A little perspective.
http://newsok.com/article/5581560?slideout=1
NORMAN — With less than two weeks until National Signing Day, Oklahoma is down two 2018 commitments and might lose a third.
Sound like a reason to panic?
It's not.
“In both of these cases, these weren't things that Oklahoma worked against or tried to prevent,” said Rivals recruiting expert and SoonerScoop.com editor Josh McCuistion. “These were situations that Oklahoma understood and they knew.
“I don't think in either case, Oklahoma feels like either was a blow they can't recover from.”
McCuistion said Rivals four-star running back Tavion Thomas had to decommit due to academics.
“If Tavion Thomas' grades were fine, they would've signed him a week from tomorrow,” McCuistion said. “That was a no-doubt kind of situation”
While Thomas' grades caused his decommitment, McCuistion believes the Sooners' faith in their 2019 wide receiver targets was the biggest factor in moving on from 2018 three-star wide receiver Treveon Johnson.
Though Oklahoma only has a commitment from one 2019 wide receiver in four-star prospect Trejan Bridges, McCuistion said OU is in good shape with five-star Allen, Texas, product Theo Wease and Jadon Haselwood. Though Haselwood is currently committed to Georgia, he has strong family ties to Oklahoma.
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“I think there's a lot of work to be done with all of those guys because obviously they're highly recruited, that's the way that's going to go,” McCuistion said.
“I think Oklahoma knows that almost regardless of who it is, they're going to be pretty good at wide receiver in the 2019 class. They're going to get good players and with all the success they've had, Marquise Brown, CeeDee Lamb, that'll work as advertising through the year. I think they're betting on the future.”
Grades kept both Thomas and Johnson from signing during the December early signing period, McCuistion said, and another OU commit that didn't sign during the early signing period also might not make it to the Feb. 7 National Signing Day.
Though Jordon Austin hasn't spoken publicly about his status with Oklahoma, McCuistion doesn't expect the verbal commitment to sign with OU next week either.
At first glance, losing a couple of commitments so close to Signing Day seems to signal that something is going wrong for the Sooners.
But to McCuistion, it signals something else.
“I think this is a sign of Oklahoma becoming a little more forthright and little more aggressive and a little more confident in the way they recruit,” he said. “There's no obvious replacement to Treveon Johnson this year. Oklahoma is betting on the recruiting ability and the way they are with some 2019 kids that haven't committed and haven't done anything. There's no reason to say, ‘Oh yeah, that's done.' So they're, to me, acting more like the Alabamas of the world. The Ohio States of the world.
“Ohio State is not going to worry about upsetting one kid because they know next year, they're going to go get Josh Proctor in Tulsa. They're going to go do whatever they need to do to get guys. That's something Oklahoma hasn't always done in the past. They've wanted to live on the fence, be the good guys. But sometimes, you just have to cut your ties with a guy that you don't think can help you.”
