Oklahoma football staff proactively busy on recruiting trail in January

In a couple of weeks the Oklahoma football 2024 recruiting class will be signed, sealed and delivered. For the most part, that recruiting cycle is in the rear-view mirror as the Sooner staff is now actively engaged in pursuing prospects for 2025, '26 and even '27.

The Sooners 2024 class includes 28 commitments and barring any unforeseen surprises will be locked in as such when the signed letters of intent begin rolling in on the fax machine on National Signing Day on Feb. 7. 247Sports currently ranks OU's 2024 class as the 9th-best nationally; Rivals has the Sooners at No. 7.

Over the weekend, Brent Venables and his coaching staff held an Elite Junior Day recruiting event, hosting a lengthy list of top 2025 prospects on the Norman campus. This followed a whirlwind week in which Oklahoma offered 22 prospects covering the 2025 and 2026 classes. Seven of the 22 targets reside in the heart of SEC Country, four in George and three in Florida.

The week of Jan. 15, Sooner coaches were on the road visiting high schools across the country. The outreach of that week resulted in 25 offers extended to elite prospects in the 2025, '26 and '27 recruiting cycles.

Among the scholarship offers extended over the past two weeks to 2025 targets,11 were to offensive players and 12 to defensive prospects. Broken down by position, seven offers were to wide receivers, three to offensive linemen, one to a defensive lineman, three edge rushers, three linebackers, four defensive backs, one safety and one athlete.

While the bigger recruiting focus is on the 2025 recruiting cycle, OU coaches are also reaching out to elite sophomores in the 2026 class. During the month of January, as many as 19 scholarship offers have been extended to top 2026 recruiting targets, including two quarterbacks, five wide receivers, one tight end, three defensive line prospects, two edge rushers, one linebacker, two defensive backs and three safeties.

The Sooners also learned last week that one of the country's top defensive line prospects in 2025, Trent Wilson, out of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has included Oklahoma in his final eight schools. The same goes for four-star, Bridgeland, Texas, offensive lineman Jonte Newman, who has OU, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas, Houston USC, Alabama and Tennessee in his final eight.

Over the next several months we could see a number of these offers turn into Oklahoma commitments and Venables and his staff continue the endless pursuit of the best talent they can find to fill out the 2025 Sooner class and beyond.