to be at your institution. I think sometimes that's overlooked," said East Central coach Travis Hill. "I think it's very, very important for any college program to have kids there whose primary reason to be there is not to go to the NFL, it's to play for that school and play at a high lev el and represent that school."
Oklahoma has always made a living recruiting in Texas. Sooner dynasties in the '50s, '70s and '80s were all built on talent harvested south of the Red River. Oklahoma State has always had moderate success in Texas, too, and in recent years has ramped up its efforts there.
And Oklahoma high schoolers, from Will Shields to Kevin and Aaron Lockett to LeShon Johnson to Wes Welker to Felix Jones, have repeatedly slipped through the cracks at OU and OSU.
But this year, the efforts of recruiters at other Big 12 Conference schools may be reaching new levels.
"There's always good players up there in Oklahoma," said Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. "And we've got several on our staff who are familiar with the state.
"If there are players, you just turn over stones until you find some."
Leach's point man in Oklahoma is former Sooner fullback Seth Littrell. At Kansas, it's Sooner State veteran Bill Young, who coached at Oklahoma high schools in the 1960s, at OSU in the '70s, at TU in the '80s and at OU in the '90s. And at Kansas State, it's Tim McCarty, who was head coach at East Central University in Ada from 2004-05 and has established deep ties here.
"Bill Young at the Univer sity of Kansas is about as thorough as it gets," Hill said. "All those guys are Oklahoma people and have coached here in the state, participated in the state, so that may have a large impact. . . . It's all about who you know."
Kansas, which grabbed three of Rivals.com's Oklahoma Top 25 last year, went 12-1 in 2007 with 14 players from Oklahoma, including six starters. Missouri won the Big 12 North with six Oklahomans, including two starters. Kansas State had three Oklahomans on its '07 roster, including two starters. In 2006, Iowa State mined five players from the Sooner State, two of whom started against OU this year.
But it's not like OU and OSU are failing in state. Both Oklahomans who made first-team All-Big 12 this season -- Curtis Lofton and Reggie Smith -- played at OU and are now going pro.
OU has secured Oklahoma's No. 1 player each of the last five years, and in 2006, when the state produced one of its best crops in years, the Sooners signed eight of the state's top 10. OSU signed seven players from Rivals.com's Oklahoma Top 25 the last two years and has two verbal commitments so far this season.