The Kobie McKinzie Interview: Lincoln Riley is 'Grimy, Nasty, and He'll Coach You'
NORMAN — There’s just something that linebacker Kobie McKinzie appreciates about Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley and Sooners linebackers coach Brian Odom.
“I feel like me and coach Riley are similar in a lot of aspects,” McKinzie told SI Sooners during his stopover at Sooner Summit last week. “Just small town, dirt, blue collar. Like, we know how to get down and get it. That’s what I like about him. I feel like he’s grimy, nasty and he’ll coach you.”
“That’s what I love about coach Odom, too.”
McKinzie, from Cooper High School in Lubbock, TX — an hour from Riley’s Panhandle hometown of Muleshoe — was originally a verbal commitment to Texas Tech.
“At that point,” McKinzie said, “I did not have the OU offer. In my head, I was not thinking I was good enough to play at OU.”
There was never anything against Texas Tech, but Cooper’s offensive line coach, Lee Hays, worked previously with Odom at Houston, and told McKinzie that Odom was someone he could trust for life.
“He’s a good guy, he’s gonna be straight up, he’s gonna be honest with you,” McKinzie said of Odom. “I just love that. I love an honest guy who’s gonna let you know from the start.”
He said his connection with Odom — from Ada, OK — was similar to his connection with Riley.
“Those guys, I feel like they’ll get after you and love you and coach you hard — and they’re damn sure gonna make you play hard. That’s what I love about ‘em.”
McKinzie is a member of the 2022 recruiting class. His original plan was to reclassify and get to OU with the 2021 class, but the academic commitment was just too great.
“It was impossible on top of football,” McKinzie said. “I was trying to get 43 credits in one year. I mean, it wasn’t impossible. But it was gonna be a lot of stress on top of football.”
That, and the scholarship numbers were not quite working in his favor. In clarifying his situation, McKinzie dropped a bit of breaking news: As of now, OU senior Caleb Kelly, who went down early in training camp with a season-ending injury, intends to come back in 2021 for his sixth year of eligibility.
“Caleb Kelly got hurt, and therefore he’s staying another year,” McKinzie said, “so they didn’t have another slot in then 2021 class. So my best bet was to go (to high school) this whole year, do a semester next year and come (to OU in January 2022).
“I feel like I’m mature enough to be in the 2021 class, but then again, I just wasn’t able to. So I’ve just got to live with it and be a leader of the 2022.”
McKinzie and Riley might be “small town boys,” but they have big dreams of leading Oklahoma to a national championship. To that end, McKinzie is all-in with 2021 quarterback commit Caleb Williams, who organized last week’s Sooner Summit as a way to bond with current commits and recruit new ones.
That fits with McKinzie’s plans.
“That’s all you gotta do is find those people around you that want to do the same thing,” he said.
“I’m a guy who likes to go on tradition and build on a legacy. There’s nothing wrong with a legacy. Some people like to go build their own, but I want to add on to a legacy, because then it’s just the greatest one ever.
“I’m chasing a dream, and this school has a legacy.”
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