Sooners' 2025 recruiting class another elite group; then there's the SEC

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables has produced top-10 national recruiting classes in each of the last two seasons, and the Sooners are on the way to making it three in a row in the 2025 cycle.

While the Sooners' class ranking has always been in the top two (along with Texas) as a member of the Big 12, going head-to-head in recruiting with the best teams in the SEC is an entirely different matter.

Oklahoma has always recruited well and heavily in neighboring Texas, but over the last quarter century has had good success acquiring top talent on a national basis, including the talent rich areas of California and Florida. This should be a plus as the Sooners step up recruiting efforts in SEC Country as one of two new members of that superconference beginning with the 2024 college football season.

The Sooners have always battled with their Red River rivals, the Texas Longhorns, in the recruiting wars. That will continue, of course, along with strong competition with the other SEC school in the Lone Star State, Texas A&M, along with the four Texas schools (Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and Houston) that are members of OU's former conference, the Big 12.

Less than three weeks away from the start of the new college football season, Oklahoma's 2025 recruiting class ranks No. 9 nationally, according to Rivals, and No. 11 in the 247Sports class rankings with 22 commitments. That's a top national ranking, for sure, but here's the problem: Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M and Tennessee (in the 247 rankings only) are ranked ahead of the Sooners.

That really hasn't been a problem for OU in the past, except in the postseason perhaps, but now the Sooners are in the same conference as those other teams and not just competing in the recruitment of the same players, but also in regular season games with both conference and College Football Playoff implications, as well.

This should be nothing new for OU's Venables, though. He competed for a decade for elite defensive recruits against teams from the SEC while serving as defensive coordinator at Clemson. And guess what, Venables won most of those battles in building and reloading one of the best defensive units in college football.

There's a very good reason why the SEC is the best conference in college football. And recruiting is a critical part of it. Oklahoma has always recruited well in football because of its historical championship resume, but now as a member of the SEC, the stakes have gotten even greater.