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Oklahoma recruit Mykel Patterson-McDonald talks about National Signing Day and his future with the Sooners.
Transcript
00:00 What's up everybody? John Hoover all Sooners allsooners.com National Signing Day is roaring at us now at this point and we're here again. Another special guest. It's Michael Patterson McDonald.
00:12 Westmore High School, Moore, OK. He's the closest of all the entire 2024 class. He's the closest geographically speaking to OU. Been committed since July, Michael. How's it feel now that National Signing Day is actually here?
00:29 It feels good. It's a blessing. I can't wait to do log crawling.
00:34 Appreciate you joining us today. I want to I want to explore your relationship with OU's defensive backs coaches J.Valli and Brandon Hall.
00:42 As you transition from a kind of a prospect to a recruit to now a commit to a signee, how's your relationship with those guys evolved?
00:53 It's evolved a lot like at first, for instance, when I first got to meet Coach Hall and Coach Valli, you know, it was a lot of talk.
01:01 But now as time goes on, it's big talk. You know, we text. We have good conversations. I grew up. I watch practice. You know, everything's good. It's been great.
01:10 I guess you guys probably talk a lot of football like NFL stuff, college games or stuff you see on TV. You got a question, you just fire off a text to those guys.
01:19 Oh yeah, all the time. All the time.
01:21 That's pretty cool. So as you watch the Oklahoma defense grow in two years under Brent Venables, what have you learned about him as a coach?
01:30 He's he's an amazing coach. He's very passionate. He loves what he does.
01:35 You know, he's about everybody. He's there for everybody. He's an amazing coach.
01:38 And just watching him at practice, watching him in action and how much he's involved in the practice.
01:44 I'm looking forward to it. Can't wait. Yeah, I bet it's going to be exciting.
01:48 You're not going to be there till next summer, though, is that right? You're signing in December, but you're going to show up as a summer enrollee.
01:55 Yes, sir. Yeah. So what's your plans for this spring then?
01:59 While while a lot of your future teammates are going to be participating in spring practice, you're going to be doing finishing up in high school and doing other stuff.
02:06 What are you going to be working on? I have to get surgery on my shoulder.
02:10 So I'll be getting that done and recovery and getting ready for the season and trying to learn the playbook.
02:16 No getting much into it as much as I can. So I'm not too far behind when I get on campus.
02:20 Gotcha. No track or anything like that. No, sir. With the bad shoulder. That's too bad.
02:27 OK, so you're you're nearby. Do you get access to the campus that a lot of guys don't have?
02:32 Like you just go down for the spring game or a practice or whatever, anytime you want?
02:37 Not necessarily any time I want, because there's still rules. But when I'm able to, I'll make sure I get there.
02:42 OK, once you sign, though, I guess you'll be able to go anytime.
02:46 Yeah. Yes, sir. Cool. So what are your goals going to be? You get that shoulder fixed.
02:51 Twenty twenty four rolls around. You're going to be probably near the bottom of the depth chart like any freshman would be.
02:57 But you're going to move up quickly. What are your goals for your freshman season?
03:01 My goals for my freshman season is giving it all I got. I don't expect to just come in and anything.
03:07 You know, you got to work everything you got and playing behind the players I'm playing behind, as in Billy Bowman, Billy Bowman,
03:14 Peyton Bowen, you know, some great players and, you know, looking up to them and being able to learn and knowing I got somebody to look up to that help me with anything that I need.
03:23 I just feel like I can come in and I work a lot of people that's already there already because I know my work ethic.
03:31 You think it's going to be hard to stay patient as a freshman?
03:34 Definitely. It's not necessarily be hard, but it's going to be a process.
03:39 You know, you always got to stay patient. How would you describe your game?
03:44 What what are your strengths and what are some of the things you want to work on?
03:48 Strengths is I'm very smart. I learn stuff quick. I catch on to a lot of stuff and a lot of others don't.
03:53 And probably weaknesses, probably. Sometimes I just fly in.
03:59 You know, sometimes I don't think about it. I just fly in. A lot of the time it can be good.
04:03 Some of the time it can be bad. Yeah, a lot of times it can produce some really big plays.
04:08 Just following your instincts, you know, and just going 100 miles an hour.
04:14 I think a lot of people are assuming you're going to room with David Stone when next summer arrives.
04:19 No, he's rooming with Jaden Jackson. OK, you have one picked out when I know it's getting road a little bit.
04:27 Not at the moment, not yet. OK. Speaking of Stoney, take me back to his commitment.
04:33 You probably always knew in the back of your head maybe that he was going to come to Oklahoma, but was there for you as his friend?
04:40 Tell me, was there a rush or satisfaction or relief, whatever it was when he committed to you?
04:48 It was all. It was a rush, a big one.
04:51 It was a lot of relief, too, because I was kind of worried because Miami and him had talked like that whole week on.
04:57 Every night we were on the phone talking about it, you know, the pros and cons and what he wanted to do.
05:03 And it was kind of like a last second decision, kind of like from the night before I had talked to him.
05:11 It was like, I'm going to see, man, I don't know yet. We're going to see what we're going to do.
05:14 I said, all right. I said, you know, you know, I want you to come play with me.
05:19 It was like, yeah, I know. Next morning I wake up, I texted him.
05:24 Yeah, game day. And I was watching his game. Halftime came around.
05:29 I was watching, I seen those hats and then I seen him hovering over Miami.
05:33 I said, oh, no. And then he picked up that hat. I said, OK, yeah.
05:41 So you suspected, but you never really, truly knew until the very end.
05:46 No, I kind of knew like about that day because I was like, there's no way he's just going to go to Miami.
05:53 And I had talked to him later and he told me he's been wanting to go to Miami, push for him a lot, like a lot, a lot.
06:06 So he was like, there was good coaches there and everything. But it was a risk taking.
06:13 So I'm looking at this DV class. You guys are absolutely loaded.
06:18 You've got yourself, Eli Bowen, Devon Jordan, Jeremiah Newcomb, Jaden Hardy, Reggie Powers and maybe Michael Boganowski.
06:26 We'll see. He could he could play any number of positions, but he could be a BB.
06:30 Tell me about the relationships you've already built with some of those guys and what it's going to be like to kind of compete with them every day in practice.
06:37 I'm I built a good relationship with really all of them, honestly.
06:41 We talk every now and then we got to reach out and being able to compete with them is going to be good.
06:46 You know, because it's nothing but working on teammates. We all did to make each other better.
06:53 Looking forward to it, Michael Patterson, McDonald, Oklahoma class of 2024.
06:57 Thanks for joining us at All Sooners. Yes, sir. Thank you.