Brent Venables and his staff have to go find special kind of athletes to play Venables' unique cheetah position on defense at Oklahoma.
Versatile defender Niko Jandreau on Wednesday announced his top-5 college choices, which included Oklahoma, Missouri, USC, Georgia Tech and Washington.
Versatile defender Niko Jandreau includes Sooners in final options
Jandreau plays all over the place for Hamilton High School in Arizona. He deems himself a "nickel hybrid," but plays safety, nickel corner and linebacker at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds.
Venables' cheetah position is a hybrid between safety and linebacker that he brought to Norman when he became OU's head coach. Kendel Dolby, originally a cornerback, manned the spot last year before a season-ending injury caused a shuffle at the position that Dasan McCullough eventually took over.
McCullough, who also started there in 2023, was originally a linebacker. This offseason, the Sooners went and got Kendal Daniels from the transfer portal. Daniels has a unique background perfect for cheetah after playing safety and linebacker at Oklahoma State, but has only one year of eligibility left.
With cheetah becoming a staple for OU's defense, the Sooners need to start recruiting for the position, rather than convert a player later on or go looking in the transfer portal like they've had to in the past.
Jandreau is a consensus three-star recruit who Rivals ranks as the No. 59 safety in the 2026 class. He would likely play safety anywhere else he ends up, with the Sooners being the only program that could offer him the unique cheetah role.
OU offered Jandreau on Feb. 16 and he visited Norman on March 29. Jandreau has an official visit to OU scheduled for June 20 during the Sooners' ChampU weekend. He also has official visits scheduled for this summer to Oregon State, Washington, San Diego State and Iowa State.
The Sooners are still after their first defensive commit from the 2026 class, but have recently made the top group for several targets who will also be in Norman during ChampU weekend.
Read more about OU football recruiting