Owasso Football Team Camp was Fun Way to Spend Saturday
OWASSO – You know these days we are all looking at ways that our lives can get back closer to normal. The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things and has made us appreciate the simple things. We now look fonder on aspects of our life that maybe we, at times, considered work. The past week I’ve made it to a couple of spring high school football camps. It’s my job to get out there and cover prospects that are on the Oklahoma State recruiting list or something I really pride myself on, discovering or increasing the attention on deserving high school prospects in our state. The joy of football was present on Saturday morning early at Owasso High School.
I saw the joy of playing as close to 500 players were there suited up and getting after it. There were varsity and junior varsity sessions with host Owasso, Broken Arrow, Bentonville (Ark.), Sand Springs, Stillwater, and Union in attendance.
I saw the joy of coaching with established head coaches like Bill Blankenship of Owasso, Kirk Fridrich of Union, Tucker Barnard of Stillwater, and newer head coaches like former Jenks standout Bobby Klink at Sand Springs and one-time standout Union quarterback Josh Blankenship at Broken Arrow.
How about this legacy as Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy sat up in the bleachers and watched his youngest son, Gage, play quarterback for Stillwater and could see four of his former players on the field coaching with former NFL offensive tackle Charlie Johnson coaching the Stillwater offensive line, former NFL and CFL offensive tackle Levy Adcock coaching the Owasso defensive line, former Cowboy running back Jeremy Smith coaching the backs and skill players at Tulsa Union, and former OSU receiver Tracy Moore coaching the pass catchers for Broken Arrow.
I had a blast on Saturday. I got to see a lot of old friends. I got to talk to some players I hadn’t talked to before. I saw improvement in some players I’ve seen before. It was a great day.
I look into the faces of these players and I still can see myself at their age, loving being out there, sweating, hitting, and flush to my neck in the thrill, emotion, disappointment, and success of competition.
There were no masks, no social distancing, just the love that high school sports fosters. It was a good day and I have six players to feature for all of you in the upcoming week, and four of them are juniors for next fall, class of 2023 players that are just breaking out. Those stories will all be Premium, so I hope you wiil subscribe before we get too far into those. It will include a couple of prospects you know and some you will learn about.
It won’t include Stillwater linebacker and Oklahoma State Calss of 2022 commitment Gabe Brown as he is rehabbing an injury but will be ready to go for the 2021 season for the Pioneers.
Bentonville, Ark. wide receiver Chas Nimrod was there and he has close to 20 offers but not one from Oklahoma State. The Cowboys appear to have their receiver prospects narrowed down and some committed. The 2023 running back prospect Josh Ficklin was there as well from Bentonville.He did not run much, but worked a lot on his pass protection for the Tigers. The recruitiing reporters in Arkansas have him as a heavy lean to the home state Razorbacks.
I didn’t know if I had a breaking story or not, but Tulsa Union corner Jayden Rowe was in street clothes and when I asked the OU commitment if his pledge was firm, he shrugged his shoulders. I chose not to pursue the story. That is one I’ll let my brethren that cover the OU recruiting process jump onto. I did hear a voice in the Union team camp yell, “Stillwater is God’s country.”
Along the recruiting theme, I feel for the seniors of this season. It hasn’t been as easy for many as it has for Owasso defensive end Chris McClellan or Rowe. I had a mother of a wide receiver at Owasso, the mom of Jaray Austin approach me in the parking lot and tell me her speedster of a son, No. 30 for the Rams and a senior this fall badly wants to play college football.
You see that is the group that was hurt most by COVID-19. Last spring there were no camps like this and no camps on college campuses for players in that class to be seen. Those camps are back too. They will start up in June. I told her to get her son to four or five colleges and make sure he tells the coaches he wants to play. Hopefully, somebody will like what they see and he will have a chance to fulfill his dream.
COVID-19 killed a lot of dreams, took away days like Saturday at Owasso and we can’t get them back.
We can appreciate that we have them back. I know I do. Thanks to all those athletes and coaches that made for a great Saturday in Owasso and thanks to the 96th Street Barbecue for some of the best hickory smoke barbecue that I’ve had in awhile.