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Oklahoma football: Sooner roster consists of players from 17 different states

By Chip Rouse

ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 2: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before playing the TCU Horned Frogs during the first half at AT&T Stadium on December 2, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. OU won 41-17. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - DECEMBER 2: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before playing the TCU Horned Frogs during the first half at AT&T Stadium on December 2, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. OU won 41-17. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /
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Conventional wisdom has it that most of the players on the Oklahoma football roster come out of the states of Oklahoma and Texas.

Technically, that is a true true statement. Seventy-five players on the Sooners’ current 118-member active roster, or 64 percent, are from Oklahoma or the Lone Star State. By far the largest number, 49, cross the Red River from Texas and come to play football at Oklahoma. There are 26 players from the Sooner State on the current roster.

Oklahoma football is a national brand, and the Sooners capitalize on that reputation to recruit all over the country — not just in the recruiting hotbed of Texas. Oklahoma has always recruited well in the state of Texas, and that is heavily reflected in the makeup of the current roster.

But the Sooners also do very well in other parts of the country that are rich in high school and junior-college talent.

Outside of Texas and Oklahoma, California is the state most represented on the Sooner roster with seven. Florida is next with six players on the OU roster. Missouri, Tennessee, Arizona, North Carolina and Ohio all have three or more.

Other states that Oklahoma players are from include Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada and the District of Columbia.

Interestingly, only one player on the Oklahoma roster this season comes from Kansas, the neighboring state to the immediate north.

A breakdown of the Oklahoma football roster by class reveals that 42 percent are freshman or redshirt freshman, 21 percent are sophomores, 25 percent are juniors and just 12 percent are seniors or in their final season of eligibility.

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