Oklahoma football: Sooners land another elite D-line commit for 2024

Oklahoma football recruiting has landed another elite defensive line commitment to its impressive 2024 class.

Nigel Smith II announced his commitment on Friday during the Melissa (Texas) High School football game and the opening of the school’s new stadium. The 6-foot, 5-inch, 260-pound defensive lineman chose the Sooners over Texas, Texas A&M and Penn State.

The four-star defensive line prospect is ranked No. 12 among D-lineman in the 2024 class and the No. 85 player overall nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Smith has been a top target for Oklahoma since June 2022. Brent Venables and the Sooner coaching staff made a strong first impression on the highly recruited defensive line prospect and have been building on that relationship ever since.

The Sooners lost out to Missouri in early August on five-star 2024 DL prospect Williams Nwaneri. Since then, they have added five-star D-lineman David Stone and now Smith. Those two join four-star defensive lineman Jayden Jackson, a teammate of Stone’s at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and Wyatt Gilmore, an edge rusher out of Rogers, Minnesota, as verbal commitments to OU’s 2024 class.

And Oklahoma may not be done adding to its defensive front. The Sooners are trending as the favorites to land four-star edge rusher Danny Okoye from Tulsa, the No. 1 player in the state of Oklahoma and the No. 10 player at his position in the 2024 class nationally.

If the Sooners are also able to add Okoye, they will have what has to be considered the best defensive line class in the 2024 recruiting cycle despite not winning out in the recruitment of Nwaneri, Upgrading the defensive front has been a primary emphasis ever since Venables became the head coach of the Sooners.

The Oklahoma 2024 recruiting class now numbers 23. and the addition of Smith moves the Sooners to No. 8 in the 247Sports class rankings.