Oklahoma football: Decision dates set for several elite 2024 Sooner targets

Two prime 2023 Oklahoma football recruiting targets have set dates over the next couple of weeks for their commitment announcements. And as of this week, the projections appear to be going the way of the Sooners.

Five-star defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri has been high on the Sooners’ 2024 target list for a long while. The 6-foot, 6-inch, 266-pound D-lineman is rated No. 1 at his position and the No. 3 overall player nationally in the 2024 class, and this week On3 Recruiting elevated the Kansas City area prospect to No. 1 overall nationally.

Nwaneri is expected to announce his commitment on August 1. All three recruiting rating services have projected Nwaneri end up at Oklahoma. He has made several recruiting visits to two-time defending national champion Georgia, however, in addition to Oklahoma, and it appears that Nwaneri’s final decision boils down to one of those two schools.

If Nwaneri were to pick the Sooners, it would be head coach Brent Venables’ biggest recruiting victory since he assumed the head coach’s position at OU in December 2021. To wrestle away a defensive recruit as highly touted as Nwaneri from a defensive juggernaut like Georgia would be a major recruiting coup.

The Sooners are also hopeful of reeling in another highly ranked defensive-line target in David Stone out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Stone is ranked the No. 1 or 2 2024 defensive tackle by Rivals, 247Sports and On3, and all three are projecting Oklahoma to win out for Stone’s commitment. Stone has not yet announced a commitment date.

The important takeaway for Sooner fans is that Oklahoma is winning high-level recruiting battles for elite defensive prospects the last two recruiting cycles who would not even have considered Oklahoma prior to Venables being hired as head coach.

This is not to suggest, however, that the Sooners are turning their head in the recruitment of the very best in offensive talent, which has been a hallmark of this team over the past decade and in its history. OU already has four WR commitments, a five-star TE and one RB out of its 12 2024 commitments so far, and on July 20, the Sooners hope to add four-star RB prospect Taylor Tatum to the list.

Tatum, rated the No. 1 running back in the 2024 class by at least two rating services (247Sports and On3), will announce his decision on July 21. Although Oklahoma appears to be in the lead in the recruitment of Tatum, Lincoln Riley at USC is also heavily recruiting the elite running back prospect, who hails from Longview, Texas. Tatum reportedly wants to play college baseball. Oklahoma baseball coach Skip Johnson has already had discussions with Tatum about that.

Oklahoma has another 2024 four-star RB prospect, Caden Durham out of Duncanville, Texas, in its crosshairs, as well. The Sooners have been a fairly heavy lean for Durham for a while now. The 5-foot, 9-inch, 180-pound running back prospect says he will announce on Aug. 25, which also happens to coincide with the opening game of his senior season at Duncanville High School in the Dallas metropolitan area. LSU is also in heavy pursuit of Durham.

It will be interesting to see what affect, if any, the Taylor Tatum announcement has on Durham’s decision.

If the Sooners are able to close the deal for both Nwaneri and Tatum in the next few weeks, Oklahoma’s national class ranking should get a big boost from its current No. 33 position by 247Sports and No. 34 by Rivals.