The Danny Stutsman Interview: OU 'Took Everything the Extra Mile'

Twenty years from now, when Oklahoma football historians are poring over the scores and the trophies and the names, they’ll likely pass right over certain oddities in this oddest of years.

Such as, who was the first player to commit to OU during the Coronavirus pandemic?

The answer, of course, is Danny Stutsman.

“Yeah, it’s different,” Stutsman told SI Sooners at last week’s Sooner Summit. “Because (OU coaches) haven’t actually seen me in person yet. Which is kind of crazy to think about.”

Stutsman, a linebacker from Winter Garden, FL, had an offer from North Carolina State — and that’s it. The Wolfpack offered in late January, and then radio silence for all of February.

But OU linebackers coach Brian Odom watched Stutsman perform at the Under Armour All-American camp in Orlando on March 1, and on March 2, Stutsman had an offer from Oklahoma.

Soon after — and in the midst of the pandemic shutdown — came offers from Baylor, Texas A&M, Kansas State, South Carolina, Florida International, Kentucky and Ole Miss.

When the calendar turned to May, Oklahoma’s recruiting team had a plan in place for presenting virtual campus visits. It was a plan they believed would turn heads among recruits.

It has.

“Especially after that visual visit,” Stutsman said. “I took other ones and I was like, 'This blows everything away.'

“Talking to coach Odom and pretty much the whole defensive staff, it really kind of set themselves apart compared to other schools. It was just kind of a no brainer.”

Stutsman was set to take an official visit to OU in April, but that was canceled by the NCAA-imposed recruiting dead period.

Rather than sit around or hope for the best or pout, Lincoln Riley’s staff came up with a creative alternative.

“They took everything the extra mile,” Stutsman said. “I was talking to the president of the school, athletic directors. They got cars in the stadium, personal shots. Like, you know It wasn’t just one video they made and sent out to all the recruits. It was definitely specialized for Danny Stutsman.”

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Stutsman had told Odom about his family’s love of classic muscle cars, and so when the virtual tour began, right there on the Owen Field turf was a half-dozen American classics.

Earlier this summer, Riley said he could argue that coaches “connect with the players” more now than they did pre-pandemic. That goes for current players, but also for recruits.

“We’ve got a really good, creative staff,” Riley said this summer. “We’ve tried not to look at what can we not do, we’ve tried to embrace what we can do.

“It’s been fun to get to know them on that level. You certainly hate to not have some in-person things, but there’s been some advantages, too. So, I’m proud of the way our staff’s handled it and excited about the direction it’s going.”

“It’s different,” Stutsman said. “But it’s cool at the same time. You’re talking to all the coaches. Then they’re checking in and want to say hi to the parents. It’s different. It’s unique. But you just try to make the best of it.”

Stutsman grew up in a Baylor household. His father Steve played football there, his mom Susy played basketball for the Bears. It was no surprise that Baylor came in with an offer right after Oklahoma.

But as scholarship offers started rolling in, Stutsman surveyed the landscape and saw the coming storm.

“I knew COVID would pick up, and it was gonna delay a ton of my unofficial (visits),” he said, “so I really didn’t want to wait.”

Like Oklahoma’s recruiting staff has done, Stutsman took control of his situation and made the best of the shutdown. He said a neighbor has “a full weight room” so he was able to lift every day. He’s bigger and stronger now, and he calls it “a blessing.”

“There’s some negative aspects,” he said. “Like missing my senior year of spring ball and now missing some games, potentially. It’s crazy.”

Last year Stutsman had 110 tackles as Foundation Academy went 9-3. That included 19 tackles for loss and three quarterback sacks. He also played tight end, whee he caught 44 passes for 891 yards and 12 touchdowns and also ran for 202 yards and two TDs.

Foundation’s first game this year is scheduled for Friday. The Private Athletic Conference (PAC-8) is staying within league play and playing in “kind of like a little bubble,” Stutsman said.

Training, he said, has been weird because everyone has to wear a mask or face covering.

“It’s so strange,” Stutsman said. “Oh, it’s terrible. You’re running drills and you take your mask off for a second and coach is yelling at you, why is the mask off? But it’s what you gotta do to play football now.

“You kind of gotta slip it off sometimes after a rep to get some air. But that’s the sacrifice now.”

It’s not lost on Stutsman that he’ll be playing football this Friday for the first time since last year. In person recruiting is still dead, per NCAA rules, but Stutsman plans to show out for his college coaches.

“Yeah, it’s different. Because they haven’t actually seen me in person yet,” he said. “Which is kind of crazy to think about.

“But they put the faith in me that I’m the player they see themselves needing, the player they trust their defense with at middle linebacker. So that trust goes both ways.”

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