The Reload: Cornerbacks, Offensive Lineman Remain Top Priorities

The Reload is PFB’s recruiting recap, catching you up to speed on the latest news and rumors regarding Oklahoma State recruiting.

2018 OKC lineman Owen Condon makes day visit

John Henson has already raked in three high school offensive line commitments in his short, fruitful time as the offensive line coach. It is believed the staff is looking for four in total to sign — and OKC area offensive line Owen Condon is among the targets to fill that slot. Condon made an unofficial visit to Stillwater this weekend with his family in tow and it’s a solid sign that the staff is maintaining his interest as he continues to feel out schools.

“It’s going to be one of my tops until I end up committing to a school,” Condon told Pistols Firing about his thoughts regarding Oklahoma State. “It’s close, it’s a great program, and Coach Henson is awesome.”

Condon, a product of Bishop McGuinness High School, also holds offers from Georgia, Arkansas, SMU, Arizona State and others. He says he only wants to make one commitment and wants to be sure he makes the right one, so there’s a chance he might string his recruitment along into his senior season.

JC cornerback Delrick Abrams Jr. offered

One of OSU’s latest offers at the cornerback position is out to Independence Community College prospect Delrick Abrams Jr. — teammate of former OSU signee Tramonda Moore. Abrams is a 2018 recruit with a half-dozenoffers that includes Colorado, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Arkansas and UCLA.

At 6-foot-3, Abrams has ideal size for what OSU likes in its cornerbacks and the production as well. Last season he notched 30 tackles, three tackles for loss, three passes defended and three interceptions, according to statistics held by the school’s website. Although he wasn’t a highly regarded prospect out of high school, he has developed into a recruit with offers from nearly every Power 5 conference.

As for what stands out in his game, Abrams is confident in his ability to play press in coverage.

“My press technique. I love to be in press,” Abrams said recently in an interview with Recruiting News Guru. “I can play off-man. I like coming downhill and attacking the ball in the air. That is the strength of my game.”

Abrams plays both cornerback and safety for Independence, but would play cornerback at OSU.

2018 cornerback Donte Burton reports offer

2018 cornerback Donte Burton of Lawrenceville, Georgia, reports a new offer from OSU — his 24th offer in total to go with others from Virginia Tech, North Carolina, K-State, West Virginia, Oregon and others.

Burton was previously committed to the Tar Heels for a little less than a year, but wanted to explore his options and see what other schools have to offer. Burton wants to major in engineering, and North Carolina doesn’t offer the type of engineering program he wants.

“He just wanted to open up and see some other places because of all the changes,” Burton’s father, Dexter, told Scout. “And he wanted to do it without everybody asking him about North Carolina and trying to put North Carolina down. That’s what he told Fedora.”

2018 cornerback JayVeon Cardwell offered

Yes, another cornerback offer. Which tells me that OSU’s putting a lot of feelers out to try and drum up interest in part because some of the staff’s current targets have gone cold. JayVeon Cardwell of Cibolo Steele, the alma mater of Jordan Sterns, is the latest.

Although Cardwell has close to 20 scholarship offers, most have been from small school programs like Arkansas State, Tulsa, UTSA, North Texas, SMU and others, OSU became one of his first big offers this week.

Ole Miss offered a day later.

Cardwell had seven interceptions, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles as a junior in 2016. He earned first-team all-district and second-team all-state honors.

Josh Henson drops an offer to Texas OT Kris Dike

As stated above, OSU likely has just one more spot to fill in the 2018 class at the offensive line. It might be Condon, Dike or any number of offers that are still out. Dike, a 6-foot-5 prospect from Van, Texas, is the latest offer in the 2018 cycle.

What I love about Henson is that he’s not just hunting big dogs. He’s had success recruiting big names, as we saw by his landing a commitment from Bixby’s Bryce Bray, but he’s also willing to go off the board. Dike is a little-known prospect with offers from Houston and SMU and North Texas.

OSU is the first Power 5 offer for Dike, and if it’s one thing I feel confident in, it’s that Henson knows what he’s doing. I’ll be interested to see if getting in early makes a difference and if other programs join OSU.