Signing Day Notebook: College Position Changes and Fewer Decommits

Kyle Porter pretty well covered the notes and quotes section of our signing day coverage on Wednesday, but I have an endless amount of scribbles I can do nothing with other than to trash or dump on you in online form.

So online form it is.

• Blake Barron, a middle linebacker from Rockwall High School, is one of five early enrollees who will arrive on campus for the spring. Mike Gundy says he will likely play SAM linebacker — either as an outside backer or on the weak side.

• Kolby Peel out of College Station is listed by recruiting services as a safety, but will move down into the box as an outside backer for OSU. Gundy says he likes his athletic potential as a versatile edge rusher.

• Mid-summer WR signee Patrick McKaufman has been on campus for several months (throughout the entire 2017 regular season), but his scholarship actually was counted towards the 2018 class (giving OSU 23 signees).

• Gundy raved when asked about Spencer Sanders. Says given the amount of accolades and awards he’s earned, he remains humble. Said he had multiple chances to jump ship (de-commit from OSU) but stayed true.

• Lyn-J Dixon, the four-star running back from Georgia, committed on Wednesday afternoon to Clemson over Oklahoma State. That means OSU has, at maximum, two remaining schollys to hand out for 2018 — and I wouldn’t expect one to be taken by a RB.

• Gundy noted that he used to write 50 letters daily, but recruiting has changed so much that players are all about graphics, edits, social media love, etc. Said he wasn’t sure recruits even wanted to talk with him during visits.

• Poachers (schools coming in to raid other schools) came at OSU on Tuesday (and raided Israel Antwine). But Gundy said not everyone had the same success, which he thought was comical.

“It’s interesting, with the early signing period we had some poachers — not as many as in the past — but we had a few poachers,” said Gundy. “The majority of them failed, and I thought that was interesting.”

• Gundy noted OSU may take “one or two” more commitments for 2018 (they only have two spots), and added that the early period allows for a little recruiting leeway. My guess is if they take two, it will be a defensive tackle and potentially another linebacker — either a middle linebacker or outside backer.

“If we come up short in an area, we have six more weeks to go out and do our job and find another one. There’s young men out there who’ve been overlooked.”

• I’m certain that Gundy is happy with his 2018 class — not only because it may be one of his highest-rated ever, but also because it was fairly drama-free. Altogether, OSU lost only two to de-commitments/flips this cycle — seven (!!!) less than the 2017 cycle. It’s the fewest decommitments in a class for OSU since 2014.