I would not be surprised if McDavis was on here as well. I believe our university is blessed to have a president who graduated as a student-athlete from our university. His love for the school runs deeper than most presidents. I knew from day one he loved sports by his engagement and enthusiasm to find out what we needed to fix over a decade ago. He came to the players to hear our side as well. To me that's encouraging.

Stars do matter if you are a 4 or 5. I wont deny that. Once you get to 3 stars I believe everyone is almost equal. 3 stars or below can get better and surpass 4s and 5s. Coaches recruit players for skills but also work ethic. Who wants a lazy 5 star who thinks they dont have to work hard when there is a 4 star busting tail. I just say don't look too far into the recruiting services numbers but really look at their tape and competition.

From looking at the tape of this years recruits I am really impressed with 2 guys. Felipe Fernandez first. Great body frame with potential to tone up and improve his footwork. Strength and initial punch is already there. Acceleration ladders will help him with a quicker first step.
The second recruit is Kaevon Harris Sr. Although his competition is not up there with other recruits, his potential to bulk up, great speed and a size advantage on smaller MAC corners can be a real problem. Defensive coordinators will have to keep two safeties high which will open up the running game. I believe he could play now but I would hope we redshirt him....get him one year with Sano and watch him explode the next 4 years. I have high expectations on him just seeing his tape. I think he will break tackles and take more than a few to the house. Just my opinion though.

If you see potential recruits....say hello. Ask them about their OU experience. It carries more weight than you will ever know. Some big universities treat you like a number or an assembly line part. We make recruits feel home and a brotherhood of hard working blue collar guys. Which we are!

Did I see correctly in some older stats (2011) that you played some QB? Were they hurting for a QB or had you played it in HS? lol

I believe you can't put ALL your effort into 4 and 5 star players because if they chose a P5 school (which they tend to do) then you lose ground on other potential athletes that do value OU's scholarship as a better offer compared to what they currently have. So basically if you were the coach would you realistically offer 12 of your 25 potential scholarships to 4 and 5 stars players? I would say no. I would offer UP to 5 scholarships to those type of guys and fill the class with my targets and summer camp studs. That would give me room to contact other players if those guys turn down the offer without worrying about the class not filling up. If that makes sense. Now once we get the monkey off our back and top it off with a bowl win....you can get more aggressive in recruiting. I have a good feeling we are one or two years away!
We recruit great character guys and qualifiers for the most part with an exception here or there.

I think Excat21 needs a weekly or even a daily column! I'm glued to his comments and am getting nothing done at work here! Great stuff!

must....get.....back....to.....work........

Two years ago I spent some time with Coach Solich and staff. At one point I was being shown the locker room. A recruit and his parents also were being escorted there, and I was introduced to them. To the recruit (and his parents) I said something like this: "If you decide to come to Ohio, you will be making a very wise choice. That's as to football and to your life's work."

You could see his eyes and those of his parents brightening.

It's interesting to see you talk that way about the recruitment process. In my mind I always thought it might be in the reverse order. But then again, the campus does matter a ton. And I've also thought that bothering a recruit on their visit was impolite.

I had a basketball recruitment trip to a small college in Ohio. Coming from a small high school, I didn't want to go to another small place and ultimately decided on not playing at all. I needed new experiences that place wouldn't provide. Best decision I ever made.

From the mouth of an Ohio coach to my ears: "we need to be more selective about who we ask on a campus visit because the first 3 guys who came committed after seeing Athens". The campus does, indeed, sell itself.

It is not selfish to want playing time. Student athletes come to Ohio to make a difference for Ohio. Mr. Maxwell is a class act and a great ambassador for Ohio, I am sure he was hungry for pt when he was in uniform.

Earlier this year somebody posted that they were frustrated about their situation and some of us tried to turn the person into Terell Owens or Latrell Sprewell and I thought that's what L.C was getting at, but you are right there are some people who are strictly out for themselves and some people are misunderstood. Point taken

To be honest fellas, my redshirt freshman year I got into with coach Gregory after he scraped the offense in the middle of practice. Players were highly upset and the tone of practice was horrible. I'm highly competitive but I let my mouth get me in some trouble. Greg wanted me to block the entire practice and made Stafford Owens sit out for a play in which the lineman got blocked into the backfield and caused a fumble. So he told me to take my pads off and quit. So I headed to the locker room (which I should have not have been naïve to his sarcasm). I thought he was for real. But I ended up missing the whole season after starting against Minnesota and having to meet with Brian Knorr the following year to see if I was going to be on the team. He told me I could re-join the team if my teammates allowed me or transfer to a NON-MAC school. University of Louisville came into our weight room and offered me to come there, however, Brian Knorr came down stairs and kicked Mike Summers (our former offensive line coach who went to Louisville and then on to New York Giants.) Justin Riley (one of my good friends and teammates til this day) was a better blocker and surpassed me on the depth chart. I played a lot of slot and special teams. I ended up doing an article with the Athens Post that criticized Knorr and I got a lot of heat from that. We ended up have media relations set-up after that paper. But I promised the students one thing before I left Ohio and that we would play in the MAC championship game before I graduated. (I have a few copies of that article of my premonition). My teammates excepted me back with open arms (thank goodness), I played the following Spring Game and I did not lose my scholarship. I absolutely love the game of football and I wanted my education from OU, that's why I chose OU over a full ride from Arkansas, Kentucky, Cincinnati, and several other programs. For me it all worked out in the end. I don't pout about playing time. I was blessed to be apart of this foundation we began. I owe OU everything for where I am today being from a small town in Kentucky. And I am appreciative of everything in those years.

Now with that being said I will say that "one of our greatest teammates" was so frustrated that he quit the team as well but he came back earlier than I did because he meant more to the team. Imagine OU without this player and we might not have our biggest wins in program history. This was how bad the times were back then. VERY! VERY! VERY! BAD! Players were not on the same page with the head coach at the time.

Thanks for your truth.