New school trending in On3 RPM for 4-star R Mason Thomas
Even though he’s committed to Iowa State, four-star EDGE R Mason Thomas of Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) Cardinal Gibbons took January official visits to Oklahoma and Miami.
And at one point it appeared that Miami was going to be the eventual pick, but it’s the Sooners that are now trending for Thomas.
According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, the Sooners now have a 58.4% chance of flipping Thomas and landing his signature on Wednesday. Iowa State is listed at 35.2%, while Miami is at 1.3%.
The On3 RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college.
It factors in machine learning, expert predictions, social sentiment, visits, and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.
New projection on R Mason Thomas fuels RPM
And it’s an expert prediction that has shifted things in Oklahoma’s direction for R Mason Thomas.
After Brent Venables was hired at Oklahoma, Thomas become one of his first scholarship offers. He was immediately made a priority in Norman, and that’s something that has stuck with him throughout the decision-making process. OU assistants Miguel Chavis and Todd Bates have also spent quite a bit of time pursuing Thomas. They were front and center during in-home visits and on his official visit to OU.
“They are bringing that family feeling from Clemson to Oklahoma,” Thomas said a week ago. “I really like my connection with the coaches. Coach Chavis is great. He is my main coach. We have really gotten to know each other.
“The Oklahoma coaches have great energy, great intentions. I loved it out there.”
R Mason Thomas ranks as the No. 284 player in the country, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also ranks as the No. 28 EDGE and 31st best player in the Sunshine State.
On3 ranks Thomas higher than others in the industry. He is the No. 139 player in the On300 and the 17th best EDGE in the country and 20th overall player in Florida.