Save the best for last? You could argue that point as the final day of camps at Oklahoma ended with a bang Saturday.
Three offers have already been made, and it wouldn’t shock anybody to keep seeing more and more this weekend and down the road.
A lot of good talent in Norman for head coach Brent Venables to watch, but there is no other place to start than the quarterback position.
This is even leaving off some names from the event, but the story of the day was Michael Van Buren. You knew immediately offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby was very excited to see what Van Buren could do.
The four-star quarterback for 2024 lived up to the billing in the morning session, and a natural assumption was he would call it a day.
Except Van Buren came back for the afternoon session and was still going strong. Following the event, Van Buren earned the offer. An offer is an offer, but when it’s a quarterback? It just hits a little bit differently.
Van Buren definitely earned it, though, and becomes the third 2024 quarterback offer for the Sooners at this point. Coincidentally, offer D.J. Lagway was also still in Norman for the second day in a row on an unofficial visit.
Wilson, the brother of Zach Wilson, showed the Wilson name will continue to be one to circle going forward. Saunders and Adamson were just a couple of the 2025 names that earned competing against the elite of the elite.
Countdown hits zero
There have been some guys this weekend where it was like as long as they showed up, the offer was coming. It felt that way (and it was) for 2024 Buford (Ga.) High defensive lineman KingJoseph Edwards on Friday and the same could be said for Mitchell.
From the first rep of the initial session, Mitchell separated himself from the rest of the pack. He earned the offer at the end of the first session. And instead of calling it a day, Mitchell returned during the latter portion of the second session to get more work in.
Mitchell will certainly be one of the top-ranked tight ends for the 2025 class.
Stars in the trenches
There was already some excitement knowing Smith was going to camp. Not just show up but camp. But the emergence of Nwaneri was one of the bigger developments of the morning session.
Smith and Nwaneri took turns dominating during drills and the one-on-one competition against the offensive line.
Neither had to return for the afternoon session, and things went from good to great for Nwaneri, who earned the offer later in the day.
‘Moore’ to like
Moore has been a 2025 target to watch for a long time, among the first wide receiver offers when Lebby took over.
He showed up midway through the first session, fared well and then put on a show during the second session. It’s pretty easy to understand why he has racked up monster offers already, and his willingness to compete time and time again was fun to watch.
Hall was another person who was not going to get cheated. After a solid first session, thought he might chill in the afternoon. Instead, he was back out there and was as strong with his last rep as he was with his first one.
An interested observer with Hall was OU tight end Kaden Helms, who comes from the same high school.
Don’t forget the linebackers
It feels like it’s a matter of when and not if an offer happens for both Huff and Lane. Huff was the best linebacker for the morning session and was not asked to return for the afternoon one.
He might have had some competition for best linebacker in the afternoon because that’s when Lane took his turn at the position. Lane spent the morning session at safety and looked OK. When he turned around and played linebacker, it all clicked.
Venables wanted recruits to come to Norman. And for four days during the course of two weeks, there is no doubt that it worked.
