Thune's Tidbits from the Trail: The Week in Recruiting for Riley, Sooners

All is quiet on the western frontier; it's as dead a period as the sports world has seen in quite some time. Even the perpetual-motion machine that is the world of recruiting has slowed to a crawl.

Nevertheless, here's a look at all the recruiting notes you need from this week, as well as the insight I've collected this week from prospects across the country.

The Sooners extended two offers on the week, with both going to defensive backs in Georgia native Dylan Merrell and Mustang wunderkind Jacobe Johnson. The latter is the youngest in-state skill position player ever to receive an offer from Oklahoma. I'll have a one-on-one interview and a full profile of Johnson in the coming days.

The biggest fish in the pond is obviously Caleb Williams, and every Sooner fan worth their salt should be following his recruitment devotedly. The five-star quarterback out of Washington, D.C. releases a journal entry every Monday via SI All-American. He's spoken very highly of Lincoln Riley, and the two have evidently formed a strong bond. It doesn't seem likely that he'll commit in the immediate future, but Oklahoma is nonetheless the clear frontrunner in the race for Williams.

I spoke with Kelvin Gilliam earlier in the week, and he confirmed that he's one of the recruits that Williams is pursuing a collegiate rendezvous with. The four-star defensive end out of Highland Springs, VA, told me that he's "very interested in Oklahoma." Another good sign for Sooner Nation is that Gilliam is also very close with Mario Williams, who seems a mortal lock to commit to OU.

Offers continue to pour in for Spearman, TX athlete Brenen Thompson. The 2022 four-star speedster told me that the Sooners will definitely be "in the top ten" for him, but I don't get the impression that he's in any hurry to whittle down his list. Since Oklahoma offered him on April 9, Kansas, Michigan, Florida State, Ole Miss and Mississippi State have followed suit. He hasn't seen his last suitors, either.

2022 offensive lineman Dave Iuli of Puyallup, WA, told me that he hasn't experienced any setbacks in his recovery from a torn meniscus, which held him out of action for the 2019 season. The Sooners offered Iuli and Josh Conerly in April, as Bill Bedenbaugh went all-in on the Pacific Northwest's stash of linemen. If you're looking for another Evergreen State colossus that could earn an offer from the Sooners in the coming days, check out Jorden Manu. The Lakewood native stands 6-foot-3, 320 pounds, and is an absolute wrecking ball on either side of the trench.

I'm fairly confident predicting that Daymon David commits to Oklahoma in the not-too-distant future. You'd be hard-pressed to find a prospect that's as enthusiastic about his offer from the Sooners as the 2021 safety from Reisterstown, MD. In David's own words, he's "big on OU," and for whatever reason, Power 5 schools aren't beating a path to the self-proclaimed headhunter's door. Oklahoma is his lone offer from a true powerhouse, and his freewheeling, relentless style of play is exactly what Alex Grinch craves.

2021 San Diego-area DB Darren Barkins is a fantastic young man who's very close with his parents, and for that reason, I'm somewhat skeptical that he'll choose Oklahoma. When I spoke to him on Thursday, he emphasized the impact that his parents have had on his life and development, and he told me that they want to be able to see him play college football. He's got a myriad of Pac-12 and Mountain West offers that would put him much closer to home. It seems like a bit of a long shot that he ends up in Norman.

Prince Kollie is another prospect whom the Sooners will likely have to move mountains to land. I talked to him on Wednesday, and he implied that his top two schools were Georgia and Virginia. The Bulldogs and Cavaliers were the first two programs to express interest in the 2021 athlete from Jonesborough, TN, and he values their belief in him from the beginning of the process.

That's all from a light week on the trail. Stay up to date with SI Sooners for a full profile of Jacobe Johnson and plenty of other recruiting content.

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