Oklahoma football: OU hosts prime recruiting targets this weekend
By Chip Rouse
The Oklahoma football game in Week 2 of the college football season probably won’t have much entertainment value insofar as a competitive challenge.
The Sooners are heavy favorites — oops, we’ve heard that before very recently, haven’t we? — against the Catamounts of Western Carolina, who have not beaten a team at the FBS level in 59 previous tries. So, it’s easy to look at this Week 2 matchup as an OU tune up for the rest of the 2021 season.
It might be a giant mismatch in terms of the talent disparity between the two teams, but you can expect the spirit level and fan experience to be about as high as any other Oklahoma home game during the season.
Among those recruits who are expected to be in attendance for the Sooner home game this weekend is five-star defensive line prospect Gabe Brownlow-Dindy from Lakeland, Florida, the No. 10 overall prospect for 2022, according to the 247Sports Player Composite. This is an official visit by Brownlow-Dindy. He also made visits to Texas A&M and Ohio State but has narrowed his choices to Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
Joining Brownlow-Dindy in Norman this weekend are three commits from the Sooners’ 2022 class.
Despite living in Florida, Brownlow-Dindy, who is listed as 6-foot, 3 inches and 280 pounds, says he grew up an Oklahoma fan because both of his parents attended OU. If the Sooners are able to gain his commitment it would be a huge defensive addition and the talent level that Oklahoma has has had a difficult time landing on the defensive side in recent years.
Another prime defensive-line prospect OU has in its recruiting crosshairs is Lebbeus Overton, the No. 1 defensive lineman and No. 2 overall player in the 2023 class, from Alpharetta, Georgia (deep in the heart of SEC country). Working in the Sooners’ favor in the pursuit of Overton is his legacy status. His father, Milton, played at Oklahoma in the 1990s.
Oklahoma is also expected to serve as an unofficial host of several members of its No. 1-ranked 2023 class this weekend. The Sooners have six 2023 commitments currently, including three five-star prospects on offense, two four-star offensive players and a three-star defensive lineman.
Only one of the 2023 commitments so far is from the state of Oklahoma and none are from Texas, normally a heavy recruiting ground for the Sooners. Instead, two commits are from Florida and two from California, which reinforces the national reach of OU’s recruiting.
The beauty of being able to bring in top talent in the recruiting process, especially at the quarterback spot, which has become a Sooner trademark since Lincoln Riley arrived, is that it serves as a magnet to help attract other top recruits. That has clearly been the case since QB recruit Malachi Nelson, the No. 2 QB in the 2023 class, committed to OU in July, followed by his teammate at Los Alamitos High School in Southern California, WR/athlete Makai Lemon. Both are five-star prospects.
All six 2023 commits for the Sooners were in attendance at OU ‘s annual ChampU BBQ recruiting event in late June.
Several of the 2023 commits have indicated that they have turned into recruiters themselves in trying to persuade other top talent with whom they are acquainted to join them at Oklahoma.
Riley says the noticeable success the Sooners have achieved so far in its 2023 class is not the result of anything different he and is staff are doing in terms of the process or philosophy, nor are they offering more prospects earlier.
“A lot of it comes down to relationships within the class,” he says. “Obviously, it’s our responsibility, and we have a big hand in it, but so do the other recruits in the class.”
The talent level of Oklahoma’s recruiting has risen considerably under Riley. According to an analysis done recently by Ryan Aber, who covers OU sports for The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman, between the 2011 and 2016 recruiting cycles (Bob Stoops’ final six seasons as head coach), the Sooners did not sign one top-10 recruiting class and only 12 top-100 prospects.
The 2021 class included five such prospects, three are committed for 2022 and five in 2023.
Given what we are seeing from Oklahoma on the recruiting trail, don’t expect the Sooners’ talent level or on-field success to noticeably drop off anytime soon, even after the impending move to the SEC.