First are 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.
We’ll start off with a bit more on defensive line coaching prospect Steve Stripling.
He is in Stillwater right now, and we'll make a slight leap and say he is set to interview sometime today or tomorrow, perhaps both (once with Beckman, later with Beckman and Gundy, for example). (JJ)
********************
It was discussed in the corral this week that Marlin, Texas running back Travis Miller is obviously one of those guys that you really root for simply because of what he has been through growing up.
I do not know many details on that but you can certainly tell that it has shaped him into a sharp young man as he is very polite and articulate and possess a great attitude towards life.
A great example of this is that Miller chose to move primarily to slot receiver this year as a senior so that his senior teammate, Antonio Moore, could get more exposure as the running back for the Bulldogs. With that said Miller certainly did his part when he did see time in the backfield as well as when he was catching the ball.
“I didn’t play much running back this year but [I had] around 700 yards rushing as I played mostly wide receiver. I had about 15 total touchdowns rushing and receiving,” he said.
Miller is being recruited to Oklahoma State as a running back and while it seems logical that he may be a solid redshirt candidate, he has other plans.
“I’m not going to redshirt, I might get some playing time. [Coach Gundy] said it is whoever can come in and shows they can play is going to start so I’m going to work and try to do what I can do to try and get me a firm position,” he said.
Needless to say, Miller’s maturity has also developed in him an air of confidence which is what you need in a runner. His ridiculous speed is without question but Miller may need to bulk up a bit if he thinks he can come in right away and take away the spot from Kendall Hunter, who at this point has to be the prohibitive favorite for the position. (JF)
********************
The one prospect right now whose status on the Oklahoma State priority list either takes a huge jump or flat out disappears with J.R. Bryant and his announcement today is Solon, Ohio product Steve Greer.
A late comer to the party so to speak, Greer sounded super impressed with his official visit to Stillwater last weekend. It was his first official visit though so he did not have much to compare OSU with but it appears that the Cowboys have positioned themselves well should they lose out in Garden City.
As for what happens now, look for Greer to take for sure one more visit if not more beginning this weekend with a trip to Chapel Hill, NC.
“I’m not sure yet but I might be taking another visit after that but right now I’m just got the one to North Carolina,” he said.
Currently holding offers form Air Force, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Army, Eastern Michigan, Rice, and Eastern Illinois, Greer is one of those few prospects that blossoms during their senior year and starts to become a pretty highly touted prospect.
Credit is due to Tim Beckman for getting Greer to visit as the Ohio connection certainly had to help from a familiarity aspect and there have been lots of comments regarding the fact that it would be nice to have a solid Big 10 type linebacker on the squad.
I agree in that Greer I think would mesh well with this team, the only issue is that at this point he appears to be not at the top of the priority list. We’ll know if he jumps to the top if Bryant chooses to go elsewhere. (RC)
********************
It's been a busy week for HC Mike Gundy.
He's been on the road all week, doing in-home visits with the likes of Jeremy Gray, Victor Johnson, and De'Anthony Curtis, among others.
Gundy's not just working on the 2008 class though…
One of the Rivals.com reporters who covers recruiting in Texas told us that Gundy was expected to be at Friendswood HS to check in on '09 quarterback Jacob Karam.
An update on 2010 prospect Corey Nelson also made mention of Gundy hitting Dallas Skyline.
Those members of his staff who still have uncommitted or soft committed targets are working those while the rest of the staff is seeing their commitments and getting a big head start on 2009. (JJ)
********************
There has been some discussion on the commitment of Waco, Texas defensive back Victor Johnson and whether or not he will take an official visit to Miami this next week.
As we mentioned, once Johnson’s commitment went public, we had actually talked to him earlier in the night before he committed. At that time he said that he was planning on taking his trip to Miami next Thursday (Jan 31).
Now once we talked to him after the commitment he appeared to change his tune a little bit as it is safe to say that Coach Meacham likely persuaded him to think otherwise.
“Well, I’m supposed to take my visit to Miami next Thursday but I’m not so sure, I’ll probably have to cancel it. I’ve got to talk to my coach and tell him what it is face to face because I talked to him yesterday and I told him I was going to take the visit but then I had a little talk with my family and I decided to go ahead and commit,” said Johnson.
All in all, I do not expect Johnson to visit Miami. I know it is his dream school but he is very close with his grandmother which helps OSU in two ways, the first of which is that she wanted Victor to go to OSU. At least that is what he said and he mentioned it several times.
Second, Coral Gables is obviously much further away from Waco than Stillwater and I got the sense that while Miami would have been intriguing for Johnson, he would have a tough time being that far away from home and that ultimately is what I think put OSU over the top along with OU “filling up” on spots.
Speaking of that, I mentioned this in the corral but Oklahoma wanted Victor Johnson, bad. The only thing was that they wanted him to commit while on his official visit.
He was the first to visit with Stoops last Sunday and you can bet that Stoops tried to get him to commit to OU and Johnson said he wanted to think things over. Once Johnson left, they put the same sell on Zaviar Gooden who also wanted to think things over. Thirdly, they put the same sell on junior college prospect David Sims who did commit to OU as a result.
As soon as Sims was on board the scholarship was taken. Once that happens you immediately call those prospects that did not commit and you tell them that their offer was filled by someone else and that they no longer have an offer. The key is getting that word out that they filled up on spots before Johnson/Gooden makes his commitment to another school because OU likely felt that if either Johnson or Gooden had wanted to come to OU they would have committed when they had the chance.
It is a tactic that really only the big boys can get away with as they have an elitist attitude towards several of these kids. Some kids they are willing to wait for and go to the wire with but this case was not one of those and thus they had to save face. (JF)
********************
I know everyone likes a good mystery recruit story or something of the sort each year but this year seems to be one of those cases where nothing like that is going to happen, at least not to our knowledge at this point.
There is one thing that could affect the overall look of the class and that is the current qualification status of Spring, Texas native Brodrick Brown. When we talked to Brown this week we asked whether he was fully qualified.
“Yeah, I’ve got to, I forgot to get my score from my head coach and but we’ll try and find out because I don’t really know for sure but as of right now, yeah I’m qualified,” he hesitated.
I’ve never heard a kid sound so unsure of anything. That may have been because he really didn’t know and I’m hoping that is the case but while I did not ask what his GPA was he did tell me that his standardized test scores were a 730 on his SAT and a “13 or 14” on the ACT. We will hopefully be able to find out more with Brown once we talk to him on a post-visit update after his return from Stillwater this weekend.
The whole point of this is that while many are aware that Justin Williams is unlikely to qualify, there may be a chance that Brown doesn’t either. He very well may, but pay attention to what happens with Jamal Mosley this weekend.
With both Brown and Mosley being here on the same weekend, it will give the coaches a chance to figure out Brown’s academic standing with Mosley on campus. If they figure that Brown is good to go then I feel Mosley is out of spot unless the coaches strike out with Curtis.
If Mosley leaves this weekend as a Cowboy commitment, which is a possibility, then I believe that the coaches feel that Brown will not make it and they will either ask him to greyshirt or will sign and place him, ideally to Butler CC as a gesture for OSU getting Beau Johnson, Maurice Gray, and Swanson Miller.
Take it for what it’s worth but it certainly makes this official visit weekend and the reports that come out on Sunday something to anticipate. (RC)
********************
I got some info from someone close to the situation a few days ago regarding Kye Staley and his upcoming visit to Arkansas.
First, Staley said on the day he committed that he would very likely take some trips to schools other than OSU. So, there is no big surprise there.
Make no mistake, Bobby Petrino is throwing on a full-court press and rolling out the red carpet all at the same time. That said, Staley is close with his mother and she will have a very big role in his final decision on which school to sign with, so unless Petrino can convince her that it is really as short of a drive to Fayetteville as it is Stillwater, that is a huge plus.
The other two who are close enough to Kye to have input are Guthrie head coach Rafe Watkins and Cowboy center David Washington. Nothing Watkins has said publicly gives any indication that he would encourage Staley to do anything other than stick to his original pledge. Washington's allegiances are obvious.
The adage that "anything can happen if a kid is still taking officials" is true, and thus there has to be some concern among OSU coaches and fans, but the majority of factors are strongly in OSU's favor. (JJ)
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.
We’ll start off with a bit more on defensive line coaching prospect Steve Stripling.
He is in Stillwater right now, and we'll make a slight leap and say he is set to interview sometime today or tomorrow, perhaps both (once with Beckman, later with Beckman and Gundy, for example). (JJ)
********************
It was discussed in the corral this week that Marlin, Texas running back Travis Miller is obviously one of those guys that you really root for simply because of what he has been through growing up.
I do not know many details on that but you can certainly tell that it has shaped him into a sharp young man as he is very polite and articulate and possess a great attitude towards life.
A great example of this is that Miller chose to move primarily to slot receiver this year as a senior so that his senior teammate, Antonio Moore, could get more exposure as the running back for the Bulldogs. With that said Miller certainly did his part when he did see time in the backfield as well as when he was catching the ball.
“I didn’t play much running back this year but [I had] around 700 yards rushing as I played mostly wide receiver. I had about 15 total touchdowns rushing and receiving,” he said.
Miller is being recruited to Oklahoma State as a running back and while it seems logical that he may be a solid redshirt candidate, he has other plans.
“I’m not going to redshirt, I might get some playing time. [Coach Gundy] said it is whoever can come in and shows they can play is going to start so I’m going to work and try to do what I can do to try and get me a firm position,” he said.
Needless to say, Miller’s maturity has also developed in him an air of confidence which is what you need in a runner. His ridiculous speed is without question but Miller may need to bulk up a bit if he thinks he can come in right away and take away the spot from Kendall Hunter, who at this point has to be the prohibitive favorite for the position. (JF)
********************
The one prospect right now whose status on the Oklahoma State priority list either takes a huge jump or flat out disappears with J.R. Bryant and his announcement today is Solon, Ohio product Steve Greer.
A late comer to the party so to speak, Greer sounded super impressed with his official visit to Stillwater last weekend. It was his first official visit though so he did not have much to compare OSU with but it appears that the Cowboys have positioned themselves well should they lose out in Garden City.
As for what happens now, look for Greer to take for sure one more visit if not more beginning this weekend with a trip to Chapel Hill, NC.
“I’m not sure yet but I might be taking another visit after that but right now I’m just got the one to North Carolina,” he said.
Currently holding offers form Air Force, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Army, Eastern Michigan, Rice, and Eastern Illinois, Greer is one of those few prospects that blossoms during their senior year and starts to become a pretty highly touted prospect.
Credit is due to Tim Beckman for getting Greer to visit as the Ohio connection certainly had to help from a familiarity aspect and there have been lots of comments regarding the fact that it would be nice to have a solid Big 10 type linebacker on the squad.
I agree in that Greer I think would mesh well with this team, the only issue is that at this point he appears to be not at the top of the priority list. We’ll know if he jumps to the top if Bryant chooses to go elsewhere. (RC)
********************
It's been a busy week for HC Mike Gundy.
He's been on the road all week, doing in-home visits with the likes of Jeremy Gray, Victor Johnson, and De'Anthony Curtis, among others.
Gundy's not just working on the 2008 class though…
One of the Rivals.com reporters who covers recruiting in Texas told us that Gundy was expected to be at Friendswood HS to check in on '09 quarterback Jacob Karam.
An update on 2010 prospect Corey Nelson also made mention of Gundy hitting Dallas Skyline.
Those members of his staff who still have uncommitted or soft committed targets are working those while the rest of the staff is seeing their commitments and getting a big head start on 2009. (JJ)
********************
There has been some discussion on the commitment of Waco, Texas defensive back Victor Johnson and whether or not he will take an official visit to Miami this next week.
As we mentioned, once Johnson’s commitment went public, we had actually talked to him earlier in the night before he committed. At that time he said that he was planning on taking his trip to Miami next Thursday (Jan 31).
Now once we talked to him after the commitment he appeared to change his tune a little bit as it is safe to say that Coach Meacham likely persuaded him to think otherwise.
“Well, I’m supposed to take my visit to Miami next Thursday but I’m not so sure, I’ll probably have to cancel it. I’ve got to talk to my coach and tell him what it is face to face because I talked to him yesterday and I told him I was going to take the visit but then I had a little talk with my family and I decided to go ahead and commit,” said Johnson.
All in all, I do not expect Johnson to visit Miami. I know it is his dream school but he is very close with his grandmother which helps OSU in two ways, the first of which is that she wanted Victor to go to OSU. At least that is what he said and he mentioned it several times.
Second, Coral Gables is obviously much further away from Waco than Stillwater and I got the sense that while Miami would have been intriguing for Johnson, he would have a tough time being that far away from home and that ultimately is what I think put OSU over the top along with OU “filling up” on spots.
Speaking of that, I mentioned this in the corral but Oklahoma wanted Victor Johnson, bad. The only thing was that they wanted him to commit while on his official visit.
He was the first to visit with Stoops last Sunday and you can bet that Stoops tried to get him to commit to OU and Johnson said he wanted to think things over. Once Johnson left, they put the same sell on Zaviar Gooden who also wanted to think things over. Thirdly, they put the same sell on junior college prospect David Sims who did commit to OU as a result.
As soon as Sims was on board the scholarship was taken. Once that happens you immediately call those prospects that did not commit and you tell them that their offer was filled by someone else and that they no longer have an offer. The key is getting that word out that they filled up on spots before Johnson/Gooden makes his commitment to another school because OU likely felt that if either Johnson or Gooden had wanted to come to OU they would have committed when they had the chance.
It is a tactic that really only the big boys can get away with as they have an elitist attitude towards several of these kids. Some kids they are willing to wait for and go to the wire with but this case was not one of those and thus they had to save face. (JF)
********************
I know everyone likes a good mystery recruit story or something of the sort each year but this year seems to be one of those cases where nothing like that is going to happen, at least not to our knowledge at this point.
There is one thing that could affect the overall look of the class and that is the current qualification status of Spring, Texas native Brodrick Brown. When we talked to Brown this week we asked whether he was fully qualified.
“Yeah, I’ve got to, I forgot to get my score from my head coach and but we’ll try and find out because I don’t really know for sure but as of right now, yeah I’m qualified,” he hesitated.
I’ve never heard a kid sound so unsure of anything. That may have been because he really didn’t know and I’m hoping that is the case but while I did not ask what his GPA was he did tell me that his standardized test scores were a 730 on his SAT and a “13 or 14” on the ACT. We will hopefully be able to find out more with Brown once we talk to him on a post-visit update after his return from Stillwater this weekend.
The whole point of this is that while many are aware that Justin Williams is unlikely to qualify, there may be a chance that Brown doesn’t either. He very well may, but pay attention to what happens with Jamal Mosley this weekend.
With both Brown and Mosley being here on the same weekend, it will give the coaches a chance to figure out Brown’s academic standing with Mosley on campus. If they figure that Brown is good to go then I feel Mosley is out of spot unless the coaches strike out with Curtis.
If Mosley leaves this weekend as a Cowboy commitment, which is a possibility, then I believe that the coaches feel that Brown will not make it and they will either ask him to greyshirt or will sign and place him, ideally to Butler CC as a gesture for OSU getting Beau Johnson, Maurice Gray, and Swanson Miller.
Take it for what it’s worth but it certainly makes this official visit weekend and the reports that come out on Sunday something to anticipate. (RC)
********************
I got some info from someone close to the situation a few days ago regarding Kye Staley and his upcoming visit to Arkansas.
First, Staley said on the day he committed that he would very likely take some trips to schools other than OSU. So, there is no big surprise there.
Make no mistake, Bobby Petrino is throwing on a full-court press and rolling out the red carpet all at the same time. That said, Staley is close with his mother and she will have a very big role in his final decision on which school to sign with, so unless Petrino can convince her that it is really as short of a drive to Fayetteville as it is Stillwater, that is a huge plus.
The other two who are close enough to Kye to have input are Guthrie head coach Rafe Watkins and Cowboy center David Washington. Nothing Watkins has said publicly gives any indication that he would encourage Staley to do anything other than stick to his original pledge. Washington's allegiances are obvious.
The adage that "anything can happen if a kid is still taking officials" is true, and thus there has to be some concern among OSU coaches and fans, but the majority of factors are strongly in OSU's favor. (JJ)
