Oklahoma football: Sooners in mix for several elite 5-star 2023 recruits

With the 2022 recruiting class locked in, and with some already on campus, the Oklahoma football recruiting staff has turned its full-blown attention to targeting top talent for 2023 and 2024.

Oklahoma’s 2022 class ranked eighth nationally, according to both 247Sports and Rivals, and the Sooners’ 2023 class, which once ranked No. 1 prior to Lincoln Riley’s departure in late November, currently stands at No. 15/16, respectively.

But that is just a starting point as far as new Sooner head coach Brent Venables and his staff are concerned.

OU’s 2023 class currently consists of four commitments — four-star QB prospect Jackson Arnold, four-star WR Ashton Cozart, three-star LB Joshua Bates and unrated RB Erik McCarty — but the Sooners are out on the prowl nationwide for some of the top recruits in the country.

Here is a rundown of some of the elite 2023 prospects the Sooners are pursuing:

Earlier this month, Anthony Hill, a five-star-rated LB from Denton, Texas, listed as the No. 1 LB and No. 10 player overall in the 2023 class, listed Oklahoma among his six finalists. Some experts believe the Sooners might be in his final three, but OU is going to have to battle with the likes of Alabama, Texas A&M, Texas, Miami and USC if it wants to land this prized recruit.

The Sooners are also very high on five-star RB David Hicks, who hails from Allen, Texas, the hometown of former OU QB Kyler Murray. OU has as good a chance as anybody of landing Hicks, but someone this talented is always going to be on the radar of other top schools. Hicks’ list includes the usual suspects: Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU and Texas among others.

Five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor, from Washington, D.C., reportedly had a great connection with the previous OU coaching staff, but Venables and Co. have also picked up the ball in the recruitment of Harbor. He currently lists Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan and Maryland as his top choices.

Four-star defensive end Chandavian Bradley wouldn’t have to travel that far from home in Platte City, Missouri, to play at Oklahoma. Bradley ranks No. 4 at the position, according to 247Sports. Bob Przybylo, who covers OU recruiting for Rivals.com. reports that Bradley loves the Sooners, but Texas A&M is among the schools also pursuing his 2023 commitment.

In addition to Bradley, Oklahoma is also interested in another top prospect from the Kansas
City area. Four-star OT Cayden Green rates as the No. 7 offensive tackle in the class. Green is scheduled to make a recruiting visit to OU in March.

Building up the defensive secondary has been a priority for Venables since the day he took the reins at Oklahoma in early December. As far as the 2023 recruiting cycle goes for safeties and cornerbacks, you can’t get much better than Caleb Downs. The Sooners have a scholarship offer out to Downs, rated as the No. 1 safety in the class and the top 2023 recruit in the state of Georgia. As you might expect, other top programs like Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame also have high interest in Downs.

Jalen Hill is a tall wide receiver with length, and Oklahoma is always in the market for high-quality WR talent. Przybylo writes “at this time last year, this would have been a slam dunk.” Despite all the changes at OU, however, “it doesn’t feel like OU has fallen out of favor with Hale.” Ohio State, Texas, Florida State and Mississippi are among the school that have reached out to Hale.

The recruits on this list are definitely worth keeping an eye on.

This is obviously just a partial list of the recruiting talent that Oklahoma is targeting for 2023. You can expect that a number of the aforementioned list as well as other top recruits will receive invites for OU spring game weekend as well as Oklahoma’s big summer recruiting event, the ChampU BBQ.