Don't it feel great to battle top teams for players again. Can't remember being in on this many top guys since Bill Callahan. What is your most memorable recruiting battle?
I have three. One: Turner Gill. It was said that Osborne told Gill, "Turner, we're gonna win with you, and we're gonna win without you. We'd much rather win with you."
Two: This one is special to me because I witnessed a piece of it in person. Its February of '95, and Osborne is in the Central High locker room for our 8th hour PE class. He's in the coaches office with Coach McMenamin, Coach Standifer. and Ahman. Ahman the coaches office. Osborne comes out of the office and says, "Ahman," so AG turns around. Osborne starts again, "Ahman . . . I want you to know . . .You're our #1 recruit." Coach Osborne said nothing else, and calmy walked up to the top of the stairs at the gym entrance. He was cool enough to shake all of our hands when we came up dressed out for PE class. At the time, everyone thought Notre Dame was the frontrunner, because he was always wearing the gear at school. Turns out NU was always the pick, and he was just wearing the free gear to mess with people.
Three: Reggie Smith was a corner/safety from the Callahan era that was being recruited in the awesome (on paper) 2005 class that ended up finishing 8th in Rivals rankings that year. Smith spoke glowingly of NU, threw the bones at the Army All-American game, and came back for a couple unofficials on his own dime before that was a common practice. He announced for Oklahoma with the other two hats being USC and NU. After a season long hype train, he was asked by one of our Rivals guys where NU finished, all he replied was, "Umm, probably third." Kind of deflating after the buildup.
I have three. One: Turner Gill. It was said that Osborne told Gill, "Turner, we're gonna win with you, and we're gonna win without you. We'd much rather win with you."
Two: This one is special to me because I witnessed a piece of it in person. Its February of '95, and Osborne is in the Central High locker room for our 8th hour PE class. He's in the coaches office with Coach McMenamin, Coach Standifer. and Ahman. Ahman the coaches office. Osborne comes out of the office and says, "Ahman," so AG turns around. Osborne starts again, "Ahman . . . I want you to know . . .You're our #1 recruit." Coach Osborne said nothing else, and calmy walked up to the top of the stairs at the gym entrance. He was cool enough to shake all of our hands when we came up dressed out for PE class. At the time, everyone thought Notre Dame was the frontrunner, because he was always wearing the gear at school. Turns out NU was always the pick, and he was just wearing the free gear to mess with people.
Three: Reggie Smith was a corner/safety from the Callahan era that was being recruited in the awesome (on paper) 2005 class that ended up finishing 8th in Rivals rankings that year. Smith spoke glowingly of NU, threw the bones at the Army All-American game, and came back for a couple unofficials on his own dime before that was a common practice. He announced for Oklahoma with the other two hats being USC and NU. After a season long hype train, he was asked by one of our Rivals guys where NU finished, all he replied was, "Umm, probably third." Kind of deflating after the buildup.
