Recruiting Update as the Dead Period of July Approaches, Plus New Recruiting Rankings
STILLWATER – My first inclination was to make this a free story. I decided to make the first part free and then go Premium with the second part. I work too hard to come up with the information and subscriptions with Oklahoma State fans are hard to come by. More than most fan bases, Oklahoma State fans either expect the information for free or they just don’t want to spend the money. Hey, it’s a free country.
I cannot possibly use others materials and then put it behind a pay wall on my site. That just isn’t right.
Oklahoma State currently has 10 verbal commitments in the 2024 football recruiting class.
Name of Commitment (Alphabetical order) |
Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Town (School), State | Notes |
Jaylen Boardley | LB | 6-0 | 190 | Texarkana (Pleasant Grove), Texas | Light for the position, recruited for defense but had 929-yds. in total offense with 9 TDs as a junior. |
Landyn Cleveland | Saf. | 6-0 | 190 | Mansfield (Legacy), Texas | He has led Legacy in tackles two years in a row, 100 tackles and four interceptions last season. |
Rodney (R.J.) Fields | RB | 5-10 | 180 | Oklahoma City (Del City), Okla. | Blazer that is sub 4.5 and has a 10.98 100 meter time. He ran for 1,147-yards, 17 TDs, and 10.7-ypc as a junior. |
Josh Ford | TE | 6-6 | 263 | Stillwater, Okla. | HC Mike Gundy saw him all season as he had 17 rec for 132-yds. and 3 TDs. |
Tre Griffiths | WR | 6-3 | 215 | Keller, Texas | Triple jumped 46’8” last spring and had 32 rec. for 865-yds. and 7 TDs as a junior. |
Caleb Hackleman | OL | 6-6 | 278 | Texarkana (Pleasant Grove), Texas | Part of an 11-3 State Regional Finalist in Class 4A |
Chauncey Johnson | OL | 6-4.5 | 288 | Lonoke, Ark. | Also wrestled for first time last season and made state. He was sensational in Down and Dirty Camp. |
David Kabongo | Saf. | 5-11 | 185 | Trophy Club (Byron Nelson), Texas | Had two interceptions last season, but broke out as a soph. with 88 tackles and five interceptions. |
Willie Nelson | Saf. | 5-9 | 175 | Longview, Texas | He had 77 tackles, five interceptions, and five passes defended as a junior, track guy 4.5 speed. |
Gunnar Wilson | LB | 6-3 | 215 | Melissa, Texas | HM All-State last season with 46 receptions for 452-yds. and 6 TDs at TE. At LBO 42 tackles, 5-TFL, 2 sacks, and 2 interceptions. |
So, where do these guys all rate? The Dallas Morning News came out with their football recruiting rankings in the Sunday, June 25 edition and I just received my Texas Football Magazine in the
mail on Friday. My good friend and a former Scout and 247 regional and national evaluator Greg Powers has moved up in the world and is now the recruiting editor for Texas Football.
Powers will be on my show on Tuesday at 12:05 p.m. on Triple Play Sports (tripleplaysportsradio.com) and we will talk football recruiting.
Okay here is where the current Oklahoma State commits rank with the DMN and Texas Football Magazine.
Name of Commitment | Pos. | Ranking Notes |
Jaylen Boardley | LB | Texas Football rated him a Top 10 player in the athlete category, along with his teammate Ahkhari Johnson, who also visited OSU. Boardley was also third-team All-Super Team Defense by Texas Football. |
Landyn Cleveland | Saf. | Texas Football had him on the third-team All-Super Team Defense and a Texas Top 100 (78) player and a top defensive back. Dallas Morning News had him Top 100 area player and Top 100 Texas (99). |
Rodney (R.J.) Fields | RB | The Oklahoman has Fields ranked as No. 8 on their Top 30 Prospects list, but the list loses value based on some selections in it. |
Josh Ford | TE | The Oklahoman has Ford ranked as No. 10 on their Top 30 Prospects list. |
Tre Griffiths | WR | Texas Football had him ranked as a Texas Top 300 player and in the best of the wide receivers. He was a Dallas Morning News Top 100 area player. |
Caleb Hackleman | OL | Texas Football had him as a Texas Top 300 player and one of the top offensive linemen in Texas. |
Chauncey Johnson | OL | Give Oklahoma State staff credit as they evaluated, offered, and gained a commitment from a prospect unranked, but The Arkansas Democrat Gazette publicized last summer. |
David Kabongo | Saf. | Texas Football had him as a Texas Top 300 player and one of the top defensive backs. The Dallas Morning News had him a Top 100 area player. |
Willie Nelson | Saf. | Texas Football had him as a Texas Top 300 player and one of the top defensive backs. Dallas Morning News had him as a Top 100 area player. |
Gunnar Wilson | LB | Texas Football had him as a Texas Top 300 player and one of the top linebackers. Dallas Morning News had him as a Top 100 area player. |
Okay, the summer dead period starts in a matter of hours as I write this on Sunday afternoon June 25.
Definition of NCAA Recruiting Dead Period: A dead period is that period of time when it is not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off the member institution’s campus or to permit official or unofficial visits by prospective student-athletes to the institution’s campus. Social media contact and texting is permissable.
The dead period starts at midnight and Oklahoma State has hosted, by our count, 21 official visits in June. They had 13 visits that they hosted in April. We will track all those and update other primary prospects in Part Two of this project.