Brent Venables still won over 5-star DL Kellan Hall despite OU's ugly showing

It wouldn’t seem like anyone would be impressed by the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday night, but apparently 2028 five-star defensive tackle Kellan Hall was.

Just two days after Hall visited Norman to witness the Sooners strain to beat New Mexico 14-6, Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman has logged an expert prediction for the Sooners to land a commitment from Hall. Spiegelman’s projection had a 60% confidence level, while Rivals overall gives it an 87.4% chance that Hall will ultimately be a Sooner.

No matter what else is in store for the Sooners’ 2028 class by next year’s signing day, Hall would be the headliner of the group if he truly does end up in Norman.

Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN all rank Hall as a top-10 overall prospect. 247Sports is the outlier, with Hall listed at No. 6, while Rivals is the highest on him at No. 2 and ESPN has him at No. 3. No matter the recruiting service, though, Hall is considered a five-star talent.

ESPN this past summer also ranked Hall as the 20th-best prospect regardless of class and position.

According to the 247Sports Composite, Hall is the top defensive lineman in the 2028 class and best prospect in the state of Kentucky out of Christian Academy of Louisville. He’s only a junior in high school, but he already has SEC size listed at 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds.

Kellan Hall prediction shows importance of Brent Venables' consistency

The Sooners have been all in on convincing Hall, including OU’s current defensive linemen creating a group chat with him and Sooner great Gerald McCoy using social media to make recruiting pitches.

That effort has had the Sooners favored in the recruiting race, but even so, it seemed like it was more of a marathon than a sprint. A legit prediction already is a bit of a nice surprise, especially given how underwhelming OU looked on Saturday night with Hall in attendance.

The stop in Norman was early on Hall's list of scheduled visits for this season. He still has trips planned to Georgia, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Notre Dame and Tennessee. He'll be in Georgia on Saturday at the same time as the Sooners, who are expected to get dominated.

Boos rained down from OU fans at Memorial Stadium, but it was always directed at the offense. Offensive targets visiting then could dream of helping transform the dormant offense one day, but they also realize that, more than likely, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle won’t still be in charge by the time they get on campus.

Brent Venables’ defense was the reason the Sooners avoided an upset and is still one of the best in college football. That won’t change any time soon either. Venables, right before this season, signed a two-year contract extension through 2031. By then, Hall should be off to the NFL, it seems like Venables is the biggest draw to Oklahoma for Hall.

Hall would be the first defensive addition to the Sooners’ 2028 class. Four-star quarterback Trey Tagliaferri was the first commitment back in July before four-star tight end Connor Arant just joined the mix last week.

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