It’s been too long. Who’s up for some links?
Although conventional wisdom holds that OU is out of the running for DGB’s signature next week, I guess the fact that Stoops is doing an in-home visit him means there’s at least a chance he’ll pick OU, no matter how small.
Right?
*If it’s any consolation, OU does have a strong group of pass catchers coming in this fall. Trey Metoyer, who spent a year in prep school getting his grades in order, will see playing time immediately. The same goes for Durron Neal, who should turn into a slick slot receiver. The Sooners also have commitments from touted prospects Derrick Woods and Sterling Shepard.
It would be disingenuous to call a player of DGB’s caliber a luxury, but OU is fortunate that receiver isn’t a huge position of need.
*On the other hand, OU’s defensive recruiting to this point has left a lot to be desired. The Sooners have a grand total of four commitments on D and lost their best defensive recruit when cornerback DeVante Harris de-commited from OU in favor of Texas A&M.
OU probably has somewhere between six and eight scholarships left to hand out in this class. Assume the majority of them will go to defensive prospects to round out the class.
*I wrote about an interesting scenario for Big 12 expansion for Crystal Ball Run over the weekend. According to West Virginia blog Eer Insider, the Big 12 has had informal discussions with a number of ACC schools about the possibility of joining forces in a new superconference.
It may sound far-fetched, but think about this for a moment. Take the 10 current Big 12 teams, including WVU. Then, add Florida State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Miami and Georgia Tech. That’s a helluva football conference. Imagine what kind of price the conference’s next TV contract in 2014 would fetch.
While the ACC may be considered more stable at the moment, for a school like FSU, how appealing is playing in a premier basketball conference compared to being in an elite football superconference?
*Most of the speculation surrounding the opening created on OU’s staff by Brent Venables’ departure has centered around Tim Kish and Tyrone Nix. If it comes down to those two, it strikes me as a classic risk-reward dilemma.
Having coached with Mike Stoops at Arizona, Kish could likely slide in with little worry about the transition and staff chemistry. Nix doesn’t possess that same level of familiarity. We saw how that went with Willie Martinez.
Nix, however, probably has the better track record in terms of coaching ‘em up.
If Nix is a one-and-done, I’d probably eliminate him from consideration. Assuming he’s committed for a few years and not looking for a springboard right away, I’d probably lean his direction.
Either way, both seem like solid hires.
*No, that’s not a misprint: Mack Brown is getting a contract extension. If the Texas brass sees fit to give Mack one of those lifetime deals that Coach K has, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.