Oklahoma Commit Kade McIntyre Still Being Recruited – by the Sooner Coaching Staff

Will he play offense? Or will he play defense? The OU coaches are positioning themselves to facilitate McIntyre's college football career, but it'll all be for his benefit.

FREMONT, NE – The recruiting isn’t over for Oklahoma’s latest verbal commitment.

Now the Sooner coaches are competing over Kade McIntyre.

“It was actually kind of like that,” McIntyre told AllSooners Monday during an interview at Archbishop Bergan High School.

After a fun photo shoot during his official campus visit on June 8, recruits met the coaches and staff for dinner before attending meetings that night. Linebackers coach and defensive coordinator Ted Roof cornered McIntyre early.

“He was like, ‘We have a position meeting; I’m not quite sure where you’re gonna land but I want you to come in there,’ ” McIntyre said. “And then the next day, we came down the elevator to go to an academic meeting, and Joe Jon (Finley, the tight ends coach) was just sitting down there waiting for me. He just kind of took me to the tight ends meeting and took me to the offensive coordinator and stuff, and I didn’t really get to see Roof that much. So that was awesome.”

McIntyre is an explosive athlete on both sides of the ball. Bergan coach Seth Mruz said his team – 13-0 and Class C Nebraska state champs last year – lost 16 seniors and one of his solutions this year is to get McIntyre the ball more, while also featuring him on defense.

Fremont – pop. 26,500 – is nestled among thousands of acres of dusty cornfields about an hour northwest of Omaha and 45 minutes north of Lincoln. Bergan is one of two high school teams in this farm town.

Kade McIntyre / AllSooners screenshot

But J.R. Sandlin, OU’s Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting, found McIntyre’s film.

“He saw that I had two offers in one day, Tennessee and Nebraska kind of stacked up, and he was like, ‘OK, I’m gonna look at it,’ ” McIntyre said.

Sandlin forwarded McIntyre’s film to J.P. Losman, Assistant Director of Player Personnel.

“J.P. Losman is the one that started texting me,” Mruz told AllSooners, “and he’s like, ‘I love me some Kade McIntyre.’ I’m like, ‘Me too, I wish he could stay a little longer.’ ”

It all shook out on Memorial Day weekend. He got the OU offer on May 29, took his visit a week later, then committed on June 13.

“So they went against what they said – they said ‘We can’t bother him on Memorial Day’ and stuff – and (Brent) Venables saw the film and he loved it. Next couple days, they just kind of got ahold of me and they were like, ‘Dude, we want to offer you, but we’re not sure yet.’ ”

What was McIntyre’s reaction after his visit?

“Wow,” he said. “Just the energy. Brent Venables … is such a great dude. The way he’s kind of dealing with the program and wanting everyone to be a part of, a very personal relationship kind of guy. But really, just the great people from top to bottom, it’s just amazing.”

Mruz said South Dakota offered first, then came Wyoming – where McIntyre’s big brother Koa will be a freshman this year. Then North Dakota State offered. Things slowed down after that. But once Kansas State came in, that opened the door for Minnesot and Iowa. Iowa State got interested. Then Tennessee and Nebraska offered. Finally, Oklahoma came around.

And almost every evaluation was done strictly off McIntyre’s game video.

“You know, a lot of unfortunate things came with COVID,” Mruz said. “But I think one of the great things with COVID is it made college programs become extremely efficient with recruiting. They couldn’t go see kids in person. They couldn’t go visit places. So they relied on film, they trusted instincts – and film doesn’t lie. That’s one of the things he’s got is fantastic film. He’s got the frame.You see him in person and you’re like, ‘Oh, OK. He’s not fudging numbers. He’s 6-4, he’s 205-210 and he looks good and there’s a lot of room to grow.’ ”

Now it seems it’ll come down between Finley, Roof and defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis.

“I would love to start out at tight end just because of the things they showed me on film and in meetings they did with Joe Jon,” McIntyre said. “Really showed me I could do a lot of those things and do ‘em very well, so I’m excited to kind of start off there. They said if it’s not the best fit for you, or you would thrive at a different position, like linebacker, they would want me to be there, too. Just kind of the flexibility is also something that intrigued me about the place. They’re really looking for the best intentions of the players.”