Collin's Corner: Some important further notes & thoughts on five-star David Stone
247sports.com
basically a pt. 2 to his earlier article:
Oklahoma has been seen as the leader for quite awhile and even just last week, I went on the 247Sports College Football Recruiting Show and said that while I'm fully accounting for Miami's relentless surge, I still felt like Oklahoma was in a decent spot. The bottom line here, and several involved in this recruitment understand this, it that it's up to Stone to give Miami the opportunity to overtake Oklahoma. Until that happens, though, the Canes can keep on going all-in knowing there's nothing to lose. Sure, it'd be tough not to come out on top for the Canes, but everyone knew the situation regarding Stone and OU before Miami decided to make things interesting.
I also know in speaking to some sources that even a couple of Oklahoma commits are in a similar mindset, 'Sure, but I'll believe it when I see it' type of mode. I think many believe it's still up to Stone and Miami to completely alter things.
However, as we know, Stone's family adores Miami. The thought of having Stone stay in Florida and continuing to grow is enticing to his mother and his siblings have told their older brother about how they'd love to go to college at Miami one day. I know that Miami's staff has been in frequent contact with Stone's family, and it's just something I can't overlook when you consider what we're talking about.
"I love my family to death," Stone said during our recent chat. "If there was anything I could do to make them happy, I would do it."
So, it's sort of a 'Your move, Stone' type of decision. As has been seen before, the recruitments of five-stars can shift and we're truly in a holding pattern waiting to see what comes next. As I also reported, the Stone family did sit down over dinner to discuss the upcoming announcement in hopes of coming to a decision. It's the last time they were all going to see each other before his reveal, but there's still no word on what came out of that conversation.
So, I think the belief here is that Oklahoma keeps holding onto a lead until word gets out that would indicate things have gone a different direction. Again, I'm not going to put in a pick or a prediction as this one is, literally, very undecided. But I do think it's fair to say OU should still be seen as the slight lean until Miami is truly able to takeover the top spot down the stretch.
