Oklahoma’s home losses hurting 2015 recruiting efforts
Never before had the Sooners lost three games at home under Bob Stoops, leaving more questions than answers surrounding the program, especially on the recruiting trail.
Under head coach Bob Stoops, the Oklahoma Sooners have never suffered three home losses in a year before this season and the impact is already being felt on the recruiting trail, according to Scout's Oklahoma site.
During the first 15 years that Stoops spent in Norman, his teams lost a combined five games at home -- an incredible run -- but a variety of factors, including key injuries on the offensive side of the ball, contributed to home defeats against Baylor, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State.
The final loss of those three, last weekend in the Bedlam rivalry, may have pushed things over the edge in the eyes of recruits.
As of the second week of December, OU has yet to have one recruit from those three visits commit to the school. And it was made abundantly clear by a couple of recruits the vibe in Norman after the loss sort of eliminated all shot for OU landing their signature.
The final visit weekend was especially key, as the Sooners were trying to woo back two former commits in Oklahoma City (Okla.) Casady School offensive guard Josh Wariboko and Houston (Texas) Cypress Falls defensive tackle Du’Vonta Lampkin, who is currently pledged to rival Texas. Wariboko is a consensus four-star prospect and Lampkin is rated as a four-star prospect by 247Sports.
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The other two losses weren’t any less important because Oklahoma squandered opportunities to impress key visitors on those dates, too -- star Texas A&M quarterback commit Kyler Murray, who was just named Gatorade Player of the Year, visited for the loss to Kansas State, while Aledo (Texas) wide receiver Ryan Newsome and former Michigan linebacker commit Darrin Kirkland Jr. were both present for the loss to Baylor.
Since Oklahoma has yet to land a quarterback or a linebacker in the 2015 class, Murray and Kirkland Jr. both represent key targets. So does Mesquite (Texas) West Mesquite quarterback Chason Virgil, who recently had his scholarship offer pulled by Mississippi State and picked up an offer from Oklahoma after his weekend visit for the debacle against Oklahoma State.
Based on the 247Sports Crystal Balls for each player, the Sooners are considered to have a shot with only Newsome, though Oklahoma trails Texas 69% to 8% according to the industry. However, that could change in coming days as more becomes known about Virgil’s plans ahead of his early enrollment -- Oklahoma represents his best current offer by far.
And the struggles at home are occurring at a time when the Sooners are increasingly reliant on national talent flocking to the program after decreasing the emphasis on recruiting traditional strongholds for Oklahoma in East Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The other explanation is that Stoops and his staff are simply being out-recruited in those areas by schools like a surging Baylor and increasingly-encroaching SEC programs that now have more exposure in the state with the addition of Texas A&M.
Either way, it seems to be a continuing problem for one of the most tradition-rich programs in the country.
In fact, since 2012, the only consensus four-star prospects the Sooners have signed from those regions were 2012 offensive lineman John Michael McGee, who quickly left the program, and 2013 quarterback Cody Thomas, though there is one in the current cycle -- Allen (Texas) offensive tackle Bobby Evans. In 2011 alone Oklahoma signed three such prospects.
Oklahoma cachet in those areas might be more inelastic because of deep ties than the more fickle and elastic nature of national recruits, especially the California prospects upon which Stoops and his staff are increasingly reliant, but that assumes that other programs aren’t out-recruiting Oklahoma in those areas.
By the way, the Sooners have only landed one prospect from the talent-rich state of California in 2015, despite signing 13 total Californians since 2012 and extending 23 offers there in the current cycle.
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When UCLA was down for years and after USC suffered reduced scholarships as a result of the Reggie Bush sanctions, recruiting in the state was much more open. Now, with Jim Mora firmly entrenched and experience more success in Westwood and Steve Sarkisian working in University Park to get back to the 85-man scholarship limit, the landscape is increasingly competitive -- both classes currently rank among the top-15 nationally in the 247Sports Composite team rankings.
The early returns in 2015 indicate that Oklahoma may be one of the programs getting squeezed out.
As the ongoing recruiting cycle relates to the current team, there are a handful of problems.
One of the issues facing the Sooners is that the secondary underperformed this season in giving up 22 plays of 30 or more yards through the air, a stat that tied for No. 106th in the country with Middle Tennessee State and UAB.
All that despite the defensive prowess of Stoops and his younger brother Mike, who serves as the defensive coordinator.
Perhaps as a result, Pflugerville (Texas) Hendrickson cornerback P.J. Mbanasor, a longtime pledge ranked as the No. 2 overall recruiting in the 16-man 2015 class, may be looking at other options now.
The early returns in 2015 indicate that Oklahoma may be one of the programs getting squeezed out.
And there was a major questionable decision from the head coach late in the game when he decided to kick the ball to Oklahoma State punt returner Tyreek Hill a second time after a roughing the punter call against the Cowboys. The result? A 92-yard touchdown return that kept the Pokes in the game and ultimately gave them a shot to win in overtime.
Fans have also been questioning the play-calling of co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel for some time and after he called three passing plays to start the overtime period -- passes that ultimately resulted in two incompletions and a sack and resulted in a 44-yard field goal attempt that missed -- that frustration has reached a crescendo.
All those passes despite a big, physical offensive line that paved the way for frehsman sensation Samaje Perine to set the NCAA record against Kansas for the most rushing yards in a single game and the fact that Oklahoma was averaging more than six yards per carry between back-up running backs Keith Ford and Alex Ross.
At the end of a significant list of complaints about the team in general from SB Nation’s Oklahoma site, Crimson and Cream Machine, is a call to upset the status quo:
Finally, why are we saying for the fourth time this season that the Sooners got out-coached? This isn’t Sooner Football that we’re seeing. What we’re seeing is unacceptable and something has got to change!
Will there be staff changes in Norman? Are the losses a sign of a deteriorating program? Or maybe just a stale program after Stoops has spent nearly 16 years on the job? Just how many key targets have been put off by the losses? Will the struggles lead to any decommitments in the coming weeks? Can the Sooners finally make some 2015 enroads with prospects in Callfornia or those two former strongholds in Texas?
Those questions are significant enough now that there’s actually some semi-reasonable speculation about Stoops taking a job like Michigan, even though it would represent a lateral move at best. An emphasis on the semi part of semi-reasonable there, but in past years that type of speculation was summarily dismissed, and with good reason.
Less than a year ago, the Sooners were riding high after an unexpected demolition of the Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl and looked like a team with a quarterback for the future in Trevor Knight. Now Knight is out with a neck injury that could linger into the spring, the quarterback situation overall is in flux after poor performances by back up Cody Thomas, and all the recruiting momentum that helped Oklahoma land the top class in the Big 12 with a strong finish in 2014 has dissipated, along with it a great deal of goodwill within the fanbase.
Now there are simply more questions than answers as the team contends with home-field failures that are unprecedented in the Stoops era and a current class that sits outside the top-20 nationally in the 247Sports Composite team rankings.
