Landyn Cleveland Talks Oklahoma State Official Visit
STILLWATER – The food was good and the company was plenty as most of the Oklahoma State football coaching and support staff joined head coach Mike Gundy and his family on Saturday night at the Gundy home southwest of campus for fajitas and recruiting. One of the guests of honor, one of the six visitors there, was Landyn Cleveland and his family. Cleveland is 6-0, 190 and athletic enough to play corner, but more physical and plays safety for Mansfield Legacy High School.
I watched him on video and in person at the Under Armour All-America Camp in Arlington back in March. He uses his hands well and jams up receivers and then plays very physically through the ball. In the camp more reps than not, he had as good, if not a better chance to catch the ball. He was All-District last season with 104 tackles and two interceptions.
The Dave Campbell’s Texas Football crew of Greg Powers, Greg Tepper, and Matt Stepp rank him the 10th best safety in Texas and the 78th best player in the 2024 class in Texas.
“My visit went really good,” Cleveland told me from the airport in Oklahoma City. “I really enjoyed being with the players and they helped me fall in love with the school more.”
Cleveland’s player host was safety Ty Williams from Muskogee. The two have a lot in common with size and the way they play the position.
Cleveland was attentive at the Saturday practice spending most of the practice on the defensive sideline and seemingly paying a lot of attention to the coaching and he seemed like he was always around new defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo.
“The coaches were honest, very forward,” Cleveland said of his interaction with everybody including Coach Gundy. “They don’t beat around the bush. They tell you what it will be like playing at Oklahoma State. They grind and they work hard and get after it.”
One of the things that I remember from Cleveland at the UA Camp in Arlington was that he was proud that new defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo had reached out early when he got the Oklahoma State job, so I asked how Coach Nardo was for Cleveland in person?
“I love Coach Nardo. He treated me like family and I met and spent time with his wife and his kids,” Cleveland expounded. “It was more than football with Coach Nardo. I love Coach Nardo.”
Cleveland has 34 offers, but he told me he was impressed with Oklahoma State and at this time has only one other visit set.
“I have Texas set up in June (for a visit),” he answered.
We will see what happens. I don’t expect anything immediate here, but I expect Oklahoma State to recruit Cleveland consistently and aggressively.