While July so far has the rest of college football heating up on the recruiting trail, the Oklahoma Sooners have went cold, at least in pursuit of the 2027 class.
Last week was a busy one for the 2027 recruiting cycle as multiple top prospects made their decisions with official visit season over. However, none of the recent commitments went the Sooners' way, even after being among the finalists, which has caused Oklahoma's once No. 1 class that general manager Jim Nagy has assembled to all of a sudden slip outside the top 5.
When last week started, the Sooners were in the top 3 of all major recruiting rankings. Now, they're at No. 6 in both the Rivals and 247Sports team rankings. That has Oklahoma suddenly in danger of missing out on notching its first top-5 recruiting class since 247Sports started releasing team rankings in 2010. Brent Venables was on the cusp of accomplishing something neither Bob Stoops or Lincoln Riley did while leading the Sooners.
Those ahead of the Sooners in 247Sports' rankings, as of Monday morning, include Texas A&M, Oregon, Notre Dame, Texas and Miami, respectively. Although in a different order, it's also the same teams above OU in Rivals' rankings.
Sooners' recent recruiting rankings plunge has Brent Venables and Jim Nagy in danger of missing out on top-5 2027 class
The Sooners' 2027 group was propelled by a strong start thanks to a flood of early commitments. Of the Sooners' 26 total commits, eight were pledged before the 2025 football season even concluded. And that also doesn't include a few flips that bolstered the class during that time.
Then, the Sooners tallied five (!!) commitments over one weekend while hosting their Future Freaks Junior Day recruiting event in March. That influx skyrocketed Oklahoma over Ohio State to give the Sooners the top recruiting class in college football according to every recruiting outlet with 19 total commitments at the time.
Nagy & Co. definitely didn't get complacent and continued to work on the recruiting trail right in the heart of official visit season. The Sooners just added six commits during the month of June, including five-star cornerback Gabriel Osborne Jr., four-star safety Bode Sparrow, three-star corner Trenton Blaylock, three-star interior offensive lineman Jaxon Lawler, three-star wide receiver Malahn Green and unrated quarterback Noah Smith.
Other than Osborne and Sparrow, though, none of the most recent commits really moved the needle in the eyes of recruiting rankers. Green theoretically replaced fellow three-star WR Tra-Von Hall, who flipped to Ole Miss, but the loss of four-star Demare Dezeurn hasn't been filled yet. That deficit alone could be enough to have the Sooners on the outside looking in of the top 5.
Then the Sooners started July 0-for-2 last week. On the first day of the month, four-star cornerback Brandon Sherrard chose Red River rival Texas over OU. To rub salt in the wound, that move helped the Longhorns replace Oklahoma in the top 5 of recruiting rankings. The next day, in one of the closest recruiting battles of the cycle, four-star edge rusher Uhila Wolfgramm committed to BYU instead of OU.
OU did at least add to its 2028 class in the midst of 2027 losses with four-star quarterback Trey Tagliaferri, who had been committed to Notre Dame for only six days.
The last hope for a 2027 win this month is three-star athlete Jaiden Fields. He's scheduled to announce his decision on Tuesday and is predicted by multiple recruiting experts to choose OU. Fields, though, still likely won't be enough to really shake things up.
There's still time and hope for Venables, with help from Nagy, to put together an all-time class at Oklahoma, though. Even if the Sooners just stay put at No. 6, it would be the best signing class in the modern recruiting era for OU, at least based on recruiting rankings. The current best is Venables' 2023 class that was No. 7.
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