A Few Recruiting Notes with Tucker Barnard Leaving and Dallas Morning News Statistic

STILLWATER – While I was writing this there was breaking news. Stillwater High School is losing Tucker Barnard as head football coach. That is rough, especially in July as that is a bad time to lose a football coach. 

Stillwater is losing their football coach that helped to deliver a Class 6A-II State Championship this past season and so much success overall on the gridiron to the place they got him from. Barnard is returning to Shiloah Christian Academy in Arkansas to serve as head coach and athletics director.  He leaves Stillwater coming off the 14-0 championship season and an overall record of 94-43.

Stillwater Public Schools

Tucker Barnard

Barnard has been successful and done it sometimes in the face of a sloppy and less than athletically supportive administration. He never complained and did a great job of not allowing negative leadership or lack of district support to touch the kids. You should see the weight room and locker room that Stillwater High School football uses. Fortunately, they have a beautiful stadium, but the ammenties are lacking. 

The positive is Stillwater High School has strong assistants because of Barnard. If they stay then you would hope that the school district would have the intelligence and football savvy to promote from within and hope that leader could keep the staff together. 

Either defensive coordinator Clarence Holley or offensive coordinator Chad Cawood would be sure fire candidates. He is not a full-time employee, teacher, or adminstrator, but former Oklahoma State and NFL standout Charlie Johnson, who has been the offensive line coach, would be someone I would look at as well. The hope for any school leader with sense would be to attempt to keep the staff intact.

Heavy DFW Influence in Pokes 2024 Class

I should have seen this because when you look at Oklahoma State’s commitment list overall, it sticks out pretty easily. Oklahoma State has more than half of their current commitments residing in the DFW Metroplex. The Cowboys have 13 total commitments as of July 4 with the pledge of McKinney High School linebacker Jonathan Agumadu. Agumadu, as first reported by The Dallas Morning News, is the seventh DFW-area prospect to commit to Oklahoma State in the class of 2024. 

How about this, and this has no bearing on recruiting grades, stars in the class, or ranking. It is just an observation of geography, which does factor in recruiting. In the current class the Unviersity of Texas has three Metroplex commitments, TCU has three, and Texas A&M has none. Thost three schools UT, TCU, and A&M have less DFW-area commitments combined than Oklahoma State does. 

Robert Allen - Pokes Report

Cleveland (in black) at UA Camp was offered by Texas and TCU.

Of those players: Landyn Cleveland of Mansfield Summit, Temerrick Johnson of Midlothian Heritage, Tre’ Griffiths of Keller, Armstrong Nnodim of Mesquite Horn, David Kabongo of Trophy Club Byron Nelson, Agumadu from McKinney, and Gunnar Wilson of Melissa; Cleveland was offered by both Texas and TCU and Kabongo was offered by Texas. The rest have Baylor and Texas Tech show up multiple times and SMU on almost each one, but no others offered by Texas or TCU. Texas A&M has not offered any players that Oklahoma State has commitments from in the DFW-area. Considering Texas A&M and how they have performed recently, that could be a good thing.

On the other hand Texas A&M only has one commitment that OKlahoma State offered and that is Beaumont Central offensive tackle Weston Davis, who has claimed he will still visit Oklahoma State Sept. 16. Receiver Parker Livingstone of Lovejoy, Texas is the only Longhorn commitment that Oklahoma State offered. TCU has two commitments that Oklahoma State not only offered but had on campus in quarterback Hauss Hejny of Aledo and receiver Gekyle Baker of Brownsboro, Texas.

Not as much overlap as you might think.

What About Oklahoma?

We’re not alone and we’re not being negative on purpose, just our honest observations. This class in 2024 is not a strong one by Oklahoma standards. The state of Oklahoma will average 32.5 Division I football signees each season. I’ve seen years where close to 50 high school players in the state signed an NIL with a Division I school and I’ve seen it dip into the low 20s and high teens. 

Robert Allen - Pokes Report

Fields moved from OKC Southeast to Del City for this season.

This year is not a particularly strong years for the state. The Cowboys have two in-state players committed in running back Rodney Fields of Del City and tight end Josh Ford of Stillwater. Oklahoma has one Oklahoma prep committed in Carl Albert High School running back Xavier Robinson. 

My observations include that Danny Okoye is the best prospect in the state. The nulti-positional defender from Tulsa NOAH (home school) is sensational. Oklahoma State offered but is no longer active on him. 

I have 12 prospects in the state that I would offer if I were a Division I director of recruiting and I’m not including Xadavien Sims of Durant. I watched a lot of video fo Sims and he was too inconsistent to make me interested. Tulsa Union corner Devon Jordan is very legit and Oklahoma State is waiting on him. I think OU leads there. I’m not sure how many in-state players Oklahoma has even offered. 

I’m a huge fan of Wagoner’s Whitt Edwards, but I prefer him on defense as a hybrid safety rather than on offense as a wide receiver. He can do both, but I love his instincts on defense. Sleepers in Oklahoma I like include Del City wide receiver LaDainian Fields, Poteau athlete Dax Collins, and Del City quarterback River Warren. 

Still Waiting on Quarterback 

Appropriate we put River Warren in that list of our Oklahoma sleepers. Oklahoma State is really shooting for one quarterback right now in San Mateo (Junipero Serra) High School’s Maealiuaki Smith.  The 6-4, 205-pound Smith is special and is seemingly in a decision making process between Oklahoma State and BYU. He has visited both and is still trying to make a decision. 

Junipero Serra High School

Smith is Cowboys top QB choice.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma State has their eggs all in that basket. They could go without a quarterback in the class considering their QB room has red-shirt freshman but three-game starter Garret Rangel, sophomore Gunnar Gundy, and standout freshman Zane Flores. That is a better future quarterback room than most. 

If they choose to look for a quarterback should Smith not commit to the Cowboys, then Warren might be an option, He is in-state and has attended multiple Oklahoma State camps, so they know him well.

What’s Left?

Honestly, other than a decision by Maealiuaki Smith, I’m not sure anything else is imminent this summer. Oklahoma State stands at 13 commitments and here is the list of scholarships they are looking to fill before signing day in December. These numbers are our guess on the make up of the class.

Quarterback - 1

Running Back - 0

Wide Receiver - 1

Tight End - 0

Offensive Line - 3-4

Defensive Line - 1

Linebacker - 1

Safety - 1

Cornerback - 1

Of course, anytime a difference maker becomes a potential target they will find a way to make the numbers work out.