Sooners believe they discovered an SEC caliber QB that no one else noticed

Of 2027 quarterback Noah Smith's four total offers, one obviously stands out and deserves a double-take on how it even got on the list in the first place.

The Sooners just last week offered Smith, from in-state Lawton High School, after he impressed during a camp at OU. He then committed just 48 hours later as the Sooners are the obvious biggest believers in Smith.

Oklahoma becomes outlier on new commit Noah Smith's list of offers

OU joined a list of offers that included Division II programs Southeastern Oklahoma and West Virginia State and a Division III school, Austin College. That's it. Not even a Group of Six or FCS offer on the table. But who else believed in Smith obviously didn't matter to the Sooners because they do.

"They were the coaches that stood there and told me like, 'You can play in the SEC and you can do this,'" Smith told OU Insider's Brandon Drumm.

Smith, listed at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, is unrated and unranked by every major recruiting outlet. He didn't even get his first offer at all until April 9 from Southeastern Oklahoma. Then, barely over two months later, he has an opportunity from a blue-blood SEC program.

Discovering under-recruited quarterbacks and dishing out early offers has recently become the standard for the Sooners since Ben Arbuckle took over as offensive coordinator. That even includes current starting quarterback John Mateer, who had just one FBS offer from Washington State out of high school. He eventually followed Arbuckle to Oklahoma last year.

Although the Sooners already had a highly touted quarterback committed to their 2026 class when Arbuckle got to Norman last year, he still went all in on Bowe Bentley, who at the time was still unrated by most recruiting outlets. The Sooners were one of his first major offers and it paid off when Bentley ultimately signed with OU as a consensus top-10 prospect at the position.

Now while assembling the 2027 class, the Sooners also already had a QB commitment from four-star Jamison Roberts before Smith's recent decision. Roberts had three stars when OU offered him and his only other Power Four offers were from in-state Auburn, Duke, Northwestern and Syracuse. Since, he's rocketed up recruiting rankings and his offers list features most of the SEC.

Read more: Oklahoma jumps shockingly early on 2029 QB who already looks like a star

Smith, though, is definitely much more under the radar than any of those aforementioned quarterbacks. He still might not crack recruiting rankings any time soon, even with his OU offer. However, there is much less risk with Smith, as long as Roberts stays true to his commitment.

The Sooners already had a quarterback they believed could play for them in the future from the class with Roberts. Smith is just a bonus at this point. If he ultimately doesn't pan out, OU doesn't lose anything but a roster spot. But if he does, Arbuckle would have his best gem yet.

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