Oklahoma football: Sooners add another elite defender to 2023 commitment list
By Chip Rouse
Like the old Morton Salt advertising tagline: “When it rains, it pours.” That’s how you can describe the past week in Oklahoma football recruiting.
Since the July 4th holiday weekend and on through last week, the Sooners have landed five new commitments to their 2023 class, the most recent being four-star edge-rusher prospect Adepoju Adebawore out of North Kansas City High School in Kansas City, Missouri.
Other OU commitments during the past week include WR Jaquaize Pettaway, LB Phil Picciotti, OT Cayden Green and OT Logan Howland.
Adebawore, who goes by the nickname PJ, is rated as the No. 12 edge rusher in the 2023 class and the No. 98 player nationally, according to the 247Sports Player Composite. He also had offers from his home-state team Missouri, Georgia, LSU and Northwestern, but chose to head down I-35 to Norman and go with Oklahoma.
Adebawore made an official visit to Oklahoma on June 3 and was primarily recruited by Sooner defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis.
Oklahoma’s 2023 recruiting class has grown to 15 commits, including one five-star prospect (QB Jackson Arnold) and five four-stars.
On June 1, the Sooners had four commitments in their 2023 class, and just a week ago, OU ranked 41st in the 247Sports 2023 class rankings. After this past week, the Sooners have climbed all the way to 11th.
And head coach Brent Venables and his staff probably aren’t done this month growing the 2023 class even more. OU is anticipating commitment announcements from four-star running back Daylan Smothers from Charlotte, North Carolina (expected to announce on July 14), and four-star defensive end Derrick LeBlanc from Kissimmee, Florida (expected to announce July 28).