PFB Comments of the Week (December 27)

Oklahoma State upset Florida State in basketball last Saturday and they are now receiving votes to be in the top 25. Yankuba Sima has been a big boost to depth of a team that just lost Zack Dawson and Davon Dillard.

Meanwhile, National Signing Day came early for the football team. The Cowboys signed 22 recruits on Day 1 of the Early Signing Period. Spencer Sanders was the first recruit to send in his NLI, and the debate over who should be next season’s starting quarterback can officially begin. Here are our comments of the week.

1. Under The Radar Recruits

Kirby Bennett from Lone Star in Frisco could be one to get in on late but everyone is on him. Also Anthony Johnson more of a mold of Hill and very slippery with good burst and he is patient too. Only offer is from North Texas. –Tre on who the Cowboys should recruit late.

Bennett is a good football player, more of a power back than a speed back. Would be a really good third-down guy, but with all the talent the Cowboys have at running back, I can’t see OSU pursuing Bennett.

2. Offensive Woes

I didn’t like this offense just passing around the perimeter of the zone. No one was driving into it until Kendall late. Kendall seems like a good driver but he’s not doing it. Maybe he will start after his success late in this one. We had too much size with Solomon and Sima to not have been attacking the basket. –OKsailor on attacking the basket.

With Solomon and Sima on the floor, OSU should absolutely be attacking the basket. Kendall Smith is a good slasher and Carroll is explosive enough to finish well at the rim. However, this team is built on defense, and it’s working for them so far.

3. Sean Michael Flanagan

Arkansas fans are SO SALTY right now about it and I love it. They have flipped so many of our recruits over the past several years (e.g. Marshall ON Signing Day two years ago) that they deserve to feel a little pain themselves. Welcome to OSU, Sean! –AC on Sean Michael Flanagan.

Flipping the No. 1 player in the state of Arkansas from the flagship school in his home state is huge. Flanagan is a huge addition to this years class, and gives OSU some good momentum in recruiting.

4. Quarterback Competition

I have seen him play in person. No question he’s a man amongst boys at the high school level. The question is how will he perform at the college level when most of the competition will be playing at his level. I hope he can make the adjustment. However, I’ve seen way too many very talented high school players struggle to adjust to the college game. –austinpoke on Spencer Sanders.

Mason Rudolph hasn’t even taken his last snap as a Cowboy yet and Gundy is already stirring the pot and putting the pressure on Corn Dog. Much speculation will be made over who the starter should be over the next 9 months, let’s enjoy the bowl game first.

5. Mike Boynton

I was also very impressed with his ability to adjust as a coach. The article does a better job than I ever could of showing those adjustments within the game. But I also thought Boynton showed some game management skills at the end of the game. Letting Smith push the ball up the floor with under 15 seconds I thought was a great call. FSU defense was never able to get set. And then on top of that we called our own timeout after the Mitch tip-in to get our defense set for their last play. –Guest on Mike Boynton.

Mike Boynton has done an incredible job with this team so far this season. There have been plenty of ups and downs, and there will be plenty more throughout Big 12 play, but he has done a great job so far. The talent drop-off from last season’s squad to this years team is drastic, and yet he has the Pokes playing decent ball.

6. Loyal Recruiting Class

I’d love to hear who the “poachers” were after last night (and what schools they were). Was it just Lacy and Scott or were they after more? Seems like this has been the most committed class beginning to end that I can remember in a long time. –Aaron on a committed recruiting class.

It wasn’t until recently that I felt confident that Spencer Sanders would remain committed to the Pokes. Hopefully the loyalty of this class is a preview of classes to come at OSU.

7. Recruiting Classes

Texas has been reeling in the 4/5 star kids since the dawn of time, yet they’ve sucked on the field for a solid seven years. So recruiting class rankings aren’t everything.
but if they are – TCU and Baylor (??) both smoked OSU this year. Their classes are ranked quite a bit higher with 4 and 5 5-star kids each. –Mullet Power on recruiting classes.

This Texas recruiting class is different from the last several. As of right now, they have the 3rd ranked recruiting class in the nation. However, most of their talented recruits are defensive backs. The biggest problem for Texas the last two seasons; they’ve started freshmen at quarterback. Mike Gundy has also proved that having a top recruiting class isn’t everything. It is important though, and if OSU wants to take the next step, reeling in top 15 recruiting classes is important.

8. Recruiting The Big 12

Really the last few years it’s usually been TCU, Baylor. OSU and WV battling for 3rd-6th in conference recruiting classes well behind Texas and OU. It is amazing that Baylor has recovered so quickly. The Bears had a pretty young team that went 1-11. I’m sure they will be the most improved team in the league. –davids on recruiting the Big 12.

Despite this, the best two teams in the league have been OU and OSU. If OSU can pull even with Texas and OU, or even just relatively close to even, they will win more Big 12 championships. The Pokes have to continue hauling a few 4 stars on offense, and they need to bring in a few 4 stars on defense every year as well. A 5 star here and there would be nice too.