Oklahoma football: Which teams will make most of 2023 transfers, recruits?
By Chip Rouse
The transfer portal has added a whole new dimension to the traditional college football recruiting process, and Oklahoma football is one of the teams that is majorly embracing the value combining the two.
As ESPN staff writer Craig Haubert points out in a recent article for ESPN+, “the transfer portal has changed how programs build rosters.” While teams still rely heavily on prep recruiting as the lifeblood of the program and building with a bigger picture in mind, the transfer portal provides an instant infusion of talent with actual college game experience and the potential to have an immediate impact.
Programs like Oklahoma see the opportunity and the benefit that both pathways provide.
Looking at the combination of recruits and transfers that have joined college rosters as newcomers for the 2023 season, Haubert considered which teams could see the “most impactful immediate returns” for the coming season.
Oklahoma has had success on both fronts this offseason. The Sooners’ 2023 recruiting class, 26 players strong, was ranked as the fourth-best 2023 recruiting class by both ESPN and 247Sports, and the 2023 additions through the transfer portal that Brent Venables and his staff have brought in ranked 7th among major college teams.
The Sooners are ranked No. 7 in Haubert’s top-25 list of teams with the most impactful 2023 newcomers (recruits and transfers combined). His top-10 list consists of No, 1 UCLA, Miami (Florida), Florida State, LSU, Colorado, Oregon, Oklahoma, Auburn, UCLA and Louisville.
In considering the Sooners’ top-impact newcomers, Haubert cites transfers Dasan McCullough (LB from Indiana), Walter Rouse (OT from Stanford) and Rondell Bothroyd (DT from Wake Forest) and DB Peyton Bowen, the No. 17 recruit overall in the 2023 class nationally.