If there is a best-case scenario for an Owasso offense that is rebuilding at quarterback and several of the skill positions, it would be the presence of a strong line that should be among the better groups in the state.
With twin-tower talents Ryker Haff and Blake Cherry on the edges, along with experienced personnel within the interior, the Owasso line could be the best in Class 6AI.
During a 2022 preseason practice, Rams coach Bill Blankenship pointed to a cluster of players who were 50 yards away, doing drills near the south end zone of Owasso Stadium.
“Those two — believe it or not, they’re sophomores,” Blankenship said.
I didn’t have to ask the coach to identify “those two” because the players to whom Blankenship referred were so resoundingly noticeable.
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They were the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Cherry, who would start all season at left tackle; and the 6-foot-6, 305-pound Haff, the Rams’ starter at right tackle.
After Owasso concludes its spring-practice period with team-camp scrimmaging on Thursday and Friday, the June-July recruiting process of both Haff and Cherry should be hot.
As they enter their junior year, Haff and Cherry could be the most highly regarded Tulsa-area offensive linemen since Andrew Raym was a Broken Arrow senior in 2019.
“I’d never had two (tackles) who were this big and this physical while still being so young,” Blankenship said. “They certainly have a chance to be the best (tandem at the tackle positions) that I’ve ever had.”
On Thursday, Aug. 24, in the second running of the QuikTrip-sponsored Battle of the ’Burbs series at the University of Tulsa’s H.A. Chapman Stadium, the Owasso Rams and Bixby Spartans clash in a rematch of the 2022 Class 6AI championship game.
Bixby defeated the Rams in the first Battle of the ’Burbs and again in the title game at Edmond. On Aug. 24, the Owasso kids should be boiling with motivation. It is expected that the Ram starters up front will be Cherry again at left tackle, senior Wyatt Eaton at left guard, junior Ethan Sumner at center, senior Ryan Case at right guard and Haff again at right tackle.
Sumner’s father Jamie Sumner was on the Ohio State offensive line when Eddie George won the 1995 Heisman Trophy.
When Owasso chooses to go with a sixth lineman on short-yardage downs, Blake Novotny is a versatile junior weapon. As a ninth-grader, the 6-foot-4 Novotny weighed 215 pounds. His current weight: 265.
“He might actually be a little bigger than that by now, and he has the frame to carry that weight very well,” Owasso offensive line coach Justin Morsey said. “When you see a kid grow like that and get so much stronger – that’s what happens when you have a (strength coach like) Jordan Johnson.”
During the 7-on-7 season that begins on June 12 at Union, Blankenship continues his evaluation of senior quarterbacks Tyler Caviness and Knox Dyson. When 2022 starter Mason Willingham was injured, Caviness led the Rams to a midseason win over Edmond North. Willingham now is on the University of Central Oklahoma roster.
Having been at Owasso as a ninth-grader, Dyson quarterbacked the Beggs Demons last season and has returned to the Rams for a bid at the starting role for Blankenship.
Morsey is a Sapulpa native who in 2006-08 made 36 starts on the University of Tulsa offensive line. His relationship with Blankenship began when Blankenship joined Todd Graham’s Golden Hurricane staff in 2007.
In 2016, Union won the 6AI title with then-sophomore Ricky Stromberg as the anchor of that Morsey-coached offensive line. Stromberg went on to become an All-SEC center at Arkansas and this year was a third-round draft pick of the Washington Commanders.
Morsey says Cherry and Haff are on the Stromberg level of physicality and potential.
As 14-year-olds, Cherry and Haff were slightly taller than the 6-foot-2 Morsey, who joined the Owasso staff after Blankenship was hired in 2017.
“On the same offensive line, I’ve never had two tackles like this,” Morsey said. “A lot of times, those really big, really athletic kids end up on the defensive line. Blake always carried himself like an offensive lineman. He had that demeanor.
“But with Ryker, I thought he probably would end up on defense, but he said he wanted to be on the offensive line. It’s a great situation.”
Because Owasso is so good up front, there’s a reduction in the pressure on a new quarterback and new playmakers to be immediately great.
It may be a long time before Owasso has another receiver like Cole Adams (who made the Dean’s List during his first semester at the University of Alabama), but the Rams of today are outfitted with an elite offensive line.
It’s a beautiful thing – the ability to control games with physicality of great blocking. At the start of the 2023 season, that’ll be a sure thing for the 2023 Rams: they’ll block the heck out of their opponents.
J’Kharri Thomas has big-play potential on every touch of the football. As Owasso’s other skill-position kids become more seasoned, Blankenship can become more creative with his play-calls.
The coach can dust off some of the pages of a 40-year-old playbook that resulted in three state titles at Union, a 2016 Arkansas state title with the Fayetteville Bulldogs, and the 2017 and 2019 6AI championships in Owasso.