Official Recruiting Visits on Game Weekends like Eynce Sledge are Different
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State had an official visitor in recruiting this weekend as massive defensive tackle Enyce Sledge out of Neville High School in Monroe, La. was here with family. Marshall Levenson has an update on his visit and the 6-3, 315-pound Sledge, who came into Oklahoma State with a verbal commitment to Baylor, had a strong visit weekend and posted as much on Twitter.
“My relationship with the coaches is great they’ve showed interest for a long time they took the time to build a relationship with me and my family,” Sledge told Levenson of our staff. “They really have great schemes for my type of play style right now but I’m letting it all play out. I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, that’s why I took a visit to OSU, they are a great program.”
Sledge said he wasn’t sure if he would use the early signing date in December as he let us know that he is still hearing from a variety of programs.
Game weekend official visits have been more in vogue in the last five-years or so, but Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy has been hesitant to have recruits in for the official visit.
“The reason that it is not easy is that we don’t have the time to spend with them. We get them here for 48 hours and during that time we feel like we need to give them everything they need and all the quality information on Oklahoma State in order to make a good decision, explained Gundy. “On those (game) weekends we’re busy, and so I’ve always been concerned about it from the standpoint that they leave and think that I didn’t get to spend a lit of time with Coach (Rob) Glass, Coach (Charlie) Dickey, Coach Gundy or whatever.”
In this case with Sledge, he was part of a devastating 42-0 playoff win on Friday night and then flew in on Saturday. With the 7 p.m. kickoff for the Cowboys hosting TCU there was plenty of time to get he and his family to Stillwater to enjoy the game day atmosphere and with the Barry Sanders statue and Ring of Honor ceremony there was lots to soak in.
It would have been hard for a recruit at any position not to be impressed with all that was going on, not the least a 63-17 win over TCU where the offense and defense were all in the impressive starring mode. Still, Gundy and the staff have mostly opted for massive, big attendance visit weekends in January or in June during the new summer visit window. The reason is they have lots of time for personal attention to the prospects and their families.
Gundy laments the fact that he and position coaches can’t devote as much time on a game weekend but having Director of Recruiting Todd Bradford and his staff of analysts has helped that situation a lot. Bradford is a former assistant coach that has a perfect feel on when and when not to involve the coaches in the recruiting. Winning games is the major objective on a game weekend, always has been and always will be.
“It’s just impossible for us to spend time with them and communicate the way we would in the offseason,” Gundy added. “It’s the new wave and young men, some of them, want to be on campus on a game weekend. We do the best we can to make it work. There’s just not the individual touch because there’s not enough time.”
The Cowboys will have to rely on the show and hope that Enyce Sledge, with a front seat for he and his family, thoroughly enjoyed it so much that he wants to be a part of it in the future.