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Oklahoma football: Sooners’ 2023 recruiting class shaping up BIG

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - APRIL 24: Oklahoma Sooners helmets sit next to the end zone before their spring game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on April 24, 2021 in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - APRIL 24: Oklahoma Sooners helmets sit next to the end zone before their spring game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on April 24, 2021 in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma football recruiting is currently in the thick of the process in the 2022 cycle, but the class that immediately follows is shaping up as one of the best ever.

The Sooners have 14 commitments currently in their 2022 class. That ranks 12th in the 247Sports class rankings and 13th according to Rivals. The 2022 class currently ranks second among Big 12 schools. Activity will continue through early February of next year in filling out that class.

Lincoln Riley and his staff did have a five-star commitment in the 2022 class from Luther Burden out of East St. Louis, Missouri. Burden, who had been committed to Oklahoma since October 2020, announced in August that he was decommitting from the Sooners and reopening his recruitment.

There was no public disclosure of the reasoning behind Burden’s decommitment decision, but it is widely speculated that he wants to be able to start immediately, and that might not be possible with all the wide receiver talent assembled currently and into the future in Riley’s high-powered OU offense.

Meanwhile, the bigger news, insofar as the Sooners’ recruiting activity is concerned, is taking place looking even further out.

Out of the 14 commitments in the Oklahoma 2022 class, eight are rated as four stars and six as three stars. The Sooners’ 2023 class has six commitments already, and three of those (QB Malachi Nelson, WR Brandon Inniss and athlete/WR Makai Lemon) are rated as five-star prospects by 247Sports. Two others are four-star prospects.

And would you believe the Sooners are close to adding another five-star recruit to their 2023 class by this weekend? DeAndre Moore Jr., rated as the No. 33 player overall and the No. 3 wide receiver in the class, is expected to announce his commitment on Friday.

Interestingly, Nelson, Lemon and Moore are all from the same high school in the Southern California community of Los Alamitos. Moore’s five finalists are Alabama, USC, Oregon, Florida State and Oklahoma.

The Sooners are widely expected to be the choice, which should further secure Oklahoma’s No. 1 2023 class ranking. At its present pace, the 2023 class is well on its way to becoming OU’s best recruiting class ever.

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