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.
Well, it is certainly becoming routine to include any new news regarding Camden, Arkansas running back De’Anthony Curtis in the roundup. This time it is regarding our latest update with him as there were some tidbits that might be interesting to some.
As noted in the update last week Curtis confirmed that he still considers himself committed to the Razorbacks and plans to be that way at least until he takes his official visit to Fayetteville the weekend of January 18. With that said, we asked him about new Razorback head coach Bobby Petrino and whether the negative publicity about his tendency to switch jobs frequently would effect his decision.
“A little bit,” he said, so take it for what it is worth.
Nevertheless, he did imply that right now he is mostly looking at Arkansas and Oklahoma State whom he talked about respectively regarding what it is at this point that he likes about the two schools.
“[At Arkansas], it’s the home town school, the running game they had, and that’s about it,” he said. “[At OSU] it’s the coaches, being around the players, the facilities, and just being up there in Stillwater.”
Curtis did include that he is taking an official visit to Tennessee this upcoming weekend of January 11 before he makes trip to Arkansas so it sounds like the Volunteers are trying to make a late push but I’d be surprised if they are able to overtake either the Razorbacks or the Cowboys.
In the end, things should be a lot clearer in just over two weeks once Curtis takes his official to U of A because if he likes it there enough there is no question he will stick with his commitment but if he determines that he likes the OSU coaches better than the new Razorback staff then you never know what might happen. (RC)
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There had been a couple of rumors floating around that Markelle Martin was going to be greatly effected by the situation that had developed with Kody Spano.
As was portrayed in the update last week, Martin did say that Spano was influential in getting him to look at OSU initially. Once he was willing to listen to OSU I feel the coaching staff was able to sell him on the possibility of some serious playing time as a freshman.
With that in mind it was evident that while Martin would have liked Spano to still come to Oklahoma State it was not going to lead to him towards backing out of is commitment and thus Martin moved to Stillwater last Thursday and is now on campus.
Nevertheless, Martin did weigh on what he had last heard regarding Spano’s situation earlier before Spano decided to commit to Nebraska.
“I talked to the coaches and they said that the guy who didn’t graduate, they’ve got him doing extra work or whatever and there might be a chance (Kody) could get in and when I talked to Kody he was like ‘Well, that’s fine’ and he hadn’t talked to anybody about his plans or anything but he just wants to look around and make sure that is still the best option,” said Martin.
That seems to be pretty consistent with everything that we’ve heard in that there is a chance the scholarship could have ended up being available if Spano had wanted it but nevertheless it is all a moot point now with Spano set to enroll in Lincoln soon. (JF)
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I was getting paid to cover the U.S. Army All-America Bowl combine as a photographer, and that makes it a little bit harder to focus on which players are really impressive and figure out who they are.
One prospect that caught my eye and is hearing from Oklahoma State already is Frisco (TX) Centennial quarterback Ryan Mossakowski. The 6-5, 200-pounder is more similar to Brandon Weeden than Zac Robinson, but displayed a big, accurate arm and threw with great touch. (JJ)
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While there was not really any new news regarding the update with Kye Staley last week, it certainly resulted in an interesting response as several people were suddenly inundated with the notion that he is wavering in his commitment to OSU.
My impression on it is that Staley at this point is doing what is best for him and that is to check out of couple of the schools that have continued to recruit him and make sure that Stillwater is where he wants to be. It is not at all that I think he is taking official visits in hopes of finding a reason to not go to OSU.
Recruiting blue-chip prospects in football is what it is and just because a kid commits somewhere clearly does not mean he is going to be left alone by other schools. Schools will maintain contact and if something happens (i.e. coaching change) then they try and jump on the opportunity. It works both ways and De’Anthony Curtis’ recruitment is a great example.
Now, while there have been no coaching changes at OSU that have directly effected Kye, the schools that were recruiting him when he committed to OSU have naturally kept in touch and he is going to visit those schools to at least see what they have to offer.
So for now I would table the sentiment that Staley is looking for a way out of his OSU pledge or anything even remotely like that because I don’t get that sense at all. What I do get a sense of is that it is an 18 year old kid that is going to enjoy the recruiting process and take a few visits as he has maintained for several months now. (RC)
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Something that you guys may want to keep an eye on is Jackie Hinton and his desire to take all of his official visits.
Now let me state first that this is entirely speculation on my part and nothing more and nothing less but if Hinton does take some visits and perhaps takes a liking to another school along with OSU, then it wouldn’t surprise me to see his commitment tested by that school for the simple reason that I’m not sure how hard the OSU staff would fight to keep it, especially if they think they can get a Victor Johnson or beyond that a Lamar Harris or Zaviar Gooden.
The only reason this is a possible scenario is that it is my guess that the coaches would be willing to lose a good player in Hinton for a potential earlier difference maker in Johnson, Harris, Gooden, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Again, I’m just trying to stir up some discussion and this whole scenario may not play out anything like it but it is fairly obvious that there are more high quality players interested in OSU at this that are must haves than there are available spots left in the recruiting class. (JF)
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Well, the situation with Memphis, Tennessee tight end Jamal Mosley is an intriguing one because it is the classic case where a prospect is not as highly rated as he ought to be for the justifiable reason of him having some work to do in the classroom.
Now that Mosley has evidently taken care of what ever business he needed to get done, he has suddenly become a hot target and one that he Cowboy staff apparently really likes and the fact that his potential position coach is recruiting him has clearly given the Cowboys an advantage up to this point.
“I haven’t seen [Coach Meacham] in person other than last year when he came to my school when I was a junior but from talking to him so far he seems like a real nice guy and we have gained a real nice relationship. I talk to him and we have good conversations and all that stuff and all throughout my recruitment I had yet to be recruited by my position coach and I’m getting recruited by him so that is helping me out and has a big impact on me for Oklahoma State,” said Mosley.
In my opinion the thing to keep an eye on now obviously is what Brandon Pettigrew decides to do regarding his possibly entering the NFL draft. If the junior decided to forego his senior year then I think Mosley becomes an even higher priority target and the chance for immediate playing time has certainly caught Mosley’s eye.
“Pettigrew, the big tight end, they think he is going to enter the draft and he should go first round so with me and a couple of more guys coming in it would be a battle for playing time with a bunch of freshmen,” he said.
Ultimately, Mosley may be a prospect the coaches would like to take anyway if he wants to commit but I think part of the reason his official visit at this point is scheduled later is so the coaches can learn what Pettigrew is going to do before they bring him in. (RC)
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At the minimum, look for one more defensive prospect and one more offensive prospect to be added to the OSU class of 2008 from its current status.
The top offensive prospects are Jameel Owens, De'Anthony Curtis and Jamal Mosley. Defensively, it's J.R. Bryant, Patrick Trahan, Stacey McGee, and Victor Johnson.
Adrian Bushell and Lamar Harris don't necessarily fit specifically to either side of the ball, but in the event of one wanting to commit, the coaching staff would decide where they are most likely to land and fill that specific spot.
Additional spots could open up, but expect at least two additional members of the class of '08. (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.
Well, it is certainly becoming routine to include any new news regarding Camden, Arkansas running back De’Anthony Curtis in the roundup. This time it is regarding our latest update with him as there were some tidbits that might be interesting to some.
As noted in the update last week Curtis confirmed that he still considers himself committed to the Razorbacks and plans to be that way at least until he takes his official visit to Fayetteville the weekend of January 18. With that said, we asked him about new Razorback head coach Bobby Petrino and whether the negative publicity about his tendency to switch jobs frequently would effect his decision.
“A little bit,” he said, so take it for what it is worth.
Nevertheless, he did imply that right now he is mostly looking at Arkansas and Oklahoma State whom he talked about respectively regarding what it is at this point that he likes about the two schools.
“[At Arkansas], it’s the home town school, the running game they had, and that’s about it,” he said. “[At OSU] it’s the coaches, being around the players, the facilities, and just being up there in Stillwater.”
Curtis did include that he is taking an official visit to Tennessee this upcoming weekend of January 11 before he makes trip to Arkansas so it sounds like the Volunteers are trying to make a late push but I’d be surprised if they are able to overtake either the Razorbacks or the Cowboys.
In the end, things should be a lot clearer in just over two weeks once Curtis takes his official to U of A because if he likes it there enough there is no question he will stick with his commitment but if he determines that he likes the OSU coaches better than the new Razorback staff then you never know what might happen. (RC)
********************
There had been a couple of rumors floating around that Markelle Martin was going to be greatly effected by the situation that had developed with Kody Spano.
As was portrayed in the update last week, Martin did say that Spano was influential in getting him to look at OSU initially. Once he was willing to listen to OSU I feel the coaching staff was able to sell him on the possibility of some serious playing time as a freshman.
With that in mind it was evident that while Martin would have liked Spano to still come to Oklahoma State it was not going to lead to him towards backing out of is commitment and thus Martin moved to Stillwater last Thursday and is now on campus.
Nevertheless, Martin did weigh on what he had last heard regarding Spano’s situation earlier before Spano decided to commit to Nebraska.
“I talked to the coaches and they said that the guy who didn’t graduate, they’ve got him doing extra work or whatever and there might be a chance (Kody) could get in and when I talked to Kody he was like ‘Well, that’s fine’ and he hadn’t talked to anybody about his plans or anything but he just wants to look around and make sure that is still the best option,” said Martin.
That seems to be pretty consistent with everything that we’ve heard in that there is a chance the scholarship could have ended up being available if Spano had wanted it but nevertheless it is all a moot point now with Spano set to enroll in Lincoln soon. (JF)
********************
I was getting paid to cover the U.S. Army All-America Bowl combine as a photographer, and that makes it a little bit harder to focus on which players are really impressive and figure out who they are.
One prospect that caught my eye and is hearing from Oklahoma State already is Frisco (TX) Centennial quarterback Ryan Mossakowski. The 6-5, 200-pounder is more similar to Brandon Weeden than Zac Robinson, but displayed a big, accurate arm and threw with great touch. (JJ)
********************
While there was not really any new news regarding the update with Kye Staley last week, it certainly resulted in an interesting response as several people were suddenly inundated with the notion that he is wavering in his commitment to OSU.
My impression on it is that Staley at this point is doing what is best for him and that is to check out of couple of the schools that have continued to recruit him and make sure that Stillwater is where he wants to be. It is not at all that I think he is taking official visits in hopes of finding a reason to not go to OSU.
Recruiting blue-chip prospects in football is what it is and just because a kid commits somewhere clearly does not mean he is going to be left alone by other schools. Schools will maintain contact and if something happens (i.e. coaching change) then they try and jump on the opportunity. It works both ways and De’Anthony Curtis’ recruitment is a great example.
Now, while there have been no coaching changes at OSU that have directly effected Kye, the schools that were recruiting him when he committed to OSU have naturally kept in touch and he is going to visit those schools to at least see what they have to offer.
So for now I would table the sentiment that Staley is looking for a way out of his OSU pledge or anything even remotely like that because I don’t get that sense at all. What I do get a sense of is that it is an 18 year old kid that is going to enjoy the recruiting process and take a few visits as he has maintained for several months now. (RC)
********************
Something that you guys may want to keep an eye on is Jackie Hinton and his desire to take all of his official visits.
Now let me state first that this is entirely speculation on my part and nothing more and nothing less but if Hinton does take some visits and perhaps takes a liking to another school along with OSU, then it wouldn’t surprise me to see his commitment tested by that school for the simple reason that I’m not sure how hard the OSU staff would fight to keep it, especially if they think they can get a Victor Johnson or beyond that a Lamar Harris or Zaviar Gooden.
The only reason this is a possible scenario is that it is my guess that the coaches would be willing to lose a good player in Hinton for a potential earlier difference maker in Johnson, Harris, Gooden, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Again, I’m just trying to stir up some discussion and this whole scenario may not play out anything like it but it is fairly obvious that there are more high quality players interested in OSU at this that are must haves than there are available spots left in the recruiting class. (JF)
********************
Well, the situation with Memphis, Tennessee tight end Jamal Mosley is an intriguing one because it is the classic case where a prospect is not as highly rated as he ought to be for the justifiable reason of him having some work to do in the classroom.
Now that Mosley has evidently taken care of what ever business he needed to get done, he has suddenly become a hot target and one that he Cowboy staff apparently really likes and the fact that his potential position coach is recruiting him has clearly given the Cowboys an advantage up to this point.
“I haven’t seen [Coach Meacham] in person other than last year when he came to my school when I was a junior but from talking to him so far he seems like a real nice guy and we have gained a real nice relationship. I talk to him and we have good conversations and all that stuff and all throughout my recruitment I had yet to be recruited by my position coach and I’m getting recruited by him so that is helping me out and has a big impact on me for Oklahoma State,” said Mosley.
In my opinion the thing to keep an eye on now obviously is what Brandon Pettigrew decides to do regarding his possibly entering the NFL draft. If the junior decided to forego his senior year then I think Mosley becomes an even higher priority target and the chance for immediate playing time has certainly caught Mosley’s eye.
“Pettigrew, the big tight end, they think he is going to enter the draft and he should go first round so with me and a couple of more guys coming in it would be a battle for playing time with a bunch of freshmen,” he said.
Ultimately, Mosley may be a prospect the coaches would like to take anyway if he wants to commit but I think part of the reason his official visit at this point is scheduled later is so the coaches can learn what Pettigrew is going to do before they bring him in. (RC)
********************
At the minimum, look for one more defensive prospect and one more offensive prospect to be added to the OSU class of 2008 from its current status.
The top offensive prospects are Jameel Owens, De'Anthony Curtis and Jamal Mosley. Defensively, it's J.R. Bryant, Patrick Trahan, Stacey McGee, and Victor Johnson.
Adrian Bushell and Lamar Harris don't necessarily fit specifically to either side of the ball, but in the event of one wanting to commit, the coaching staff would decide where they are most likely to land and fill that specific spot.
Additional spots could open up, but expect at least two additional members of the class of '08. (JJ)
