First, the ground rules. For you new corral members, this is a special feature for subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board (as opposed to a normal story) is because it is the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Cowboy fans. This will only work if everyone helps make it work.
Furthermore, we're serious about this being a Corral-only piece. Everything that is reported in the Cowboy Roundup must stay in the Cowboy Roundup. That's the way this deal works. Sometimes the info is sensitive enough that it simply doesn't need to be passed on beyond the doors of this thread.
In this weeks installment of the Cowboy Roundup, we provide a few tidbits of information and analysis regarding some of the Cowboy targets still on the board along with some information and maybe an interesting note or two regarding some of OSU’s current commitments. Enjoy…
We’ll start with the Cowboys’ defensive line commitment from his week…
In our interview with Ephraim, Utah product Tonga Tea, he mentioned how he was impressed by the hospitality of the program in general along with the coaches as he was able to meet his position coach’s family.
“(Coach Barnes) is a pretty good guy and I like how he works with his players and everything. We went to his house and I met his family. They are just all around good people,” he said.
Now as far as where Coach Bedford and Coach Barnes see him lining up, Tea said it looked like that it would likely be the same spot he is currently playing at Snow College.
“It’s the same, they just said that I’ll be playing the three technique and, I mean, they lose almost their whole first and second string of inside guys so they said I’d have a chance to fight for a starting spot,” he said.
I don’t think there is any question that Tea can come in and compete for a starting spot right away. Obviously with junior college players it can be a crap shoot at times but there is no question that him being on campus for spring football will give him an advantage that most Juco guys normally do not have. (RC)
********************
One of the current linebacker commitments that may have had a few people scratching their head when he first hopped on board is McKinney, Texas product Kenny Alexander.
Slated to graduate early, Alexander took his official visit to Stillwater last weekend and he, along with just about every OSU commit that was there, raved about the trip and more importantly said he is really happy about his decision.
“I mean, I think it was everything that I expected and more so I guess I’ll have to go with (rating the trip as) a ten. Every time I go up there I like the school more and more. I’m really happy about my decision. I’ll be there January 5,” he said.
Another cool tidbit that shows how much the atmosphere on campus promotes a familial aura is that Alexander talked about how he met Tonga Tea on his trip and they evidently seemed to hit it off.
“Yeah, I think me and him are going to be roommates when I come up there. He’s real cool and he has so many stories just from living in Alaska and all that. He has so many stories and he’s just a cool guy,” he said. (JF)
********************
Even though we hadn’t been able to get a hold of Seguin, Texas linebacker and current Cowboy commitment Marcus Richardson for most of the summer, he certainly seems to be pretty talkative now that he has gotten his cell phone turned back on.
As we noted in the update this week, he was thrilled with his visit and can’t wait to get on campus but he did let us in on a little bit of information about a name to keep your eye on and he explained why.
“(The coaches and I) also talked a little bit about my cousin in Florida who I started recruiting and now they are on him and he is supposed to be planning to make a visit in January. Bernard Brinson, from Madison, Florida, he is my first cousin. He plays receiver, corner, or safety but if he comes up (to Stillwater) he is going to play safety,” noted Richardson.
It appears that the Cowboy tight ends coach may check and see what kind of interest they can get from the current Florida State commitment.
“Coach Meacham called him and talked to him and he sounded like he’ll come up and play with me. He is already committed to Florida State but I can get him to change his mind,” said Richardson.
Anyway, keep your eye on Brinson and although you may not hear much from him on this site, rest assured that Richardson is at least recruiting for OSU back in his old stomping grounds. (RC)
********************
Some of you guys might be wondering why the Cowboys have suddenly taken an interest in Snow College tight end prospect Devin Frishknecht.
This is mostly speculation on my part but my guess is that it is simply a back up plan for if Oklahoma State does not end up getting Wilson Youman. Youman became the top target at tight end after they lost out on David Williams to Arkansas a few months ago.
If OSU loses out on Youman, I’m not even sure they will continue to pursue Frishknecht because he is supposed to graduate in December and thus he may not be around for them to recruit.
The only scenario that I can think of that Frishknecht would be a legitimate target is if the staff gets the feeling that they will lose out on Youman soon compounded with the decision of whether or not taking a tight end in this class as a must.
Seeing as to how Youman is supposed to visit Stillwater during the weekend of January 12, I would imagine that they will hold out for Youman and then move on to another position if they lose out. (RC)
********************
Normally we will not provide much commentary on the 2008 prospects at this point because it is so early in their recruitment. Something that recruiting fans might want to pay attention to about Arlington, Texas wide out DeAundre Brown is that there is a chance me may be at a different school next year.
When talking to him and his father this week, Brown mentioned to me that he was unhappy with how his season played out because he felt that after the first three games the head coach started to try and showcase the seniors on the team and thus Brown’s playing time diminished even though he was one of the leading receivers.
His father echoed that statement along with noting that their football team did not win many more games once they took Brown out of the gameplan after the first few games.
Why does any of this matter? Well, sometimes a player can get lost in the midst of a school transfer and Brown’s father established that if the Arlington Seguin head coach came back this year that his son would likely transfer to Arlington Bowie high school essentially in an attempt to make a bigger name for himself as a senior.
A lot of preliminary recruiting rankings are based on junior film and therefore one of the potential sleeper prospects for the 2008 class is DeAundre Brown due to the fact that he didn’t get the exposure that most top junior prospects would have liked. (JF)
********************
Through much of the process for the class of 2007, Mike Gundy and his staff have focused almost exclusively on high school prospects. As signing day approaches, they are very selectively adding a few junior college targets in. That's a function of several different factors coming together - having a few extra scholarships available compared to the projection in August, identifying a few key "need" areas and finding JUCO prospects who they believe will be ready to contribute heavily from day one. The need areas would be wide receiver and defensive tackle, with safety and tight end also possibilities in certain scenarios.
They shored up the need on the interior defensive line in a big way with the commitment of Tonga Tea earlier this week. The feeling is that wide receiver Co-Eric Riley could become an OSU verbal commitment before long. The Cowboys may not be done at DT in the JUCO ranks either. Safety Michael Ricks from Northeast Mississippi C.C. is a name we told you about last week that the Cowboys are continuing to work on. (JJ)
********************
With Ryan Broyles narrowing his list to Arkansas and OSU, look for him to back off his season-long stance that an official visit to Stillwater wasn't necessary because of his familiarity with OSU. With Tennessee eliminated, there's no reason to take his scheduled visit there. Look for Broyles to join the big group of OSU official visitors on January 12th. (JJ)
********************
Defensive end Brandon Joiner's commitment to Texas A&M was a tough blow for Doug Meacham, who had worked long and hard to just get Joiner interested in OSU. The snow out that caused Joiner's OSU visit to be cancelled really hurt. Still, Joiner's mother wants her son to take a visit to OSU before settling completely on his commitment to the Aggies. At this point, we think Joiner will be in the Jan. 12th group and are working to confirm that fact. (JJ)
This post was edited on 12/17 9:52 AM by Jeff J.if(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
Furthermore, we're serious about this being a Corral-only piece. Everything that is reported in the Cowboy Roundup must stay in the Cowboy Roundup. That's the way this deal works. Sometimes the info is sensitive enough that it simply doesn't need to be passed on beyond the doors of this thread.
In this weeks installment of the Cowboy Roundup, we provide a few tidbits of information and analysis regarding some of the Cowboy targets still on the board along with some information and maybe an interesting note or two regarding some of OSU’s current commitments. Enjoy…
We’ll start with the Cowboys’ defensive line commitment from his week…
In our interview with Ephraim, Utah product Tonga Tea, he mentioned how he was impressed by the hospitality of the program in general along with the coaches as he was able to meet his position coach’s family.
“(Coach Barnes) is a pretty good guy and I like how he works with his players and everything. We went to his house and I met his family. They are just all around good people,” he said.
Now as far as where Coach Bedford and Coach Barnes see him lining up, Tea said it looked like that it would likely be the same spot he is currently playing at Snow College.
“It’s the same, they just said that I’ll be playing the three technique and, I mean, they lose almost their whole first and second string of inside guys so they said I’d have a chance to fight for a starting spot,” he said.
I don’t think there is any question that Tea can come in and compete for a starting spot right away. Obviously with junior college players it can be a crap shoot at times but there is no question that him being on campus for spring football will give him an advantage that most Juco guys normally do not have. (RC)
********************
One of the current linebacker commitments that may have had a few people scratching their head when he first hopped on board is McKinney, Texas product Kenny Alexander.
Slated to graduate early, Alexander took his official visit to Stillwater last weekend and he, along with just about every OSU commit that was there, raved about the trip and more importantly said he is really happy about his decision.
“I mean, I think it was everything that I expected and more so I guess I’ll have to go with (rating the trip as) a ten. Every time I go up there I like the school more and more. I’m really happy about my decision. I’ll be there January 5,” he said.
Another cool tidbit that shows how much the atmosphere on campus promotes a familial aura is that Alexander talked about how he met Tonga Tea on his trip and they evidently seemed to hit it off.
“Yeah, I think me and him are going to be roommates when I come up there. He’s real cool and he has so many stories just from living in Alaska and all that. He has so many stories and he’s just a cool guy,” he said. (JF)
********************
Even though we hadn’t been able to get a hold of Seguin, Texas linebacker and current Cowboy commitment Marcus Richardson for most of the summer, he certainly seems to be pretty talkative now that he has gotten his cell phone turned back on.
As we noted in the update this week, he was thrilled with his visit and can’t wait to get on campus but he did let us in on a little bit of information about a name to keep your eye on and he explained why.
“(The coaches and I) also talked a little bit about my cousin in Florida who I started recruiting and now they are on him and he is supposed to be planning to make a visit in January. Bernard Brinson, from Madison, Florida, he is my first cousin. He plays receiver, corner, or safety but if he comes up (to Stillwater) he is going to play safety,” noted Richardson.
It appears that the Cowboy tight ends coach may check and see what kind of interest they can get from the current Florida State commitment.
“Coach Meacham called him and talked to him and he sounded like he’ll come up and play with me. He is already committed to Florida State but I can get him to change his mind,” said Richardson.
Anyway, keep your eye on Brinson and although you may not hear much from him on this site, rest assured that Richardson is at least recruiting for OSU back in his old stomping grounds. (RC)
********************
Some of you guys might be wondering why the Cowboys have suddenly taken an interest in Snow College tight end prospect Devin Frishknecht.
This is mostly speculation on my part but my guess is that it is simply a back up plan for if Oklahoma State does not end up getting Wilson Youman. Youman became the top target at tight end after they lost out on David Williams to Arkansas a few months ago.
If OSU loses out on Youman, I’m not even sure they will continue to pursue Frishknecht because he is supposed to graduate in December and thus he may not be around for them to recruit.
The only scenario that I can think of that Frishknecht would be a legitimate target is if the staff gets the feeling that they will lose out on Youman soon compounded with the decision of whether or not taking a tight end in this class as a must.
Seeing as to how Youman is supposed to visit Stillwater during the weekend of January 12, I would imagine that they will hold out for Youman and then move on to another position if they lose out. (RC)
********************
Normally we will not provide much commentary on the 2008 prospects at this point because it is so early in their recruitment. Something that recruiting fans might want to pay attention to about Arlington, Texas wide out DeAundre Brown is that there is a chance me may be at a different school next year.
When talking to him and his father this week, Brown mentioned to me that he was unhappy with how his season played out because he felt that after the first three games the head coach started to try and showcase the seniors on the team and thus Brown’s playing time diminished even though he was one of the leading receivers.
His father echoed that statement along with noting that their football team did not win many more games once they took Brown out of the gameplan after the first few games.
Why does any of this matter? Well, sometimes a player can get lost in the midst of a school transfer and Brown’s father established that if the Arlington Seguin head coach came back this year that his son would likely transfer to Arlington Bowie high school essentially in an attempt to make a bigger name for himself as a senior.
A lot of preliminary recruiting rankings are based on junior film and therefore one of the potential sleeper prospects for the 2008 class is DeAundre Brown due to the fact that he didn’t get the exposure that most top junior prospects would have liked. (JF)
********************
Through much of the process for the class of 2007, Mike Gundy and his staff have focused almost exclusively on high school prospects. As signing day approaches, they are very selectively adding a few junior college targets in. That's a function of several different factors coming together - having a few extra scholarships available compared to the projection in August, identifying a few key "need" areas and finding JUCO prospects who they believe will be ready to contribute heavily from day one. The need areas would be wide receiver and defensive tackle, with safety and tight end also possibilities in certain scenarios.
They shored up the need on the interior defensive line in a big way with the commitment of Tonga Tea earlier this week. The feeling is that wide receiver Co-Eric Riley could become an OSU verbal commitment before long. The Cowboys may not be done at DT in the JUCO ranks either. Safety Michael Ricks from Northeast Mississippi C.C. is a name we told you about last week that the Cowboys are continuing to work on. (JJ)
********************
With Ryan Broyles narrowing his list to Arkansas and OSU, look for him to back off his season-long stance that an official visit to Stillwater wasn't necessary because of his familiarity with OSU. With Tennessee eliminated, there's no reason to take his scheduled visit there. Look for Broyles to join the big group of OSU official visitors on January 12th. (JJ)
********************
Defensive end Brandon Joiner's commitment to Texas A&M was a tough blow for Doug Meacham, who had worked long and hard to just get Joiner interested in OSU. The snow out that caused Joiner's OSU visit to be cancelled really hurt. Still, Joiner's mother wants her son to take a visit to OSU before settling completely on his commitment to the Aggies. At this point, we think Joiner will be in the Jan. 12th group and are working to confirm that fact. (JJ)
This post was edited on 12/17 9:52 AM by Jeff J.if(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
