Cowboy Recruiting Gets a Hat Trick with Mason Gilkey Commitment (Updated)

Wow!!! What a day!!!

As always the coverage pokes report gives us is excellent! I am definitely feeling conflicted tho. With all the hot start talk and momentum and what not if it doesn't lead to higher quality players is it really a hot start? Is it really momentum? I definitely agree each commit is a quality player but it seems like we are hot an a bunch of kids that will put us in the mid to high 30s again. It's like we can see the effort and focus on recruiting but we still aren't going after the big time kids. When other schools equal our number of commits we could drop from 14 to 40 real quick. Class average still mid 3 star. I love the passion and effort but it seems like we are making ourselves believe this is better than it is? Loyal poke but somewhat worried.

this is probably one year where it doesn't really matter, since teams are going to be loaded with "covid eligibility players", and grad transfers, so all of these kids are going to redshrt anyway.

They fit the redshirt mold perfectly.

again i ask, are these the types of players you can win the B12 championship with? do we have any aspirations of actually going to the playoff? or winning the B12?

This is what I am alluding to also. I don't want to take anything away from the kids were recruit we do get some quality kids and players but are they championship quality players? How excited should we be realistically? We are "rolling" and are "hot" but is that because they number of players we landed in one day? Or should we be excited because these are kids that will get us to the big stage? I just don't see it and it's kind of confusing

This is the same argument I hear every year when it comes to the recruits we get. I know everyone doesn't want to hear this but OSU is not going to be able to pull in 5-stars like OU and Texas. It just doesn't happen. I think Gundy and staff actually does a pretty good job getting a mix of 3 and 4-stars. They do as good a job as anyone with advancing the skills of these players. Let me ask you this: Would you be happy if you were a Texas fan getting all 4 & 5 stars and continuing to be in the middle of the pack?

No one wants to be ou or Texas. I think most fans would just like to be in the top 25. We certainly develop with the best of them so I think an argument a lot of fans have is getting the higher 3 stars and some more four stars. We don't get those kids often. I think we all like the gems that Mike gundy pulls in but finishing each year between 35-45 is just not inspiring . We have teams out recruiting us that we should easily be better at considering the state of our program. So aahain I think a lot of us do like the kids we get but can we not get a little better each year? Is our realistic expectation to win 10 games or are we preparing for a ship? Let's just not sugar coat it. These kids will develop nicely and will have us competing it is that all we are after?

Agree 100% - My stomach does curl when I see some of the teams ahead of us in final recruiting rankings. Again, rankings don't always equal success.

Rankings don't 100 percent reflect that. But it definitely wouldn't hurt to move up in them. If we believe in our development reason stands to say our development could make most any kid better so why not get more quality kids to develop them and see. I don't want any of this to reflect me as a bad fan cuz I do think we get good players but I worry we are stuck in one frame of mind. We have 1 big 12 ship that came forever and a day ago and that is looking more and more like a one off kinda thing. These types of classes have solidified us in the middle. But we keep the same philosophy. Seems like there isn't enough confidence for us to use our resources on those kids that the big dogs get.

TUSKAPOKE said:

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Wow!!! What a day!!!

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I like seeing some underdog kids get a chance and develop like James Washington and Justin Blackmon. That is what my comment is about. I agree with a lot of the comments about recruiting higher ranked players if OSU is ever going to break through and challenge for Big 12 titles and get in the playoffs. In my lifetime, we have won two conference championships (1976, 2011) and in all the years three (1926). That is way too long and too few!!! I also look at the head coach turn over at places like Arkansas, Tennessee, and even Texas and would not trade them over the past decade. I would like OSU to be more aggressive recruiting higher profile players and mixing in these "developmental" kids and until that happens we will have winning seasons, go to Cheez-it Bowls, and be left out of the CFP. GO POKES!!!

Exactly right. Well said!

Definitely don't want or need a new coach but I think as fans we are just ready to see what the program gundy built can do with better players.

Polston31 said:

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Definitely don't want or need a new coach but I think as fans we are just ready to see what the program gundy built can do with better players.

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Agreed.....

Love a fast start anyway and here's hoping the silent commit is a big one!

Wow. We have a great day of recruiting, then what comes out is the hand-wringing about "what if these kids aren't good enough?" From what I have seen, these are players. Measurables are measurable, whether they are from Class A or 6A. The art of the evaluation comes from the kid's character, motivation, dedication, frame & growth potential, and a bunch of other qualities. I have faith in our coaches to make smart offers, and I will celebrate these kids' decisions to join O-State and cheer them on to distinguish themselves and our school. Go Pokes!

No hand wringing just expressing what many others have been saying for years. It's ok to want to be better at recruiting. That's a pretty significant factor in winning big. If you ready the comments we said we like the kids and think they will be good players. We are just debating on why we don't go after and land bigger fish. No one is degrading the value of the commits we received yesterday. It's ok to be honest about the truth.

CanadianCowboy said:

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Wow. We have a great day of recruiting, then what comes out is the hand-wringing about "what if these kids aren't good enough?" From what I have seen, these are players. Measurables are measurable, whether they are from Class A or 6A. The art of the evaluation comes from the kid's character, motivation, dedication, frame & growth potential, and a bunch of other qualities. I have faith in our coaches to make smart offers, and I will celebrate these kids' decisions to join O-State and cheer them on to distinguish themselves and our school. Go Pokes!

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I am not hand wringing just stating facts of three football conference championships in history. We have good coaches and we recruit good student athletes with many of them that will develop into solid players. But to get to the next level something must change. Coaches? Recruiting? Facilities? I enjoy watching under the radar players succeed. The success has been built on such players. Have we plateaued and need to just accept solid seasons, a bowl game and wait until next year? I would like to get to another Big 12 championship and possible CFP playoff game in my lifetime. GO POKES!!!

Polston31 said:

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As always the coverage pokes report gives us is excellent! I am definitely feeling conflicted tho. With all the hot start talk and momentum and what not if it doesn't lead to higher quality players is it really a hot start? Is it really momentum? I definitely agree each commit is a quality player but it seems like we are hot an a bunch of kids that will put us in the mid to high 30s again. It's like we can see the effort and focus on recruiting but we still aren't going after the big time kids. When other schools equal our number of commits we could drop from 14 to 40 real quick. Class average still mid 3 star. I love the passion and effort but it seems like we are making ourselves believe this is better than it is? Loyal poke but somewhat worried.

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Go look at the offer list. The staff is going after the 5* kids, but there isn't a lot of interest from the 5* kids. The Staff is maxing out, and until we come up with more money to try to get close to what they have in Norman and Austin we won't break into that group of recruits. The other thing we can do this HC has done. Win consistently. But it's not a lack of effort when all the 5* kids sign with 5 or 6 programs.

Again this is all perceived as negative from me but it's not my angle lol we offer some kids but is offering pursuing? You can give an offer over the phone. Also not mentioning five star kids. Just we want higher 3s and some more 4s. I feel like people are responding to me without reading everything I said.

Polston31 said:

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No one wants to be ou or Texas. I think most fans would just like to be in the top 25. We certainly develop with the best of them so I think an argument a lot of fans have is getting the higher 3 stars and some more four stars. We don't get those kids often. I think we all like the gems that Mike gundy pulls in but finishing each year between 35-45 is just not inspiring . We have teams out recruiting us that we should easily be better at considering the state of our program. So aahain I think a lot of us do like the kids we get but can we not get a little better each year? Is our realistic expectation to win 10 games or are we preparing for a ship? Let's just not sugar coat it. These kids will develop nicely and will have us competing it is that all we are after?

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Oh, if you just want to be in the top 25 in recruiting subscribe to as many recruiting services as you can and be very vocal, our players ratings will go up and we'll be in the top 25. Great example is Arkansas a perennial top 25 recruiting school that's how many years between winning seasons?

Right now I can tell you we were in the top 10 in wins for the last decade so I'd say we recruited top 10 classes, the facts the boneheads at the recruiting services saw schools that had losing records over that time consistently be ranked above us isn't my concern.

This staff consistently finds kids that produce way above what the "recruiting gurus" said they would is a better path than being an Arkansas or a Tennessee.

Polston31 said:

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Again this is all perceived as negative from me but it's not my angle lol we offer some kids but is offering pursuing? You can give an offer over the phone. Also not mentioning five star kids. Just we want higher 3s and some more 4s. I feel like people are responding to me without reading everything I said.

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If you really followed recruiting closely you'd know that often we have offered kids early, and it just starts a rush towards them. If they wind up sticking with us their rating goes up some, but not as much as if they drop OSU and take an offer from say UT. Even so we do see a lot of kids that are not even on the recruiting gurus radars that we offer, who wind up getting high 3 or ever 4 star rating before signing day. We don't always get them in because OU & UT are always hanging around to make last minute offers.

NJAggie said:

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Polston31 said:

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No one wants to be ou or Texas. I think most fans would just like to be in the top 25. We certainly develop with the best of them so I think an argument a lot of fans have is getting the higher 3 stars and some more four stars. We don't get those kids often. I think we all like the gems that Mike gundy pulls in but finishing each year between 35-45 is just not inspiring . We have teams out recruiting us that we should easily be better at considering the state of our program. So aahain I think a lot of us do like the kids we get but can we not get a little better each year? Is our realistic expectation to win 10 games or are we preparing for a ship? Let's just not sugar coat it. These kids will develop nicely and will have us competing it is that all we are after?

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Oh, if you just want to be in the top 25 in recruiting subscribe to as many recruiting services as you can and be very vocal, our players ratings will go up and we'll be in the top 25. Great example is Arkansas a perennial top 25 recruiting school that's how many years between winning seasons?

Right now I can tell you we were in the top 10 in wins for the last decade so I'd say we recruited top 10 classes, the facts the boneheads at the recruiting services saw schools that had losing records over that time consistently be ranked above us isn't my concern.

This staff consistently finds kids that produce way above what the "recruiting gurus" said they would is a better path than being an Arkansas or a Tennessee.

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i agree and disagree with some of your opinions.

do recruiting services do rankings based on subscribers and potential subscribers based on fanbase? maybe. maybe even likely.
but, do more 4 star and 5 star players based on services ratings end up in the nfl. absolutely. do the teams that line up in the cfb playoffs sign predominately 4 and 5 star players? absolutely.

is osu in the top 10 for wins over the past 10 years? yes. how many b12 championships have we won in the last 10 years?
over the past 3-5 years what direction would you say our program is trending? up? down? push?

isn't the idea to compete for the b12 championship? wouldn't you like to see our program trending upward and taking the necessary steps to the next level. I mean we're a top 20 maybe, probably top 25-30 program now. wouldn't you like to see us take a step into the 15-20 range year in and out?

You're obviously upset I have an opinion on wanting to recruit better. I bleed orange. I follow osu as closely as just about anyone I would be willing to wager. I have not shining a negative light on osu or it's recruiting. Again I like the kids we got. I like how fast we started. I could go on and on about the positives. To anyone reading this.... it's ok to want a little better. No comparisons to Texas and ou or bama or whoever. It's just facts that with the level our program is at we could recruit a little better and move up a tier. Is that so bad? I am by no means saying we should be something we are not. I believe we could do a little better and get a couple few more higher ranked kids. Whether you believe in recruiting rankings or not is not the point. The programs out that that win more and at a higher level recruit better than us. How is this being so confused? I love osu respect how they recruit respect the coaching staff etc etc. but I believe we could do more and that should not be unreasonable nor a negative slight. Just my opinion. We don't need to argue

Yes!

having said what i said above fully acknowledging that our next move up a tier is getting close to elite level. it'll be very hard to impossible for osu to do that.

I think our class is coming along fine, and we're redshirt the lot of them.

No real complaints about recruiting.

CaliforniaCowboy said:

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I think our class is coming along fine, and we're redshirt the lot of them.

No real complaints about recruiting.

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so since the last b12 (only) championship having been 9 years ago, your happy with our recruiting that has resulted in nothing?

thetruth said:

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CaliforniaCowboy said:

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I think our class is coming along fine, and we're redshirt the lot of them.

No real complaints about recruiting.

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so since the last b12 (only) championship having been 9 years ago, your happy with our recruiting that has resulted in nothing?

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I'm talking about THIS CLASS, not the past decade. I'm talking about this class, in light of the expanded roster and scholarship limit, and how many kids would actually see the field anyway, with so much experience returning.