Sooners' 2025 class stocked in elite talent, position balance and heavy in Oklahoma/Texas signees

The first phase in the improvement plan for Oklahoma football going forward took place this week with the Sooners signing 20 players from the 2025 recruiting class.

After spending a good portion of the 2025 cycle in the top 10 of the class rankings, which would have been a third straight top-10 class in the three seasons Brent Venables has been at the helm of the Sooner football program, Oklahoma dropped down this year as a result of a series of decommitments in the late stages leading up to Early National Signing Day.

OU's 2025 class finished Early National Signing Day ranked 17th in the three major recruiting services (247Sports, Rivals and On3) and 19th, according to ESPN. The past three Oklahoma recruiting classes have averaged a No. 7 position in the early signing class rankings. The three before that, all belonging to Lincoln Riley, averaged a No. 9 ranking.

Although at first impression it would appear that the Sooners' topsy-turvy season in their SEC debut was a central reason for the falloff, there were a couple of other contributing factors that some might say were even bigger influencers: the uncertainty around the offensive coordinator position until the week before NSD, the fact that programs continue to pressure recruits even after they have committed to another school and also the possible NCAA rule limiting roster sizes to 105, down from as many as 120 on an average size roster.

Because of the latter, head coaches like Venables are having different conversations with some recruits than they might have had in the past.

Prior to the beginning of the 2024 season, Oklahoma has as many as 25 commits in its 2025 class. Within the same week in September, a pair of defensive tackles (four-star Floyd Bouchard and three-star Ka'Mori Moore) announced their decommitments.

In late Novemeber, four-star quarterback prospect Kevin Sperry flipped from OU to Florida State. And within the past week, three wide receiver prospects (Cortez Mills, Marcus Harris and Gracen Harris) backed off their long-standing Oklahoma commitments. Mills ended up flipping to Nebraska on signing day.

Although six Sooners ended up renege on their Oklahoma commitments prior to putting ink to paper, Venables and his staff were able to sign all 18 of their remaining commitments, headlined by a pair of heavy-hitting offensive tackle recruits in five-star Michael Fasusi, who chose OU over heavy pressure by Texas and Texas A&M, and four-star Ryan Fodge. Fasusi is rated as the No. 2 offensive tackle in the class, according to the 247Sports Composite, and Fodge is No. 11. Both are out of the Lone Star State.

Of the 20 Oklahoma signees for 2025, 12 are rated as elite prospects (one five-star and 11 four stars). Ten are defensive players, nine offensive and one specialist. The offensive breakdown includes five offensive linemen, two wide receivers, one running back and one quarterback. Defensively, the Sooners picked up four safeties, two cornerbacks, two edge rushers, a linebacker and one defensive lineman.

All offensive and defensive position groups except tight end are represented with elite recruits ( a five- or four-star) in seven of the nine position groups.

Five states are represented in the geographic breakdown of the class, but 13 of the 18 are from Oklahoma or Texas (six from the Sooner State and seven from Texas).

Sooner recruiting classes of the recent past have included wider geographic reach, but since Venables has been at Oklahoma, the Sooners have placed much more emphasis on not letting the top talent in the state of Oklahoma get away.

To that point, of the six in-state OU signees in the 2025 class, four rank in the top 10 in the state, including prospects ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

Most college football programs, including Oklahoma, have the bulk of its 2025 recruiting class in place after the December signing day, but all have the opportunity to add to it between now and Feb. 5, the second of the national signing days for recruits who will be college freshmen in the 2025 season.