Thoughts and Observations: Signing Day 2010

by Brandon Chatmon
bchatmon@opubco.com

–I don’t see how you can be an Oklahoma State fan and not be excited about this class. Forget about stars, forget about rankings and look at the offer lists of some of these guys. You’ll see schools like OU, Alabama, Florida, LSU, Miami (Fla.), Tennessee, Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida State… i.e. schools that can recruit nationally and go in an pull out recruits that want from any state. Yet OSU won out. So I repeat… I don’t see how you can be an Oklahoma State fan and not be excited about this class.

–Obviously the big news of the day was Calvin Barnett and his flip to Arkansas. And he’s a huge loss, no doubt about it. Talent-wise, he’s second to none. But at the same time you have to ask yourself: If a player doesn’t have a burning desire to be a Cowboy do you really want him? Think about the commitment it takes to play college football, the commitment to the program, the commitment to your teammates, your coaches and the overall belief in what the program is trying to accomplish and where it is going. If a guy isn’t 100 percent down with that cause do you really want him?

–I continue to be shocked that OSU fans aren’t more excited about Shaun Lewis. While I had Calvin Barnett ranked No. 1 overall in my breakdown of OSU recruits, I’m not so sure Lewis shouldn’t have been at that spot all along. I put Barnett ahead of him because elite DTs are VERY, VERY hard to find. That said I only thought Calvin would be a part of the rotation as a true freshman. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Shaun Lewis earns a starting spot at some point in 2010.

–See what I wrote above and replace the name Justin Gilbert for Shaun Lewis.

–The most excited people in the world should be OSU’s recruits at receiver. Chris Dinkins, Kevin Johnson, even Montra Nelson should be doing cartwheels. Especially Johnson, he’s been overlooked but he just has great football saavy, work ethic and is a better athlete than people give him credit for. Expect him to play right away also.

–OSU’s offensive line class, for the second straight year, is very solid. We can talk all we want about this skill player, that skill player, this blue chip receiver and that standout running back. As a school south of OKC proved this year, none of that matters if you don’t have talent and depth up front.

–I love the confidence of Joe Randle. I went up to Wichita today (the reason I was MIA for much of the day) and asked him point blank why the depth chart didn’t concern him. He basically said… I’ll learn behind Kendall for a year then after than it’s on! You have to like that type of confidence.