Coach Believes in Sooners WR Commit Zion Ragins
With Oklahoma’s rash of commitments in July it’s easy to lose track. One player that Oklahoma fans may only lose sight of because he’s too fast to keep their eyes on is Gray (Ga.) Jones County four-star Zion Ragins. The explosive pass-catcher chose the Sooners on July 18 over Florida State and Georgia amongst others.
According to Jones County head coach Mike Chastain Ragins’s speed is obvious to anyone. But even knowing that there’s far more to the nation’s No. 34 wide receiver’s game.
“Obviously his speed [stands out], it’s what everyone raves about. What people don’t realize is what kind of football player he is. He’s a dominant football player, he’s only 165 pounds but is very physical,” Chastain said.
“I remember, vividly, him running over a guy who was a freshman of the year in the FCS [when Ragins was] a sophomore. His first step is almost top speed, he’s a very, very, very electric player.”
Chastain realizes that electricity gives him a lot of options with the Jones County offense. Oklahoma may use him as a receiver but even in high school Ragins brings so much to make it impossible not to move him around.
“We’ll use him at RB, if he touches it 10 times, one of them is going to the house,” he said. “I think they can be very varied [on how Oklahoma gets him the ball], obviously.
“You’ve got to get the ball in his hands and I’m sure that’s the case with most power 5 players. Whether you throw him a hitch, a streak, a go ball, a slant. When he catches the ball out of the backfield, when he has a little bit of daylight, you’re in trouble.”
Chastain New Sooners Commit was Special Early On
Chastain says he knew early on that he had something special on his hands with Ragins. Not surprisingly it was his speed that caught his attention in the early going of their relationship.
“As a freshman he won the 100-meter in the state of Georgia. He won it again as a sophomore. Then this past year had a few things that weren’t going his way late in the year, small little nagging things. He came in second this year and still ran a 10.5-seconds in the 100-meter dash,” he explained.
“I’ve seen him run as low as a 10.3.”
Ragins broke the 11-second mark as an eighth grader but Chastain wasn’t just watching his track times as a young player.
“He was in the feeder system coming up and coaches we see all the feeder school games, it was the same there. When he got the ball in his hands it was going to the house at the middle school level,” he explained.
Once Ragins hit high school everything changed, right? Actualy, against one of the best teams in the country Ragins made his presence felt immediately.
“He took a sweep to the house against Grayson. I think Grayson was No. 3 in the country when we played them and he took a sweep to the house as a freshman,” Chastain remembers. “That got the ball rolling for him. Grayson at the time had like seven division one guys and he just ran away from the whole defense.
“He had offers before his freshman year was over from major Power 5 schools.”
What Does the Future Look like for OU and Ragins?
A big advantage for a player with Ragins’s speed is that there’s always a role within an offense. ‘Run fast and far’ can be a plan for certain players. But according to Chastain, who has averaged nearly 10 wins a year at Jones County since taking over in 2019, the Sooners have an advantage of their own.
“The big transition is going to be super simple, a lot of the calls are the same, coach (Jeff) Lebby being at Oklahoma has been a big thing in getting him to sign with Oklahoma,” Chastain acknowledged.
Lebby comes from a coaching tree that is well known for it’s secrecy about the inner workings of it’s offense. But that being said Chastain gives Lebby a lot of credit in helping the Jones County offense.
“Coach Lebby has been the big recruiter for them, he does a phenomenal job recruiting. We run a very similar offense, coach Lebby and those guys from that tree that he is involved with,” he said. “They are highly secretive people but he has been able to help us as much as he can help anyone. I’ve had a pretty good relationship with him and I appreciate him a bunch.”
Ragins has a great relationship with Emmett Jones that he cited as key in his recruitment. For his head coach, Lebby was a big part of his comfort with Georgia’s No. 27 prospect heading to Norman.
“He was offered by Georgia and just about everybody in the Southeast,” he said. “Because of his relationship with coach Lebby and being around us I think that helps things.”
Beyond Ragins and Oklahoma singularly, what does an experienced coach like Chastain think Oklahoma’s entrance into the SEC could mean for the Sooners recruiting?
“I think it brings a ton of value, in the south, in Georgia, we obviously think that the SEC is king. If you’re playing in the SEC, that’s a dang good school. They are going to play in front of 100,000 people a lot. I think that carries a lot of weight being involved with the SEC,” he said.
“A lot of our kids don’t know most of the Big 12 schools but they know the majority of SEC schools.”
Ragins More than Just Talent
There’s plenty to focus on with Ragins’s on-field talent but Chastain says there’s a lot more to his prize pupil.
“To top it all off, he’s a kid that you won’t see him not smiling a whole lot. If he’s around you and you have any relationship, every third time he’s going to tackle you and give you a big hug,” Chastain said.
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