How OSU football landed another top pass rusher in DeSean Brown
Choctaw coach Jake Corbin calls DeSean Brown the “Wild Man.”
The 6-foot-3, 250-pound defensive end has a relentless motor. As Corbin says, Brown’s superhero power would be effort.
“He was like Freddy Krueger of 6A football,” Corbin said. “You just can’t kill him. He’s a stud.”
That’s music to the ears of Oklahoma State’s coaching staff.
On Wednesday, the Cowboys added a big fish and another prime defensive end talent to their highly regarded recruiting class — the signature of Brown on a National Letter of Intent despite a late push from OU among others.
“OSU has been through it with me throughout the past year,” Brown said. “I really feel like they care about me as a young man and they’ll help me grow more than anyone else and they care about my future.
“And the other schools … I mean, OSU’s been with me from the get-go.”
The four-star recruit is regarded as one of the state’s top pass rushers. He was especially a force this season, amassing 19 sacks, forcing six fumbles and intercepting a pass. He scored twice defensively.
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He chose the Cowboys officially three weeks ago, but chose to keep his commitment quiet, even as the Sooners tried to enter the picture.
Brown was part of a handful of OSU recruits other programs tried to flip at the last minute.
Ultimately, Brown wanted to remain loyal to the Cowboys — who offered a scholarship first — and his relationship with defensive line coach Greg Richmond.
And he had the full support of his family.
“That was my pick,” his adopted mother Lawauna Brown said about her preference of schools. “We’ve always been OSU fans and they just recruited him top to bottom. They didn’t play games, they were straightforward, they stayed the course.
“They waited patiently.”
Patience, in this instance, could really be beneficial.
The Cowboys landed three defensive ends, with Putnam North’s Jaleel Johnson and Frontenac (Kansas) star Landon Dean joining DeSean.
All could have an impact right away, much like Edmond Santa Fe graduates Trace Ford and Collin Oliver quickly did.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how they develop,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “They’re Collin Oliver, Trace Ford-ish, a little bigger, so they might push to 280 (pounds). We don’t know. But the ones we got, we really like.
“I think it’s pretty evident that our evaluation of that particular position over the last few years has been as good as anybody in the country.”
Brown said the rapid rise of Ford and Oliver appealed to him in the recruiting process.
He believes he is next.
“I feel like I could become one of them or even better,” Brown said. “That’s what I started looking forward to, like becoming better than the people in front of me.”
National Signing Day tracker: Oklahoma State football recruits, announcements, 2022 class ranking
Shettron brothers ready for next step
Brothers Talyn and Tabry Shettron have been teammates essentially for as long as they can remember, and on Wednesday, they made it official that they’ll be teammates in college, too.
The Shettron brothers signed their letters of intent with Oklahoma State on Wednesday and will be early enrollees, heading to Stillwater next month.
“I’m ready to get to know the team and get settled in at a place, and hopefully be able to play next year up there,” said Tabry, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound tight end.
Talyn, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound receiver and the highest rated recruit in OSU’s signing class, was glad to finally put the recruiting process behind him, with his eyes on getting to campus for winter workouts and spring practice to work under offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn.
“It’s a long time coming,” Talyn said. “I’m excited to finally be a Cowboy.
“Coach Dunn was on me hard. He was my first offer, so we really had a personal relationship. I’d say it was him that really got me up there.”
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Jaleel Johnson 'locked in' with Pokes
Jaleel Johnson wanted to play in Jim Knowles’ defense at Oklahoma State.
As the Cowboys put together an impressive season on that side of the ball this year, the defensive end envisioned himself excelling in the system after his Putnam North career.
When it was announced this month that Knowles was leaving for Ohio State, it wasn’t necessarily a deal breaker for Johnson.
After thinking about it, he decided to stick with the Cowboys, and he made it official Wednesday. Johnson, a Rivals three-star prospect, signed with Oklahoma State at his high school, sticking to the commitment he made over the summer.
“When I heard he left, I was wondering what was going to happen to everyone else,” Johnson said. “The D-line coaches let me know that they were staying though. I was locked in.”
Johnson held offers from Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri and Texas Tech, among others.
After visiting OSU, he knew where he wanted to go.
“When I took my official visit up there, it felt like home just walking on campus, being able to talk to the coaching staff, just the teammates themselves,” Johnson said. “Everyone treats you like family.”
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Gundy not a fan of moving early signing day back
Gundy is not on board with the push by several coaches across the country to move the December signing day to January or even the original February schedule.
“It needs to stay right where it is,” Gundy said.
For starters, Gundy believes moving the date back opens more possibilities to cheat across the country.
“Some of your bigger schools are trying to move it so you can get back in late and cheat,” Gundy said. “Right where it is is where it needs to be right now, because there’s not much cheating going on that I’ve seen.
“I saw a little bit of NIL stuff here in the last week or two weeks that might have factored in with us — I don’t have any evidence to bring to the table to say that, just my history of it I’ve seen a little bit of it.”
But Gundy did not stop there. He is a fan of adding a third date, way earlier in the year.
“I mean, you want to save money, sign those guys and communicate with them via phone, text, all that and then you don’t have to get in a plane, get in a car, fly somewhere, draw per diem, pay for a hotel, pay for a rental car, pay for a plane trip,” Gundy said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me, but I don’t make any of those decisions. I'm a pretty reasonable and rational person and usually that doesn’t work when you’re dealing with administration.
“So, sign ‘em in July, sign ‘em in December and then do what’s left over in February.”
As for the argument that schools are firing coaches before the season ends to get a jump with a new staff for the December date, Gundy doesn’t want that to be a crutch.
“Then don’t fire head coaches during the season,” Gundy said. “That solves the problem.”
This season, five FBS coaches were fired before November. More than a dozen programs across the country changed coaches before the season ended.
Gundy pointed to how he handles changes on his coaching staff.
“How many times have I had to replace coaches or coordinators in the last 18 years?” he asked. “Like what, six or eight? Well, I just wait until after January to either bump a guy up or replace him.
“Why can’t everybody else do that?”
Beggs’ CJ Brown takes next step in dream
Beggs running back CJ Brown remembers going home and crying one afternoon.
He had just received his first football scholarship offer from Nebraska and the emotions were overwhelming.
That was the moment he realized he had a college shot. He had to improve his grades — retaking classes in the summer — but others soon followed, including the Cowboys.
Wednesday, he didn’t wear red. He had on orange.
Brown fulfilled a dream to sign with OSU, his favorite school growing up.
“I’m actually pretty excited,” Brown said. “Just all the love from the town and everybody that’s been keeping up with me, I can tell that I definitely made a lot of people proud. This signing day is a big deal for me.”
Brown is one of two running backs in the class, joining Euless Trinity (Texas) star Ollie Gordon.
A four-star recruit, Brown upped his yards per carry average from more than 9 yards to 11.3 yards this season as he became a star.
He also improved in the classroom since that first offer, raising his grade-point average from 1.9 to 2.9. He will enroll at OSU in January.
“He’s gotten bigger, he’s gotten faster, he’s gotten stronger,” Beggs coach David Tenison said. “Athletically, he’s phenomenal.
“He’s really taken the bull by the horns to be a leader of this team. Just couldn’t be more proud of where he’s come since his ninth-grade year.”
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Jernigan enters portal
OSU’s defensive front got a boost with the addition of Brown, Dean and Johnson at defensive end.
But the Cowboys’ front also took a hit Wednesday.
Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Jayden Jernigan entered the transfer portal to explore his options, 247Sports.com first reported. A source close to Jernigan confirmed the report.
The source also said Jernigan will finish out the season with OSU, playing in the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. Jernigan could ultimately remain with the program next season as well.
Jernigan played in all 13 games after missing last season due to COVID-19 complications, totaling 19 tackles, two sacks, five quarterback hurries and a forced fumble as part of a deep defensive front that often rotated players.
Early enrollees expected
Gundy said he thinks 11 of the 17 signees will enroll and arrive on campus in January.
But the number could change.
“I’m not sure, because they say they’re coming in — some of them say they are, some of them say they aren’t,” Gundy said. “You’ll know in the middle of January. They’ll show up or they won’t.
“But I think I heard the number was at 11.”
NIL impact too early to tell?
Gundy said it’s too early to tell what impact NIL had on this year’s class at OSU.
“It didn’t factor in as much with us this year,” Gundy said. “I think next year — I don’t know what it’s going to be — but I think it’s going to be there.”
Gundy expects NIL deals to be more of a factor for the 2023 class.
At Texas, one group is offering $50,000 to each offensive lineman. Another group has promised $10 million to Texas athletes. Big endorsement deals are being signed all over the country. Donors are getting more involved.
It’s getting wild.
“I don’t know what the parameters are and I don’t think anybody else knows either,” Gundy said. “I think people are doing it, because I don’t think there are repercussions because there’s not a governing body at this particular time.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football: Choctaw's DeSean Brown signs with Cowboys
