College sports come at you fast. One day, you're winning a national title, and then almost immediately, you have to start assembling a roster to do it again.
Skip Johnson just led the Sooners to their third national championship in program history after an unprecedented run, and now he has about a week to convince players to stay at OU to try and do it again before the transfer portal closes on Tuesday.
The roster featured some veteran pillars that Johnson can't keep from graduating or heading to the MLB, but the group was also loaded with young talent that still has the option of taking the transfer portal somewhere else. If Johnson is able to keep that young core in Norman, especially the listed players below, and build around them, the Sooners will start 2027 as legit threats to repeat as national champs.
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Kyle Branch immediately became a staple at second base and already has 111 starts under his belt in just two seasons. Not to mention that irreplaceable MCWS experience.
Branch is reliable in the field and in the lineup, but next year, he'll have to be the one who steps up as a leader in the middle infield with shortstop Jaxon Willits leaving for the MLB. He could be the glue that keeps another title run together.
Drew Dickerson is the only name on this list that fans didn't get familiar with during the Sooners' postseason run, but you'll get to know him next year. He's gotten some opportunities already in his first two seasons at OU, with 39 starts, most of which were as DH. He's a career .290 hitter so far in 155 at-bats with eight home runs, 36 RBI and 39 runs.
Although listed as an outfielder now, Dickerson, who's a solid 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, signed with the Sooners in 2024 as the No. 36 shortstop in the class, per Perfect Game. The Sooners will have a void to fill at shortstop in 2027, with MCWS Most Outstanding Player Jaxon Willits headed to the MLB.
Dickerson's versatility with his strong bat will make him an answer to one of Johnson's problems next season if he's still around.
Xander Mercurius used his freshman year to figure things out while bouncing from the bullpen to starter, so that postseason dominance was just the beginning of what we'll see from him as a sophomore. And Johnson has to make sure that Mercurius is dominating as a weekend starter for the Sooners and nobody else.
Mercurius understandably struggled in his first two starts, but then held Kansas to just one run in 4.0 innings and carved up Georgia's lineup, one of the best in the country, for 7.1 innings in the MCWS.
Cord Rager suddenly took over as the Sooners' ace during their national title run and should also be their Friday starter of the future. He had a staggering 2.25 ERA in four starts during the NCAA Tournament, including back-to-back shutout outings against Kansas in Super Regionals and Alabama in the MCWS. He was also the starter when the Sooners won Game 1 of the championship series against North Carolina.
Rager will be the centerpiece for an OU squad that should be a serious title contender again in 2027.
Nick Wesloski would be the last Infinity Stone that Johnson needs to strut into the 2027 college baseball season with the best weekend rotation around, one that just won a national title together. Imagine a weekend with series with Mercurius, Rager, then Wesloski, who started that winner-take-all Game 3. Sheesh.
Johnson took the risk and started a trio of freshmen to win a national title, and now he could do it all again with them as sophomores, and that experience behind them.
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