Oklahoma recruit Brendan Zurbrugg talks about National Signing Day and his future with the Sooners.
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00:00 What's up everybody, John Hoover, all Sooners, all Sooners.com.
00:04 We are rolling through the 2024 class for the Oklahoma Sooners and the latest to join
00:10 us quarterback Brendan Zurbrug out of Alliance Ohio Alliance High School.
00:15 You guys can mail it in.
00:16 The competition is over the Alliance Aviators.
00:20 Coolest name out there.
00:22 That is pretty awesome.
00:23 Brendan, thanks for joining All Sooners.
00:25 How you doing?
00:26 I'm good.
00:27 How are you?
00:28 Good.
00:29 I'm good.
00:30 I'm glad you're being an aviator, man.
00:31 That is an amazing nickname.
00:32 Oh yeah, it's awesome.
00:33 We got this big fighter jet in front of our school.
00:36 Pretty sweet.
00:38 I love it.
00:40 Question that I'm asking everybody today and yesterday is you committed on August 1st,
00:48 but signing day is here basically.
00:50 What's it feel like to finally have that day behind you?
00:53 And I've gotten some really interesting answers.
00:55 Yeah, it's really exciting.
01:01 I mean, I'm ever since I've committed, I've been really fired up to sign, really fired
01:06 up to get down there and start working out, start hanging out with the guys.
01:12 Kind of relieving to have the whole recruiting process done and know that I'm going somewhere
01:19 and I'm excited to go.
01:22 I bet it's a relief the amount of stress that other coaches and other schools put on you.
01:27 You've been committed to a couple of other schools, is that right?
01:31 Yeah, that's a big thing.
01:33 Being kind of relieved with it all being over with.
01:35 It's been a crazy ride for me.
01:36 Yeah.
01:37 Who are they, Northwestern and Syracuse?
01:39 Yeah.
01:40 Yeah.
01:41 So tell me about your decision to commit to those schools and then commit to Oklahoma
01:46 eventually when that offer came.
01:48 Yeah.
01:49 So Syracuse, you know, it's kind of the first Power Five school they really offered me.
01:54 I went into an official visit that weekend.
01:59 Back in, I think it was June.
02:01 Yeah, I was ready to commit because, you know, I mean, that was my first Power Five and I
02:05 didn't, it's an opportunity I really didn't want to lose.
02:07 Because, you know, with quarterbacks, at any given moment, somebody could commit before
02:10 and all of a sudden it's gone.
02:12 So, you know, that was the idea behind that.
02:16 And so I committed there and then a week, the night actually of my official visit at
02:21 Syracuse, I got a call from Northwestern that offered me.
02:30 I was hesitant to go on the visit because, you know, I'm kind of a loyalty guy.
02:33 It doesn't sound like it with three schools, but I'm a loyalty guy.
02:36 But I ended up going on the visit.
02:38 I liked it a lot.
02:39 I mean, I knew, you know, Babers at Syracuse was kind of, he's had some rough seasons.
02:44 He was kind of on the hot seat over there and he ended up getting fired this past year.
02:48 And Patrick Gerald, who's been at Northwestern for 20 plus years.
02:53 And all of a sudden, like the day after I committed that hazing incident and stuff happened,
02:57 which eventually led to him getting fired.
02:59 And then kind of like a blessing happened with Oklahoma, just kind of spontaneously
03:06 reaching out.
03:07 Seems like it worked out pretty good.
03:11 You're going to be an early enrollee at Oklahoma.
03:13 Is that right?
03:14 Yeah.
03:15 So you're going to miss, you run track.
03:20 I do, yeah.
03:21 You run hurdles.
03:22 I mean, you're pretty good at it.
03:23 You're going to miss track this year, aren't you?
03:25 Yeah, I'm going to miss it.
03:27 But it's for the best.
03:30 Oh yeah, for sure.
03:32 So a quarterback room, Brendan, at a place like Oklahoma, frankly, I mean, I've covered
03:37 OU a long time.
03:38 That quarterback room can have a lot of ghosts.
03:42 You talk about guys like Sam Bradford and Jason White, Heisman Trophy winners, Baker
03:46 Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts, and now Dylan Gabriel.
03:50 Some of those ghosts have a statue right outside the stadium.
03:54 I mean, can you describe the kind of spotlight that's on the quarterback position at Oklahoma
04:00 when you're coming in like you are?
04:02 Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
04:04 I've heard a lot of people call it QBU.
04:06 A lot of great quarterbacks.
04:10 It's something really exciting to be a part of.
04:12 And I know that the University of Oklahoma will make me the best quarterback I can possibly
04:15 be.
04:16 How do you like the new offense?
04:19 They had to change its coordinator.
04:21 You committed Jeff Leby was the coordinator there.
04:23 Seth Luttrell steps up and takes that position.
04:25 He's going to coordinate from now on.
04:28 What do you think about Seth Luttrell and the transition?
04:36 Yeah, I'm glad they stayed within Oklahoma.
04:42 I know they hired somebody that is not going to change too much.
04:45 He has a very similar offense to Jeff Leby.
04:47 And looking back at Coach Luttrell's past experiences with other schools like North
04:50 Texas, North Carolina, Indiana, he's had really successful offenses.
04:56 What do you think your goals are going to be for your freshman season?
05:01 First and foremost, I mean, you're coming in basically in a couple of weeks.
05:05 So yeah, definitely get settled in there for sure.
05:08 And as soon as I get settled in, just get to work, start improving at the highest rate
05:13 that I possibly can to eventually get myself ready to play.
05:18 You think it's going to be hard for as a freshman to stay patient and you know, know that Jackson
05:22 Arnold right now is the starter and stuff like that?
05:25 Or do you just attack it and stay hungry the whole time?
05:29 Yeah, you know, with high school, there really isn't much of that.
05:34 But I think, you know, I'm aware of the situation.
05:39 I'm aware of what I have to do, but I'm also ready to compete.
05:43 For sure.
05:45 Passing yards, you set the school record at Alliance 6,376 yards, 63 touchdowns, school
05:51 record, 490 completions, school record.
05:54 72% of your passes were complete, another school record.
05:58 And then you ran for another couple thousand yards and 25 touchdowns.
06:02 I'm going to ask you to sum up and describe your own game.
06:06 How does your game translate to college football?
06:08 Yeah, I think something really important about my game, obviously, I'm a really accurate,
06:13 efficient passer, which I mean, I think everybody looks for.
06:15 But beyond that, I mean, I'm able to extend plays, make plays with my legs when nothing's
06:23 really there.
06:24 You know, something that's always telling me is, you know, turn something from nothing.
06:30 Like, you know what I mean?
06:32 So I think I can, I think I'm a guy that does that pretty well.
06:35 Okay.
06:36 You're coming in with another quarterback in this class.
06:39 I mean, that's fairly unusual, even at a place like Oklahoma, which they usually sign one
06:44 per year, but they're signing two this year.
06:47 How interesting is that going to be for you to get to know Michael Hawkins and to get
06:50 to compete with him?
06:52 Yeah, it's cool.
06:54 I met Michael back when I visited in late July.
06:58 Pretty, pretty good guy.
07:01 More than anything, just excited to compete and learn with him instead of against him.
07:07 Any thoughts about, you know, the guy that's starting right now, Dylan Gabriel goes off
07:13 to Oregon.
07:14 So you got to, you elevate the true freshman, Jackson Arnold, five star kid.
07:18 Any thoughts about being behind him in year one?
07:20 Are you going to try and compete and take that job?
07:23 Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm excited to learn from him.
07:27 Really great quarterback, true freshman this year.
07:30 So I mean, it's, it's awesome that he's, you know, he's starting to gain the slate in the
07:33 season.
07:34 I've seen him play some earlier in the season.
07:35 Yeah, I'm excited to say to learn from a little bit and get better.
07:40 Have you put much research into the receivers you're going to be throwing the football to,
07:44 especially in this class?
07:46 I met a few of them very briefly.
07:50 I've talked to him just a little bit, but yeah, I've seen, seen a lot of them, seen
07:53 some big targets, seen some really freaky athletic guys.
07:56 So that's exciting.
07:57 Yeah.
07:58 Yeah.
07:59 The guy that led the nation in yards per catch this year.
08:00 That's not too bad.
08:01 Not too shabby.
08:02 Not too shabby.
08:03 You got a roommate picked out, you know, you're going to be rooming with.
08:11 I think from what I'm hearing is it's Xavier Robinson running back.
08:14 Okay.
08:15 Yeah.
08:16 He's hand him the football.
08:17 You'll get first downs for sure.
08:18 Dude, I have like 11 yards of carry or something like that.
08:24 All right.
08:25 That's Brendan Zurbruck, Oklahoma class of 2024.
08:28 Brendan, man, really appreciate you jumping on with us at All Sooners.
08:31 Yes, sir.