Oklahoma football and new head coach Brent Venables took a big hit from the transfer portal after his predecessor, Lincoln Riley departed for USC.
While the Sooners lost some key pieces to last season’s 11-2 Oklahoma team to transfer because of the coaching change, Venables and his staff have brought in 12 new faces for 2022 by use of the same process.
The latest transfer addition is former Pittsburgh quarterback Davis Beville, a former four-star prospect, according to Rivals, out of Greenville, South Carolina. Rivals ranked Beville as the No. 11 quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class, the same class that delivered No. 1 QB prospect Spencer Rattler to OU.
The 6-foot, 6-inch, 205-pound pro-style QB redshirted his freshman season at Pittsburgh, he played in six games in 2020, completing 5 of 10 passes for 30 yards, and just three this past season. Beville’s playing time for the Panthers was extremely limited, largely because he was behind 2021 ACC Player of the Year and First-Team All-American Kenny Pickett.
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During his time at Pittsburgh, Beville completed 22 of 32 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown.
Beville did see extensive action, however, in the Peach Bowl last season as a result of Pickett opting out of the game to prepare for the NFL Draft and backup Nick Patti suffering an injury.
Beville’s stat line in his Peach Bowl appearance read 14 of 18 passes completed with one touchdown and one interception. A highly respectable performance for a player who had seen action in just two other games last season.
The addition of Beville provides much needed depth to the OU quarterback room. The Sooners lost both Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams to the transfer portal after Riley left but added an experienced signal caller in Dillon Gabriel through the portal. Behind Gabriel, though, OU had little experience coming into the 2022 season.
Micah Bowens, himself a transfer last season from Penn State, and walk-on Ralph Rucker were next in line. Only Rucker saw any action last season for the Sooners, and that was limited to clean-up duty in one game.
Oklahoma added four-star prospect Nick Evers in its 2022 signing class. Although Evers comes in with high potential, the thought is he needs some time to develop and become acclimated to the college game and the Sooners’ system.
Beville was in Norman this past weekend on a recruiting visit and announced his new destination on Monday.
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The Sooners were also active on the future recruiting front on Monday, adding talented safety prospect Kaleb Spencer to the 2023 class. Spencer, who lists at 6-foot, 3 inches and 200 pounds, is rated as three stars by 247Sports and ranked as the No. 54 safety in the class and 14th best player out of the state of Virginia. He is out of Life Christian Academy in Colonial Heights, Virginia.
Oklahoma wasn’t the only school that high interest in Spencer. He also had received offers from LSU, Arkansas, Penn State, Tennessee and West Virginia, among others.
Spencer’s mental and physical toughness appear to be a perfect fit for what Venables looks for in defensive players. He was not recruited by the previous coaching regime at OU. He is the find of Venables and new Sooner defensive coordinator Ted Roof.
The promising young safety was among the recruits who took part in OU’s Junior Day in March, with the opportunity to visit the campus and visit with Sooner coaches.
Spencer becomes the fifth commitment to Oklahoma’s 2023 recruiting class, ranked 20th in the most recent rankings by 247Sports. He joins QB Jackson Arnold, WR Ashton Cozart, OL Joshua Bates, and ATH Erik McCarty.