Oklahoma football: Sooners in reach of highest-ranked recruiting class in recent memory
By Chip Rouse
At the end of May, Oklahoma football recruiting commitments for the class of 2023 stood at three and was ranked 41st in the country by the college football recruiting staff at 247Sports.
The Sooners added five more in the month of June, and since July 1, Oklahoma has been on a recruiting roll, landing 12 verbal commitments to grow the class size to 20. The latest 247Sports class rankings have Oklahoma occupying the No, 6 position and with several elite, uncommitted prospects believed to be leaning the Sooners’ way.
Some college football recruiting experts believe Oklahoma is not done climbing up the rankings, and should several elite prospects that they are targeting ultimately land in the Sooners’ camp, a top-five ranking is easily in range. The last time OU produced a top-five recruiting class was in 2010. In 2003, Rivals ranked the Sooners the third best class in the nation.
Lincoln Riley’s last three recruiting classes before jumping ship at OU for USC ranked 10th, 13th and 6th, respectively.
While there were some concerns earlier in the spring about the Sooners ability to attract and get commitments from top prospects as they have been able to in the recent past, those concerns have quickly evaporated after the recruiting advances of the past couple of months. No one really questioned Venables ability to attract top defensive recruits, but could he also recruit to the Sooners’ strength offensively? That too has been answered affirmatively.
Of the 20 verbal commitments Oklahoma has in the fold as of this date, nine are offensive players, eight are defensive and there are three commits rated as athletes. According to 247Sports, two of the Sooner commits are rated as five stars, including QB Jackson Arnold, who was the MVP of the Elite 11 camp this year, along with 10 four-star commitments.
Among the top prospects Oklahoma is hopeful of earning commitment announcements from in the coming months is four-star defensive back Makari Vickers, out of Tallahasse, Florida; four-star, defensive lineman Jordan Renaud, out of Tyler, Texas; four-star wide receiver Anthony Evans, from Converse, Texas; and five-star defensive end David Hicks, from Katy, Texas, with whom the Sooners are in a tight battle with Texas A&M to land the top defensive end in the class.
Oklahoma is clearly trending in the right way on the 2023 recruiting trail, and Venables has vowed they are far from done.