Spring Game Recruiting Roundtable

With somewhere around 80 recruits expected in Stillwater for this weekend’s spring finale, it seemed like a good idea for us to get the “recruiting team” together to discuss a few things. That includes making prediction on who will commit this weekend, which prospects we hope show up, and more.

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Phillip Slavin: Let’s start with this. Oklahoma State generally comes away from the Spring Game with at least one new commitment for their upcoming class. Make a prediction; which recruit becomes a Poke this weekend

Ryan Harris: I would love to see a commitment from Corey Flagg Jr. or Jay Harris. I think Oklahoma State has a good chance to land both guys, but I think Harris would be the more likely of the two to commit this weekend.

PS: I leaned really hard on Flagg, but with official visits also scheduled to Texas Tech and Boston College, I’m going to say he waits. I’m picking Zach Middleton, the Bishop Kelley safety. I know Iowa State offered recently, and he made an unofficial visit there, but OSU is his best offer. I get the feeling he really likes OSU.

RH: I agree on Flagg waiting to commit, but I have a feeling we will get him. I’m also biased to Houston guys, and Texas players in general though.

Zach McCoy: Has the third of the Tulsa trio that OSU offered been offered yet? That seems like a no-brainer to get them in the conversation. Slusher, Hester and Morrison right? With Morrison being the one without an offer.

Matt Harris: I think getting Flagg or Harris would be huge. The Houston area is filled to the brim with talent on the defensive side of the ball, and getting one or both could give OSU an “in” with some other Houston area players

ZM: Like running backs whose names rhymes with heavens?

PS: I agree Flagg and Harris would be huge and I think OSU has a legit shot at landing both. Both in fact will be in Stillwater. Of visitors this weekend, who do you guys think OSU really needs to make a good impression with?

ZM: I think it’s the same two for the reasons already stated. Gotta keep the Houston area pipeline hot.

RH: Landyn Watson without a doubt. If OSU can make a good impression on him and eventually get him to commit, I think it would be huge in the recruitment of some other Texas studs.

MH: Watson has expressed interest in playing with Prince Dorbah and Landon Jackson before. Dorbah will be in Stillwater as well (I think) and there has been more OSU buzz on his Twitter account than Watson’s, so I’ll go with Dorbah here. OSU made his top five recently.

ZM: Even though he’s a 2021 guy? (That was to the Landyn Watson pick)

MH: I think 2021 is more important in Texas than 2020 is. The class of 2021 in Texas is probably the most talented I’ve ever seen.

PS: Yeah, Watson would be huge. I’m going to go with Ethan Downs, the top ranked player in the state for 2021. It’s looking more and more like OSU might miss out on a good tight end prospect for 2020. Convincing Downs to pick OSU over OU, or to just stay in the state, would be huge not just for the class, but assure the Cowboy Back position stays stacked with talent.

ZM: I think it’s interesting I haven’t seen as many big names visiting but maybe that’s typical for a spring game. How does the talent coming to this years spring game compare to past years?

PS: It’s pretty good. Strangely, there are more big name 2021 prospects that have said the’re coming than 2020. That said, they don’t all announce and I would expect a good number of 2020 guys there.

ZM: Yeah that’s what I was wondering. How many guys are going to come that don’t announce they’ll be here. It will ne interesting to see how the list looks after the fact.

PS: So to follow up, of OSU’s 2020 targets who haven’t announced they’re coming this weekend, who do you hope shows up for the Spring Game?

ZM: I mean the pie in the sky is Zachary Evans coming with his teammates right? (Awesome name btw)

MH: Mine would be Dorbah. He hasn’t said that he is coming this weekend, but did say he plans to visit all five of his top five schools this spring. As Phillip pointed out in a post back at the end of March, Oklahoma State is the only school in Dorbah’s top five with a spring game on April 20.

ZM: That’s a good call.

PS: Dorbah would be huge. Even if he shows up, I’m not sure OSU has a real shot to get him out of the state of Texas, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. Let me half answer the question and say any of the uncommited quarterbacks that OSU has offered for 2020. They don’t have a commit yet for the class, but have some intriguing offers including to Tyler Van Dyke, Jacolby Criswell, and Griffin Brewster -- who I think OSU has the best shot with at this time.

ZM: Also related: North Shore is extra loaded this year, geez.

MH: North Shore has the No. 2 player in the country at running back and one behind him that will play at a power five school. They’ve got a four-star quarterback and a five-star wide receiver in the class of 2021 as well, not to mention multiple D1 players on defense. They finished as a consensus top two team in America last season with a sophomore at quarterback. The Mustangs are one of the most loaded high school teams I have ever seen. (edited)

RH: I’ll go with Xavion Alford from Shadow Creek. He’s teammates with Jay Harris and he’s a player I would love to have on my team. He’s another one of those guys that was talking about OSU with Dorbah on Twitter.

MH: I think getting Glass was big too with potentially helping with recruiting in the Houston area. H-Town is loaded to the gills with talent in these next two recruiting cycles. I’ve followed recruiting in Texas for a long time and I don’t think I have ever seen this much talent at once.

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PS: Let’s wrap on a non recruiting question: what do you most want to see from the Spring game this Saturday?

ZM: I’m sure it will be very vanilla, but I want to see how different (or similar) the offense looks under Gleeson. Is the pace faster at all, are there any formation wrinkles, how are weapons utilized and prioritized?

Also the defensive backfield. They’re the group I’m counting on the biggest step forward out of from last year.

RH: I’ve been waiting to see Spencer Sanders take reps for a long time now. Like I said, I’m biased to Texas kids, but I can’t wait to see if the hype we have been hearing is real. Obviously I think it is because I spent years watching him in high school, but I hope that will translate to the college level.

MH: Am I allowed to say the quarterbacks?

PS: Of course.

MH: Outside of the quarterback competition, I’d like to see how guys like Tyler Lacy, L.C. Greenwood, C.J. Moore and JayVeon Cardwell play. Those are all guys who haven’t seen the field yet and I’m interested to see how they could impact this team.

ZM: LC and CJ and McKaufman. We were hearing glorious stories about McKaufman last offseason until he got hurt.

PS: I’ll go with who gets the most reps with the ones on the defensive line. With OSU replacing the entire starting unit from last year, I want to see who has the edge heading into the summer.