Oklahoma football: Ranking Sooners’ transfer portal classes of last 5 years
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football recruiting signed a top-five class for 2023 during the early signing period in December, and since then, Brent Venables and his staff have been equally active filling immediate position needs through the transfer portal.
The transfer portal is both a blessing and a burden for college football programs because it giveth as well as taketh away. And with NIL (name, image and likeness) now a burgeoning part of the college sports landscape, the transfer highway is as busy as it has ever been in college athletics.
As best as we can count, at least 13 Oklahoma football players declared for the transfer portal after the 2022 season. While that may sound like a concerning number, there are programs like Texas A&M that have gone well over that number. Venables and Co. have countered the roster losses by bringing in 12 incoming transfers.
From all indications, what the Sooners are gaining for 2023 through the transfer portal is a net positive, or an upgrade, over what is leaving. According to at least one source, 247Sports, Oklahoma has the 10th-best transfer portal class coming in for 2023.
The transfer headliners in OU’s 2023 portal additions include edge rusher Dasan McCullough, rated as the No. 2 edge rusher in the portal, from Indiana; defensive lineman Jacob Lacey from Notre Dame; tight end Austin Stogner from South Carolina; offensive tackle Walter Rouse from Stanford, and WR Andrel Anthony from Michigan.
Transfers are nothing new to Oklahoma football. Some of the biggest names to come through the Sooner football program in recent years came to Norman by way of transfer. Baker Mayfield transferred to OU after one season at Texas Tech. Kyler Murray transferred from Texas A&M, and Jalen Hurts came to Oklahoma by way of Alabama.
When the NCAA lessened the restrictions on transfers allowing student-athletes to change schools on a one-time basis as an undergraduate and play immediately without having to sit out one season, which was a stipulation of the previous rule governing transfers, it increased the volume of transfers multifold.
Since the 2018-19 offseason, Oklahoma has been more active in bringing in transfers than ever before. That was when Lincoln Riley persuaded Jalen Hurts to spend his final season of eligibility playing for Oklahoma. Ever since, the Sooners have been actively engaged, along with every other major college program, in the additional recruiting, roster-building tool that the transfer portal provides.
This got us wondering how we would rank transfer classes Oklahoma has produced over the past five years. Here is our evaluation in ascending order (5 to 1):
No. 5 — 2020 (5 transfers)
RB Jaden Knowles, OG Chris Murray (from UCLA), WR Cason Grant (from Mississippi State), WR Obi Obialo (from Marshall), WR Theo Howard (from UCLA).
No. 4 — 2019 (3 transfers)
QB Jalen Hurts (from Alabama), OT, Bryce Roberts (new Mexico State) , OC R.J. Proctor (from Virginia).
No. 3 — 2022 (13 transfers)
QB Dillon Gabriel (from UCF), WR Javian (J.J.) Hester (from Missouri), WR LV Bunkley-Shelton (from Arizona State), QB Davis Beville (from Pittsburgh), OT Tyler Guyton (from TCU), DL Jeffery Johnson (from Tulane), CB Trey Morrison (from North Carolina), TE Daniel Parker (Missouri), CB Kani Walker (from Louisville), CB C.J. Colden (from Wyoming), LB T.D. Roof (from Appalachian State), DL Jonah La’lulu (Hawaii), OL McKade Mettauer (from California).
No. 2 — 2023 (12 transfers)
LB Dasan McCullough (from Indiana), OT Walter Rouse (from Stanford), DL Jacob Lacey (from Notre Dame), WR Andrel Anthony (from Michigan), TE Austin Stogner (from South Carolina), DL Davon Sears (from Texas State), DL Rondel Bothroyd (from Wake Forest), OG Caleb Shaffer (from Miami of Ohio), P Luke Elzinga (from Central Michigan), DL Trace Ford (from Oklahoma State), S Reggie Pearson Jr. (from Texas Tech), TE Blake Smith (from Texas A&M).
No. 1 — 2021 (8 transfers)
P Michael Turk (from Arizona State), OT Wanya Morris (from Tennessee), RB Eric Gray (from Tennessee), S Key Lawrence (from Tennessee), WR Michael Woods II (from Arkansas), P Josh Plaster (from Arizona State), OG Robert Congel (from Arizona), QB Micah Bowens (Penn State).