Sooners Ask Goodman a Simple Question
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As Oklahoma looks to go more and more nationally in it's recruiting scope, with a particular focus on the West coast, there is one question that Sooner fans have on their mind about each offer - will this prospect actually leave home to come to Norman?
Apparently it's a question that the Sooner coaches are also aware of and if Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. safety Tahaan Goodman is any indication they are making sure they get a response before going any further with their pursuit.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound prospect recently spoke with Mike Stoops and prior to his offer the Sooner assistant needed to know just what Goodman thought about getting out of state.
"I was actually at home when I first heard about it. My coach gave me (Stoops') number, and when I called them they offered me then," Goodman recalled.
"He basically just said they were very interested and asked if I was willing to go far away - they thought I wanted to stay in California. He said he really liked my highlight tape and they were really interested.
"The offer was out of left field. It's funny, some people just say it they don't know for sure, a lot of California people want to stay out there - so I get that they have to make sure and asked me and I told them I'm open-minded to whatever.
"I'm kind of in the middle, I'm not too sure if I want to stay or go, but I'm more toward leaving California."
Goodman, who says he plans to speak to Stoops weekly, is the teammate of another Sooner offer, Rancho cornerback Chris Hawkins. Like Hawkins, Goodman says that he'll be taking his time with a decision. And in that time he has plans to learn a lot more about Oklahoma.
"It really could go either way. I'm doing a lot of unofficials, I could do that, but I can't really see myself committing too fast, it might just be when the season ends, I want to take in the whole recruitment process," he said.
"Basically I have to learn a lot more. I just know that they are good and win games, coach Stoops told me he was going to send me some more information.
"My visits, they are all kind of up in the air, I do want to do an official to Oklahoma. Maybe to a place like Washington, maybe to Florida. I think Oklahoma is going to be one of them though, for sure."
With offers from not only the Sooners but Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, Cal, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Washington among many others his choice figures to be no small endeavor. So what is he looking for to narrow the field?
"It's a lot of different things, education, that's No. 1. Then the facilities, some places have better facilities than others, and other than that it's just tradition and I want to see how the coaches treat me and how they act - just see what kind of connection they have with their players," he said.
"I also want to talk to some of the players and see how they interact and how they treat each other."
"I want to see a place I could see myself at for four years, or even longer than that. All those things tie in together, a place that is beautiful that I would like to live in and all those other things tie in, that's a school I would like to go to."
Though he is from the Los Angeles area it seems that Goodman has plans to hit up Oklahoma's growing roster of California products if he gets to Norman.
"If I could see them, I would definitely like to interact with them. Maybe have the coaches introduce me and just see how they like the school and ask a lot of questions and see how the school really is," he said.