Oklahoma football: Sooners get huge O-line commitment for 2024
By Chip Rouse
On Tuesday, Oklahoma football recruiting gained another huge 2024 commitment with the addition of four-star offensive lineman Eugene “B.J.” Brooks from Chatsworth, Californina.
The 6-foot, 5-inch. 320-pound O-lineman chose the Sooners over Texas but held more than 20 scholarship offers from major programs. He is the second offensive lineman to commit to OU’s 2024 class and the 16th commitment to the class. He joins three-star offensive lineman Isaiah Autry, from Fulton, Mississippi, who committed to the Sooners in April.
One of the teams that offered Brooks was USC and Lincoln Riley but did not make his final cut.
According to Rivals, Brooks is one of the top-12 interior offensive linemen in the 2024 class.
Im home 🏠📍 @OU_Football @OU_CoachB @DeMarcoMurray @SierraCanyonFB @bruce_bible @On3sports @GregBiggins @adamgorney @DemetricDWarren @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/F0Ia3a6oEA
— eugene L. brookss IV (@eugenebrooksss) July 25, 2023
Brooks visited Norman on June 9, the same weekend as fellow OU 2024 commits QB Michael Hawkinson and WR Zion Ragins. TE Davon Mitchell from Los Alamitos, California, committed to Oklahoma on July 8 and likely also had a hand in getting his fellow Californian Brooks to join him in Norman.
Brooks is the 10 recruit to commit to the Sooners since OU’s big ChampU recruiting weekend in mid-June.
Oklahoma is also the favorite to land Edmond (Oklahoma) Santa Fe offensive lineman Josh Aisosa, who is expected to make his announcement around mid-August.
With the addition of Brooks to the 2024 class, the Sooners have moved into the No. 17 spot in both the 247Sports and Rivals team rankings.
Prior to his June visit to Oklahoma, Texas appeared to be in the lead to land Brooks’ commitment, but that all changes after his visited OU and met with head coach Brent Venables and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh.
“They definitely moved up after that trip,” Brooks told Greg Biggins of 247Sports.
“I loved everything about it, and Oklahoma has everything I’m looking for in a school. There were a lot of reasons I liked Oklahoma but the biggest was my relationship with the coaches.”
Next on the projected Oklahoma commitment list is four-star safety Mykel Patterson-McDonald, who has set July 31 as his announcement date. That will be followed by an announcement by five-star defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri out of the Kansas City area, rated as the No. 1 D-lineman in the 2024 class nationally.
Slowly but surely Venables and Co. are building what appears to be a second consecutive top-5 recruiting class. At some point, this should start paying off big dividends for the Sooners on both sides of the ball.