Lincoln Riley: Recruiting in 2020 is 'Difficult' and Could Include 'More Guesswork' in Evaluations
Of the 12 players Oklahoma now has verbally pledged in the 2021 class, three-fourths of them have committed during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Most of next year’s recruiting class either have not taken an official visit, have not attended an OU camp or have not been evaluated in-person by OU coaches.
That’s just big-time college football recruiting in 2020.
“It’s difficult,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said. “It’s a change for everybody.”
According to a survey of more than 600 college coaches — all sports, all levels — by Next College Student Athlete (NCSA), 71 percent of college coaches are unsure about their recruiting budget for next year, 52 percent say the pandemic is delaying their recruiting timeline for the 2021 class, and 51 percent say the shutdown will have a major impact on future recruiting classes.
The NCAA-mandated dead period has been extended through Aug. 31, which all but eliminates the possibility of summer camp evaluations — a vital element of college football’s recruiting process.
In a normal year, coaches can utilize 168 evaluation days between April 15 and May 31. That usually involves a lot of trips to see prospects in their high school spring practices.
But this year, that never happened.
On March 30, Choctaw's Jordan Mukes became OU's first 2021 verbal commit after the pandemic began.
OU Athletics
“Not having our assistant coaches out in the spring was a dramatic change,” Riley said. “I think you get (168) evaluation days with those assistant coaches, guys all over the country. Not to mention your camps. So not having that’s a big difference.”
Riley and his recruiting staff have been as active and successful as anyone with their adjustments. Prospects — especially those who have committed — have raved about OU’s virtual campus visits.
Florida linebacker Danny Stutsman told the Norman Transcript, “I think there’s a fine line between what players think (about virtual visits). I think some kids don’t see it as enough to make a decision. Then there’s other players like myself who think it’s pretty much like going to the school.
“Those guys (OU’s recruiting staff) were telling me how much they wanted to see me at Oklahoma. That’s kind of an incredible experience,” Stutsman said. “Being there with such high people on the staff, who really should have no business talking to a recruit, really, I kind of felt honored by that.”
Annie Hanson, OU’s assistant athletic director for recruiting strategy and administrative engagement, has arranged and conducted dozens of virtual visits during the shutdown, and the Sooners have received nine verbal commitments during that time. Stutsman applauded the customization of his presentation.
“Really personalized,” Stutsman told The Transcript. “You could really tell it was made just for myself and not one they kept reusing. It was made for my family and everything.”
Some, like California cornerback Prophet Brown — who’s announcing his choice on Monday and has OU on his list of finalists — took to social media to express his appreciation for the virtual visit.
“We’ve got a really good, creative staff,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said in May. “We’ve tried not to look at what can we not do, we’ve tried to embrace what we can do.”
On July 3, Riley told media OU's venture into the virtual world has been successful so far.
“I think like anything, everybody’s doing obviously more virtually, whether it’s a virtual tour, whether it’s connecting virtually, whether it’s trying to evaluate these guys based on, you know, film or what they did at a camp or a workout or whatever.
“Everything you do is either on a computer or a phone. I mean, it’s an even playing field.”
But Riley also acknowledged that having no in-person visits could naturally produce a down side: more misses in recruiting.
From 2010 to 2016, OU signed 170 players. Of those, only 71 — 42 percent — became players who made at least regular contributions at their position or became starters at OU. The rest either left early or never really played much.
It’s still too soon to judge the 2019 class, but those numbers from the 2017 and 2018 classes climbed to 55 percent (28-of-51).
The prospects in the 2021 class look great now, as they always do in high school, but Riley suggested the possibility that another drop-off — potentially more misses — might be coming down the line.
“There is probably gonna be more ‘guesswork,’ probably less known about some of these guys than maybe any class we’ve ever signed,” he said. “So that puts a premium on the homework you did, particularly on this class the year before.”
Riley is staying positive about taking these new challenges head-on because he’s confident in his staff’s diligence in working ahead.
“(Finding a players a year ahead) probably helps a program like us, where we had most of our (2020) guys signed in the winter,” he said. “We were able, during that recruiting period, to largely focus on the next class. So we may be in better shape than some others.”
To get the latest OU posts as they happen, join the SI Sooners Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow SI Sooners on Twitter @All_Sooners.
