A USC Football vs Oklahoma Baseball Battle for Taylor Tatum?
With Michigan gaining a commitment from Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman running back Micah Ka’apana after his official visit last weekend, it appeared the battle for Taylor Tatum had come down to USC vs Oklahoma.
The Sooners almost seemed to be an afterthought for Tatum with him not even stepping foot on campus in 2023 He just took his official visit to Norman (OK) last weekend and cancelled the Michigan visit set for this weekend.
I submitted a USC prediction two weeks ago and Marshall Levenson followed that up with his USC prediction last Saturday. But the Oklahoma official visit went far better than expected for Tatum and the Sooners have been trending the past 24 hours.
The Trojans had a 93.2% to 2% lead over Oklahoma for Tatum per the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) on Tuesday, but now the Sooners lead USC 60.4% to 35.5%. That surge from Oklahoma’s been fueled by On3 predictions from Sam Spiegelman, Josh McCuistion and EJ Holland.
Despite no commitment date set, Tatum had said a decision could come soon after his remaining June official visits. We’re hearing Oklahoma RB coach Demarco Murray has been pushing for Tatum to commit this weekend, Tatum isn’t ready and may let this drag out for a while.
USC Football vs Oklahoma Baseball
Nobody is surprised about Tatum’s top schools, but some are wondering what’s going on with the Sooners. Apparently the Oklahoma baseball coach has made as big of an impact as anyone in Norman. Baseball is Tatum’s first love and he believes the OU baseball program is a better option than USC.
We’ve encountered far too many dual-sport athletes the past 20 years to count, but we’ve never seen a situation where an athlete was favoring schools for different sports. USC is the clear choice for football and Oklahoma for baseball.
The USC baseball program had an impressive turnaround in 2023 with first-year coach Andy Stankiewicz, but Oklahoma’s head baseball coach Skip Johnson is a bigger draw for Tatum. We should also mention, Tatum’s father and Sooners RB coach DeMarco Murray are close friends.
Some have mentioned distance from home could be a factor, but we’re told it really isn’t for Taylor. But it could be for his mom and dad.
Lincoln Riley
Word on Wednesday was Tatum hadn’t spoken to USC head football coach Lincoln Riley. Some speculated he was avoiding Riley, but WeAreSC learned tonight Tatum spoke to Riley and USC on Wednesday and again today. Tatum is worth going all out for as long as necessary to get him. If the Trojans don’t get Tatum, they’ll reevaluate their situation at RB.
Texas to L.A.
One thing USC has going for them with top prospects from Texas is there are several players on the team from Texas. There are even a few from East Texas like Darwin Barlow and Tahj Washington. That is not a minor detail with Tatum, Dre’lon Miller or Tyanthony Smith. WeAreSC has predictions submitted for the Trojans with all three.
USC also has one of their top 2023 recruits and current freshman WR Duce Robinson as the Major League Baseball Combine right now.
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