Sooners Searching for the Next Mayday

The recruitment of former Sooner basketball standout James Mayden's son, Jared Mayden is almost certainly going to the plan of Kelvin Sampson's one-time center. Particularly following his son's offer from the Sooners on Saturday.

Well, except for one problem, Mayden's offer - like the many that have come in before it, is in football.

The former 6-foot-10, 245-pound Sooner center is watching his sons head to stardom, it just happens to be on the football field rather than the basketball court. Aside from the class of 2016 cornerback, the Maydens are also compromised of 2014 Rice wide receiver signee James Mayden and 2018 quarterback Jalen Mayden.

"My dad used to play football, he always tells us he was a good receiver. He is tall, so I guess he could have been a big guy but we all just got involved in football. We learned basketball before we learned football though," the middle Mayden son explained.

"I was 7 or 8 when my parents divorced that's when we started playing football. The funny thing is, my mom is probably more famous in the recruiting world than I am [laughing]."

And all that work has led to Mayden picking up scholarship offers from Baylor, Texas, Wisconsin, and Texas A&M before picking up offers from both TCU and Oklahoma this weekend.

According to the 6-foot, 187-pound defender the Sooners wasted no time upon his arrival on Saturday letting him know about their feelings on his potential.

"We met coach (Josh) Heupel, walked in the building, met the corners coach (Bobby Jack Wright) and went up the elevator. We walked through a showcase room and as soon as we walked into through the doors and talked to coach (Bob) Stoops," he recalled. "When we went in it was probably four minutes from then that the offer happened.

"I guess it felt good, way up there. Let you know you have a chance to play there.

"(Stoops) was saying 'I know your young but what we've seen on film we really like'. Especially with how I cover and that I cover with the best of them. He said 'you can cover pretty much anybody, with that we can't pass up since you can cover anybody'."

Aside from Stoops, Mayden also spoke with Wright, the cornerbacks coach, who made a strong first impression on the new Sooner cornerback offer.

"I can tell he is pretty cool, he knows how to get his players going when it's time. He has a lot of knowledge about the position," he said.

However, it was the players and the reported 43,500-person attendance that really caught Mayden's attention.

"We were talking to one of the players and he was telling us that when they recruited him, and this is any school as a matter of fact, but when you get (to Oklahoma) you have to earn a position. You think you are going to come in as a freshman and start. It's not just handed to you though," he said. "You can earn it though.

"The game itself was good, a lot of people there for a spring game. I didn't think there was going to be that many."

The visit to Norman on Saturday followed his trip to TCU on Friday, the Horned Frogs also made an offer and made quite an impression on his own.

"The TCU visit went well too, the defensive backs coach, coach (Kenny) Perry is who I talked to. I think we talked to almost everybody there, we got there Friday around 6:30 and I was surprised the head coach was still there," he said. "He told us that he left at 4 and went and did something and was helping with something and coach (Sonny) Cumbie called and told him I made it and he went from whatever he was doing.

"It felt good to know that he wanted to come and see me and talk to me."

And the two visits were among the final trips he'll be making with one trip remaining. Surprisingly the young player getting loads of similarly early offers already has a plan in place for just how his recruiting will play out in the coming year.

"The Texas spring game is the last thing I'm doing this spring as far as visits go and this summer will be about working with the coaches and then next football season going to games," Mayden explained. "So I can try and get it down to a top five by the fall and then probably trying to go to the top five schools junior days again and then try and get a final look and then after that commit next February or March."

Among the schools already involved, and with more surely to come, it would seem the Sooners will have the built in starting advantage of Mayden's parents both being Oklahoma alumni. Their affinity for the university fell down to their sons as well.

"I was a fan, we would watch almost every Oklahoma football game. I had OU shorts, slippers, jackets. And then basketball season came in and my dad always wanted us to play (as) Ryan Minor," he said. "He wanted us to do little Ryan Minor's drills."