Oklahoma football: What the Anthony Evans decommitment means
Anthony Evans committed to Oklahoma football in the summer and the Sooners looked to have warded off the Georgia Bulldogs who had been the other major player in his recruitment. However, the Dawgs did not back off. The Sooners have had a tough season and the defending champs just had another undefeated regular season, the first time that has happened in back-to-back seasons in school history. Evans liked what Georgia was selling, and had gone to the Florida – Georgia game with his mother. Some insiders for Georgia went as far as to say Evans had been silently committed to Georgia for nearly three months before publicly announcing the swap. Was he playing both sides?
His family ties to Georgia
Anthony Evans family was originally from the area, and his mother has always loved the University of Georgia. In fact, the connection between his mother to Athens is so strong, that in his edit Evans states that he is living his mother’s dream. Beating out family ties is extremely difficult to do, and so when Oklahoma had pulled it off despite no longer having Cale Gundy on staff it was quite the shocker.
Oklahoma suffered from its transition to Brent Venables, and Georgia is still humming. While one down-trending season for a program won’t usually impact recruiting too strongly it’s hard to not see that as a factor.
The lack of a WR coach for the Sooners
Cale Gundy is one of the best assistant coaches in America and losing him was a blow to Oklahoma for a variety of reasons. The experience and help he could’ve lent to Jeff Lebby would have been enormous this year, but the other is his ability as a recruiter, and the loss of the relationships he’s built with these players.
L’Damien Washington has a bright future in the coaching arena but right now it seems like he is a bit in over his head. This is pretty clear as the wide receivers who began the season as strength has tapered off with poor and inconsistent play. It is clear OU will make a move there so not having the guy already in place makes it difficult in the recruiting game. It showed its head here without a doubt.
What does it mean for Oklahoma football?
Ultimately, not that much. Listen, Anthony Evans is a dynamic speedy player and Oklahoma needs players like him on their roster and in each class. So does everyone else, but Oklahoma can hire a wide receivers coach, play the portal game and be fine next season in the wide receiver room. But at the end of the day, Pettaway is the jewel of this class at the position, and Oklahoma can hone in on in-state kid and Arkansas commit Micah Tease, the brother of former Sooner Myles. OU dropped the ball early in his recruitment because they wanted him at defensive back, and Micah wants to score touchdowns. Now, the Sooners his dream school growing up needs a wideout. The speedy Okpreps kid can fill in nicely. So the staff has to look at a new approach, and that can also include fast-rising three-star Chance Fitzgerald who is teammates wit recent Oklahoma football commitment Taylor Wein.