Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma football: Sooners coming and going ever-present in ESPN Top 50 Newcomers

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Oklahoma's Caleb Williams (13) and Spencer Rattler (7) warm up before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021.Ou Vs TcuSyndication The Oklahoman
Oklahoma's Oklahoma's Caleb Williams (13) and Spencer Rattler (7) warm up before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021.Ou Vs TcuSyndication The Oklahoman /
facebooktwitterreddit

Ten names in ESPN’s recent ranking of college football’s top-50 newcomers for the 2022 season could easily be categorized as current, former and almost members of the Oklahoma football program.

That’s 20 percent of the entire list, and all are included within the top 38 of the 50 players in the ranking.

Caleb Williams, the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the class of 2021 and the starter at Oklahoma last season, tops the ranking of 2022 newcomers at No. 1. After his sensational freshman season, however, he left OU to follow his head coach, Lincoln Riley, to USC.

The player who replaced Williams as the Sooner starting quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, is No. 4 in the ESPN ranking of top newcomers.

"“Gabriel played for offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby at UCF and now Lebby is the coordinator at Oklahoma,” writes ESPN college-football writer Tom VanHaaren.“The two are reuniting at the perfect time after the Sooners lost quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler.”"

Rattler is No. 10 on the list. Another former Sooner who followed Riley out the door to USC was wide receiver Mario Williams, who was one of the prime receiving targets for the other Williams at OU last season.

The biggest association with the Oklahoma football program, however, are college newcomers this season who almost became Sooners. Six of them in total.

That almost-OU list includes QB Casey Thompson, son of former Sooner quarterback Charles Thompson. The younger Thompson, No. 15 on the ESPN list, this week was named the starting QB at Nebraska after transferring from Texas. He had briefly considered OU as a landing spot before ultimately selecting the Cornhuskers.

QB Jaxson Dart, ranked as the No. 3 best newcomer crossed paths with the incoming Riley at USC. When Riley became head coach at USC and brought Caleb Williams with him, Dart entered the transfer portal. OU was one of the programs he considered transferring to, but with Gabriel already there he chose Ole Miss

No. 23 is freshman Raleek Brown, a five-star RB prospect who had originally committed to Oklahoma before flipping to USC when Riley became the new head coach there.

Five-star WR Luther Burden committed to the Sooners last year while Riley was still there, and actually decommitted from OU with Riley still the head coach. The highly rated Burden ranks 32nd. He wound up staying in his home state — he is from St. Louis — and is now a Missouri Tiger.

Another former Sooner 2022 commit, WR Talyn Shettron, found it more enticing to be able to play with his younger brother, Tabry, who was offered a scholarship at Oklahoma State. Talyn is now a Cowboy and ranks 37th on the newcomer list.

Finally, there is WR Jordan Hudson, a five-star prospect who was an early commit in OU’s 2022 class. He decommitted in June of 2021, then committed to SMU, who he also ended up decommitting from and is now at TCU. Hudson ranks just below Shettron, at No. 38.

That is a lot of college football newcomers this season who at one time in the last 12 months had ties to Oklahoma.

Home/OU Football