Pokes Report Subscribers Get Up Close with Collin Oliver Plus Orange Blitz for Recruits

STILLWATER – What a busy day in Stillwater with The Spring Finale and prior to that a major recruiting event in the Sherman Smith Training Center.

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Lucas Simmons (tallest) and his family talk with OSU players Ollie Gordon and Zach Middleton.

It was said that between former players attending and their families, the seven recruits on their official visits (Frisco Lone Star), Texas corner Jaylon Braxton; Amarillo (Tascosa), Texas defensive end Avion Carter; offensive line commitment Jack Endean of Tucson (Tanque Verde), Arizona; fellow 2023 commitment Jaedon Foreman, a defensive end from Del City, Okla; safety and 2023 commitment Kamryn Franklin from Oak Grove, La; Swedish native and Clearwater Academy International, Fla. offensive tackle Lucas Simmons; Denton (Braswell), Texas corner Dylan Smith; and defensive end Billy Walton from state champion Dallas (South Oak Cliff), Texas) and their families. There were also plenty of unofficial visitors and family members with all of them. It was said that close to 750 passes were issued to the event.

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Helmet pictures at Orange Blitz.

Following The Spring Finale we at Pokes Report had out own event. We weren’t close to 750, but had a good crowd at Bad Brad’s Barbeque as Cowboys 2021 Freshman All-American and Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year Collin Oliver spent a couple of hours with us. Oliver was paid an appearance fee (NIL earnings) for the event that included him signing autographs, taking pictures, and a Q-and-A broadcast live on Triple Play Sports Radio and including questions from the audience.

Oliver had a light day of work in the Cowboys final of 15 practices, but the fans got a chance to see him tap quarterback Spencer Sanders for a sack. Oliver wasn’t bothered by not seeing a lot of duty on Saturday.

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Collin Oliver in The Spring Finale had one sack.

“Today was more for the young guys, getting them ready,” Oliver said of his scant two series of work. “I was in their shoes last spring getting reps in for spring. It was more for them.”

One of the topics that fans most wanted to hear about was the defense and new defensive coordinator Derek Mason. Oliver told all of us it was different on defense and Mason is a big change from previous coordinator Jim Knowles.

“It was different and we had a coordinator change with Derek Mason coming in and we had position and depth changes too,” Oliver added. “I feel like overall it was an adjustment and I think we adjusted well. Coach Mason is different. He is very loud, loud in a good way. He gets on you a lot more but that’s good. I actually prefer coaches that get on you more and do it loud. I’m like that.”

During the Cowboy Sports Network radio broadcast former Cowboy Deion Imade and myself spoke with injured defensive ends Brock Martin and Trace Ford. Along with Oliver, all three of those guys play the “Leo” end position and Mason has talked about working to put packages together with the 11 best players on defense and that includes multiple Leos on the field at the same time.

“It definitely sounds good, and it sounds scary for opposing offenses,” Oliver added. “I like how it sounds and I can’t wait to see how we’re going to do that.”

One Pokes Report premium subscriber “Rowdy Rawhide” asked Oliver when the last time he played offense. Oliver said it was his junior season in high school as he played some tight end.

“My hands are still good,” he said.

“I’m going to email Coach (Mike) Gundy and I’m going to reference R.W. McQuarters and some of the others that played both offense and defense and tell him that he needs to play you on offense,” Rowdy Rawhide said.

Oliver grinned and said he was up for it.

Oliver is represented in his NIL by Drew Rosehaus firm. There is no doubt that Rosenhaus is thinking Oliver will end up being a big-time client heading into the NFL Draft someday. After his very productive freshman season with 15.5 tackles-for-loss and 11.5 sacks, playing in the NFL is a reasonable goal for Oliver.

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Oliver says his “motor” keeps him going.

“Personally, I have a motor that drives me a lot more than all of the league talk,” Oliver explained. “It drives me a more than the first-round draft and playing in the league. I want to be the best I can be at my position and the best I can be for my team. That is what drives me and not the material things and the status things.”

We can vouch for that as Oliver was awesome mixing with the Pokes Report subscribers and it was a good time, the barbeque was really good too.