Lincoln Riley Is Feeling Like A Villain
Suffice it to say that things just got interesting.
In the span of a single hour on Tuesday, Lincoln Riley showed the recruiting world that he's not afraid to play hardball, especially with the Sooners' orange-clad nemesis.
Just after 4 p.m. CT, news broke that Oklahoma had offered 2023 athlete Treyaun Webb. That in itself isn't cause for a second glance. However, what sparks interest here is the fact that Webb has been committed to Georgia since last November.
Well, okay, so Riley offered a player with a verbal pledge to another school. What of it?
Elite programs bump elbows in recruiting circles with regularity; this doesn't seem like groundbreaking news.
Right?
What happened just over half an hour later sent shock waves through the world of recruiting. Four-star wideout Billy Bowman tweeted that he'd also received an offer from the Sooners.
Heads turned in a hurry. Why?
Well, Bowman has been pledged to Texas for nearly a year, and he's the Longhorns' highest-ranked offensive commit in the 2021 class. The speedster from Denton is ranked No. 31 overall in 247Sports' class rankings, and No. 34 by Rivals' metrics.
To sum it all up concisely, Lincoln Riley is actively trying to swipe one of his chief rival's top guns.
Make no mistake: Sooner Nation loved the news. Four-star defensive back commit Latrell McCutchin, an Austin native who's made no bones about his distaste for the Longhorns, hit the comment section.
Mario Williams, the Sooners' top 2021 wide receiver commit, had a similar reaction.
And of course, Caleb Williams got in on the action.
Let's call it like it is: the odds that Oklahoma flips a long-standing commit from enemy territory is admittedly slim. However, it's clear that Riley and company are certainly willing to make a run at it. If the Sooners could somehow flip Bowman, it would be a hugely consequential development. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound dynamo is one of the most versatile prospects in the nation, and he could become the kind of gadget player in the Oklahoma offense that Tavon Austin was for West Virginia, or that Tyreek Hill was for Oklahoma State. Bowman is a fantastic return man, and can play defensive back with aplomb. He has the tools to make an immediate impact in whatever capacity he's utilized.
But let's also consider how significant a potential flip would be within the context of the Red River Rivalry. Lest anyone forget, Tom Herman flipped 4-star quarterback Cameron Rising from Oklahoma to Texas within five months of taking the Longhorns' head coaching job. At the time, Lincoln Riley was still six weeks away from inheriting the reins from Bob Stoops as the Sooners' head coach.
Things didn't pan out for Rising in Austin, and he's now competing for the starting job at Utah. But the Longhorn faithful held up Rising's flip as an early claim to superiority on the recruiting trail for Herman. And indeed, the metrics alone give indication that Herman is a better recruiter than Riley, as Texas has put together a higher-ranked class than Oklahoma each of the last three years.
Granted, Riley is 3-1 in head-to-head matchups against Herman, and OU has objectively been a more successful program over the two coaches' tenures, regardless of the narrative that recruiting rankings carry. But if Riley could lure Herman's prized offensive weapon to Norman, it would all but settle any debate over school prestige and recruiting sway.
There's no doubt that Oklahoma owns the Big 12 on the field. But does Lincoln Riley own the conference's recruiting landscape?
The answer to that question doesn't wholly depend on Bowman's eventual decision. But a flip from the highly regarded wideout would certainly be quite a statement for Riley and for the Sooners.
It seems evident that Bowman is at least giving Oklahoma the time of day. After all, why tweet news of an offer from your future program's rival school ... unless you view that rival as a viable candidate for your commitment?
One way or another, it's clear that Lincoln Riley isn't pulling any punches in the Sooners' perpetual affray with the Horns. He's got no issue being the bad guy.
In fact, it appears that he's embraced it.
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