Oklahoma, Oklahoma State fight the SEC recruiting scourge
M ike Gundy investigated, because he figured someone would ask. Why do the Cowboys always finish so low in the rankings of recruiting classes?
OSU’s 2017 class is ranked somewhere in the 30s, depending on the service. Gundy averaged out the rankings of the last five years and figures OSU’s average rank is 36th. So how is it, he asked us Wednesday during his Signing Day press conference, that the Cowboys have 20 wins the last two seasons? How is that only Clemson (28), Alabama (28), Ohio State (23), Oklahoma (22), Stanford (22) and Wisconsin (21) have more among majorconference schools?
“There’s one of two things happening,” Gundy said. “Either we are damn good evaluators and the recruiting services don’t know what they are talking about, or we are damn good coaches.”
The answer, of course, is both. Same as it is for any of the programs that have sustained success. But the lesson is clear. In this new age of SEC hype, much of it deserved, recruiting will be even more difficult for those schools outside the SEC’s exalted shell. Especially those in the Big 12, which has a tarnished reputation and a recruiting ground that was laid open for the infidels when Texas A&M jumped leagues.
“I don’t think there’s any question, they have a presence and a fairly strong presence,” in Texas, Bob Stoops said. “But it’s always been a battle going to Texas, or going anywhere. Some say, ‘Oh, that’ll be easy once you win a number of games.’ But it’s always a challenge. I feel, though, we’ve had a strong presence down there, regardless.”
The Sooners signed nine Texans this season, up from an alarming four a year ago, and did well in the 2017 recruiting rankings. Top 10 by virtually all the services that rate such things. ESPN, for instance, has OU No. 8. ESPN also has seven SEC teams in the top 15. OSU is 35th; the only other Big 12 school ranked above the Cowboys is Texas, at 33rd.
“Some of the schools that are making their way into Texas that have gotten those players to go to the SEC, they pick up really early offers from us, but we haven’t been in the game late with them,” Gundy said. “It doesn’t affect us that much, in my opinion. People say, ‘Well, if they’re taking players from them, then everything starts to slide down. There is some truth to that. I wouldn’t disagree that the departure of Texas A&M to the SEC has affected recruiting in the state of Texas and northern Louisiana. I don’t think it affects us as much as some of the other Big 12 schools in the state of Texas.”
That’s because OSU has been good at finding and/or developing undiscovered talent. Of which there is a ton across America.
The Super Bowl rosters are full of players from Alabama and LSU and Auburn and Clemson and Florida State and Florida and Michigan and
Oregon and Oklahoma.
But the Patriots and Falcons also have players from Abilene Christian, Bethune-Cookman, California of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Kent State, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T, Southeastern Louisiana, Valdosta State and West Alabama.
South Dakota has two Super Bowl players.
So hidden gems are out there. Sometimes it’s the NFL that discovers them. Sometimes it’s a university.
Gundy lauded strength and conditioning coach Rob Glass. “We bring in guys and in two years we develop them,” Gundy said.
“They come in with 18 percent body fat and go to nine percent body fat and they will put on 15 pounds and go from a 4.8 to 4.65. More importantly, he instills discipline, structure and toughness in them that really equates to who we are on game day and why we have as much success as we have.”
Stoops recalled his first month in Norman, when he and a new staff hit the ground running and signed a quarterback nobody wanted, a tailback who was too small and a lightly-recruited cornerback. Eventually, Josh Heupel finished second in a Heisman Trophy vote, Quentin Griffin rushed for 3,796 yards as a Sooner and Derrick Strait won the Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back.
“Derrick Strait, we beat one team to get him,” Stoops said. “I was with Bobby Jack Wright (in Austin, Strait’s hometown). Watched Derrick at basketball practice for five minutes. I said, ‘I don’t need to see anymore … this guy can play cornerback.’”
If every high school kid from Odessa to Orlando has declared the SEC to be Valhalla, then you’ve got to find other ways. Develop so-so prospects into good players. Develop good prospects into great players. Find jewels in the sand. And when you get a clear shot at an SEC foe on the gridiron, hit the bulls-eye.