Late Night with the Sooners
The trip from La Grange, Texas to Norman, Okla. isn’t a short one but it can seem a lot longer making the drive overnight.
And though that’s exactly what happened to Rivals100 running back J.K. Dobbins it did nothing to negate his enjoyment of his third trip to Oklahoma in less than a year after he and his mother stayed lated into the evening with Sooner running backs coach Jay Boulware.
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound running back from a near midpoint of Houston and Austin made the trip with his mother and the return leg following a late departure from Norman on Saturday night.
The highlight of the trip for the star runner was the chance to be around a pair of Sooner stars during Oklahoma’s huge basketball tilt against Big 12 rival Kansas on Saturday afternoon.
“The only thing really different (about this trip) was me getting to see Baker (Mayfield) and Samaje (Perine),” Dobbins said. “We just ran into them at the basketball game, they were sitting in (the recruits) seats at first. We came in and we saw them all.
“It is pretty cool, those are some great players. There are some All-Americans, that is pretty cool. That is just motivation for me, because I want to be in that situation. It’s not really over the moon but that’s pretty cool.”
Though Perine was understandably detained Dobbins said that both he and Boulware couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the two players from the same general area in Texas.
“We didn’t get to talk that much because he was with his girlfriend and all of that stuff. I didn’t get to talk to him too much, but I see some similarities. Coach Boulware said the same,” he said.
“The game though, man it was great, really great. The Sooners didn’t pull out the win but they are both great teams and it was a hard fought game.”
Dobbins may have been enjoying the personal time with a pair of Oklahoma’s Austin-area backfield stars but it was his mother who was busy acquiring the most information during her first real time with Boulware.
“It was great, we talked about a lot of things, he hadn’t really been around my mom that much. It was a great time for them to catch up. Get a little more familiar,” he said. “She had been there with be me before but we came up when there was a spring game and a football game so we didn’t really get to sit down and talk.
“We talked about academics (at Oklahoma), she had a great time too.”
With all of this going so well some had thought that Dobbins might even pull the trigger on a decision but he says that’s not currently in the plans as he begins to work on taking some future trips.
“I want to make some more visits because I’m sure you know, I want to be a mid-term student, I want to graduate early. So I want to get out to these schools pretty soon because that time is going to come up pretty fast,” he explained.
“It all depends to be honest (when I’ll decide). It will be when I feel right (about a school).
“I want to get up to Notre Dame, Stanford maybe, and then some other schools. It will all play out.”
One school that he isn’t sure he’ll be visiting for their junior day in a few weeks?
Texas.
“I’m not sure yet, I don’t know if I’ll be there yet or not,” Dobbins offered. “I might have something else going on but I’m not sure yet.”