The Status Of 2021 Oklahoma State Recruiting: Safeties
Coming into tonight, Oklahoma State had two safeties left on the board for 2021, Jeffrey Bassa and Lyrik Rawls.
Well, now that number is down to one as Bassa has announced his commitment to Oregon. This was expected in the last few weeks as his recruitment came to a close.
This now means that the Cowboys will be focusing on Lyrik Rawls to join Muskogee's Ty Williams as the two safeties in the 2021 class.
Lyrik Rawls, a well recruited 6-1 180-pound safety from Marshall, TX, featured the Cowboys in his final five list back in July. Rawls was also listed in the brand new Sport Illustrated All-American database as an SI All-American candidate.
Included in the list with the Pokes were Texas Tech, Kansas, TCU, and Houston. He has not announced any changes to his list and seems to be his current top list of schools.
Sports Illustrated All American says the bottom line on Rawls is that he “Has the length, sudden speed and awareness that defenses covet in free safety prospects. Could potentially play offense, where he shows promise as route runner. Ceiling is highest at free safety, where he has potential as a multi-year starter.”
At one point, Rawls had an official visit scheduled for the Cowboys on April 17th for the weekend of the 2020 spring game but obviously COVID-19 canceled those plans. Per the NCAA, there will no recruiting visits allowed for the rest of 2020.
The positive for the Cowboys is that the last program Rawls visited happened to be in Stillwater as he traveled to town for a junior day event at the beginning of the year.
I spoke with Rawls last week and he confirmed to me that he does not have a commitment date yet. I do think though that his commitment will come sooner or later seeing that he has flirted with the idea since early May.
With Rawls being the lone remaining safety on the board for the Cowboys, I expect the staff to turn up the heat on him, pushing for a commitment in the coming weeks.
The best recruiting tool the Oklahoma State staff has right now is the utter dominance the Cowboy defense has been showing early in this season. Two of the best safeties in not only the Big 12, but the nation are roaming around the top of the secondary in Tre Sterling and Kolby Harvell-Peel.
A big thing these days in the recruiting world is social media and what trends take place on Twitter and Instagram. When you look at Lyrik Rawls' Twitter, you will see him interacting with, commenting, and liking a ton of Oklahoma State content. This is certainly a positive and is the reason why I believe Oklahoma State is the leader in the clubhouse to this point.
Any more news or updates in Rawls recruitment will be reported as it happens!