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.
As mentioned, we’ll start this week off at the safety position as there were two prospects that we talked to that are near the top of the list of the Cowboys’ wish list…
When I talked to Houston, Texas defensive back/wide receiver prospect Tarence Farmer this week I couldn’t help but get the impression that Farmer was impressed with Cowboys’ assistant head coach Joe DeForest.
“He is a nice person,” said Farmer. “He has been keeping me updated on how Oklahoma State is and what they will need me to do if I do come in and stuff like that. He did an in-home visit by himself the other Monday (December 11). He got to meet my parents but I didn’t really do too much because my mother was doing all the questions.”
Does Farmer think Coach DeForest’s visit with his mother went well?
“Yes sir, she was ok with the meeting. She didn’t have any bad thoughts about the meeting because she said that all the questions she asked were answered thoroughly,” he said.
Nevertheless, and Farmer even noted it in the update, but I get the feeling that Tennessee may be in the lead right now but that Oklahoma State is a close second. It will be interesting to see how the rest of this class plays out pertaining to the defensive backs that OSU ultimately takes because there are a couple of very solid prospects that they could end up with so stay tuned. (JF)
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The other safety prospect that was contacted this week is La Marque, Texas defensive back James Thomas.
It’s tough to get much of a read of what Thomas is thinking at this point because he is doing an excellent job of focusing on the task at hand which is competing in the state championship game tomorrow.
Thomas did note in the update that Arkansas and Oklahoma State are the two schools recruiting him the hardest and it appears that the Razorbacks and Cowboys are competing for some of the same prospects (see Bret Harris).
What I take from that is that if everything ultimately comes down to those two schools with some of these prospects then you will likely see them head opposite directions. Which one goes to which school is obviously yet to be determined but it could be an intriguing story to follow.
Lastly, outside of Christian Scott who is clearly at the top, I don’t know which of the safety prospects the coaching staff hold in the higher regard so that could be another interesting thing to follow. (RC)
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As if there isn’t enough credit earned by the coaching staff, the fact that Leander, Texas wide out Curenski Gilleylen is now one Rivals.com decimal point away from being a four-star prospect is another testament to their ability to evaluate talent.
Nevertheless, Gilleylen is one of the few wide receiver prospects that the Cowboys are still making a hard push for other of Ryan Broyles, Dez Bryant, and Co-Eric Riley and Gilleylen elaborated a little bit on the last time he was up in Stillwater.
“Oh yeah, Coach Meacham showed me around. I liked the new buildings and I got to see what the locker rooms are supposed to look like. They had a lot of construction and it was in the early part of it but I got to see a lot of stuff. I got to see the apartments that the players live in and I got to see all the educational buildings and all that. I got a pretty good tour when I went up there,” he said.
Gilleylen also commented on his impression of Cowboy Head Coach Mike Gundy.
“Yes sir, he was just talking about the interest he had in me. He really seemed sincere and he seems like a really good guy. I think he’d be a really good person to play for because he believes in everything he does very strongly and I like that,” he said. (JF)
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We told you in last week's edition that OSU might not be done with interior defensive linemen from the JUCO ranks, despite Tonga Tea's signing on Wednesday.
This week we have the name to keep an eye on - Garden City Community College's Kevin Dixon. GCCC was stacked at the defensive tackle position this year, but Dixon is the best of the lot and was named first-team All-Jayhawk Conference.
He was placed at GCCC by South Florida, but is not expected to wind up there. (JJ)
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I don’t think there is any question that Memphis, Tenn. running back Graig Cooper is the top overall prospect on the board right now for Oklahoma State.
There really isn’t a whole lot to report on this front outside of what was in the update and I echo the sentiments of some of the posters on the boards that it was about as positive as one could hope for at this point regarding Oklahoma State.
Cooper mentioned how he felt comfortable with the atmosphere in Stillwater and with the trip over the Bedlam weekend being his second official visit to OSU in the past two years, he certainly has a good feel for how everything works.
It is still up in the air as to whether Cooper will qualify early or not but either way we may know something before the month is over. Stay tuned to this one because at this point OSU seems to be in the race as much as Miami and North Carolina. (RC)
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Arguably the top in-state prospect that the Cowboys have a great shot at is clearly Norman High School’s Ryan Broyles.
This kid has done an admirable job of handling the recruiting process and no matter where he ends up he will certainly bring a degree of character to that program.
I think the key at this point is whether or not he decides to take his scheduled visit to Tennessee in mid-January. From talking to him I got the impression that he would really like to make his commitment on television at the Rivals.com Offense-Defense All-American game and Broyles is unlikely to pick a school that he hasn’t officially visited which would rule out the Volunteers.
That brings us to another battle between Oklahoma State and Arkansas and I can’t help but think that those two schools’ proximity has played the largest role in them emerging as the schools to beat at this point.
If you continue to think along those lines then you have to like OSU’s chances but you could also make the point that Arkansas is just far away enough but not too far.
In my opinion I think he ultimately picks OSU but again I have no source or legitimate reasoning behind it other than my gut feeling as someone who has followed recruiting closely for the past couple of years. (RC)
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.
As mentioned, we’ll start this week off at the safety position as there were two prospects that we talked to that are near the top of the list of the Cowboys’ wish list…
When I talked to Houston, Texas defensive back/wide receiver prospect Tarence Farmer this week I couldn’t help but get the impression that Farmer was impressed with Cowboys’ assistant head coach Joe DeForest.
“He is a nice person,” said Farmer. “He has been keeping me updated on how Oklahoma State is and what they will need me to do if I do come in and stuff like that. He did an in-home visit by himself the other Monday (December 11). He got to meet my parents but I didn’t really do too much because my mother was doing all the questions.”
Does Farmer think Coach DeForest’s visit with his mother went well?
“Yes sir, she was ok with the meeting. She didn’t have any bad thoughts about the meeting because she said that all the questions she asked were answered thoroughly,” he said.
Nevertheless, and Farmer even noted it in the update, but I get the feeling that Tennessee may be in the lead right now but that Oklahoma State is a close second. It will be interesting to see how the rest of this class plays out pertaining to the defensive backs that OSU ultimately takes because there are a couple of very solid prospects that they could end up with so stay tuned. (JF)
********************
The other safety prospect that was contacted this week is La Marque, Texas defensive back James Thomas.
It’s tough to get much of a read of what Thomas is thinking at this point because he is doing an excellent job of focusing on the task at hand which is competing in the state championship game tomorrow.
Thomas did note in the update that Arkansas and Oklahoma State are the two schools recruiting him the hardest and it appears that the Razorbacks and Cowboys are competing for some of the same prospects (see Bret Harris).
What I take from that is that if everything ultimately comes down to those two schools with some of these prospects then you will likely see them head opposite directions. Which one goes to which school is obviously yet to be determined but it could be an intriguing story to follow.
Lastly, outside of Christian Scott who is clearly at the top, I don’t know which of the safety prospects the coaching staff hold in the higher regard so that could be another interesting thing to follow. (RC)
********************
As if there isn’t enough credit earned by the coaching staff, the fact that Leander, Texas wide out Curenski Gilleylen is now one Rivals.com decimal point away from being a four-star prospect is another testament to their ability to evaluate talent.
Nevertheless, Gilleylen is one of the few wide receiver prospects that the Cowboys are still making a hard push for other of Ryan Broyles, Dez Bryant, and Co-Eric Riley and Gilleylen elaborated a little bit on the last time he was up in Stillwater.
“Oh yeah, Coach Meacham showed me around. I liked the new buildings and I got to see what the locker rooms are supposed to look like. They had a lot of construction and it was in the early part of it but I got to see a lot of stuff. I got to see the apartments that the players live in and I got to see all the educational buildings and all that. I got a pretty good tour when I went up there,” he said.
Gilleylen also commented on his impression of Cowboy Head Coach Mike Gundy.
“Yes sir, he was just talking about the interest he had in me. He really seemed sincere and he seems like a really good guy. I think he’d be a really good person to play for because he believes in everything he does very strongly and I like that,” he said. (JF)
********************
We told you in last week's edition that OSU might not be done with interior defensive linemen from the JUCO ranks, despite Tonga Tea's signing on Wednesday.
This week we have the name to keep an eye on - Garden City Community College's Kevin Dixon. GCCC was stacked at the defensive tackle position this year, but Dixon is the best of the lot and was named first-team All-Jayhawk Conference.
He was placed at GCCC by South Florida, but is not expected to wind up there. (JJ)
********************
I don’t think there is any question that Memphis, Tenn. running back Graig Cooper is the top overall prospect on the board right now for Oklahoma State.
There really isn’t a whole lot to report on this front outside of what was in the update and I echo the sentiments of some of the posters on the boards that it was about as positive as one could hope for at this point regarding Oklahoma State.
Cooper mentioned how he felt comfortable with the atmosphere in Stillwater and with the trip over the Bedlam weekend being his second official visit to OSU in the past two years, he certainly has a good feel for how everything works.
It is still up in the air as to whether Cooper will qualify early or not but either way we may know something before the month is over. Stay tuned to this one because at this point OSU seems to be in the race as much as Miami and North Carolina. (RC)
********************
Arguably the top in-state prospect that the Cowboys have a great shot at is clearly Norman High School’s Ryan Broyles.
This kid has done an admirable job of handling the recruiting process and no matter where he ends up he will certainly bring a degree of character to that program.
I think the key at this point is whether or not he decides to take his scheduled visit to Tennessee in mid-January. From talking to him I got the impression that he would really like to make his commitment on television at the Rivals.com Offense-Defense All-American game and Broyles is unlikely to pick a school that he hasn’t officially visited which would rule out the Volunteers.
That brings us to another battle between Oklahoma State and Arkansas and I can’t help but think that those two schools’ proximity has played the largest role in them emerging as the schools to beat at this point.
If you continue to think along those lines then you have to like OSU’s chances but you could also make the point that Arkansas is just far away enough but not too far.
In my opinion I think he ultimately picks OSU but again I have no source or legitimate reasoning behind it other than my gut feeling as someone who has followed recruiting closely for the past couple of years. (RC)
