Jaxon Willits crowned Oklahoma royalty after CWS heroics

Take a bow, Jaxon Willits. You're a part of Oklahoma Sooners royalty now. Forever.

Willits, OU's junior shortstop, on Monday night in Omaha was crowned as a national champion and also Men's College World Series Most Outstanding Player after the Sooners' 13-2 win over No. 5 national seed North Carolina in Game 3 of the championship series. He hit .500 (13-for-26) with four doubles, a home run, six runs and seven RBI during the MCWS. He reached base his first five trips to the plate in the do-or-die game with three hits and a pair of walks to become the first player in 30 years to get on base five times in a championship game.

"I've been wanting to win a national championship for the Oklahoma Sooners ever since I could remember," Willits said during his postgame interview with ESPN. "And to actually do it, I don't even have words to describe it."

Jaxon Willits named Men's College World Series MVP after Sooners national championship win over North Carolina to cement Willits Family legacy

Royalty, though, usually comes because of a bloodline, and while that could be the case for Willits, it was not just simply passed down to the next generation. He's the son of OU associate head coach Reggie Willits, who also played for the Sooners before a career in the MLB as both a player and an assistant coach. Baseball was not just in Jaxon Willits' blood, but his upbringing.

There's a story of Reggie, before making it to the Big Leagues, starting to build a home for his family in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma, and the first structure completed was a batting cage as he grinded to get called up. Eventually, the father just moved his family into the batting cage as it became the first home for the Willits Family, with a bed and dining room table sharing the same room as the cage. Reggie, according to the ESPN broadcast, also claims Jaxson first picked up a bat to swing it when he was only 11 months old and still wearing diapers after spending so many hours watching his dad do it.

That's how baseball monarchies are created, with Jaxon going to OU and his younger brother Eli being the top pick in the 2025 MLB Draft right out of Fort Cobb-Broxton High School, where his brother also graduated. Eli reclassified to graduate early and become the third-youngest player to ever be selected No. 1 overall.

Now, Willits is also likely headed to the MLB after three seasons with the Sooners. At this point, even in the era of the transfer portal and larger NIL offers, a pro career has been the only thing that could draw Willits out of Oklahoma.

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Willits will leave OU with 160 starts in 163 career games after immediately cracking the starting lineup as a freshman in 2024. He showed even then that he was a star on the postseason stage after being named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team. He was then on the SEC All-Tournament Team in 2025 during a season in which he hit .302 with 56 runs and 48 RBI.

But nothing, maybe even in Sooner history, will top the postseason that Willits and his team just accomplished while claiming the program's third national title thanks to an unprecedented run.

Jaxon Willits' reign ends on college baseball's throne.

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