The Oklahoma football recruiting effort for the 2026 class got off to a slower than typical start, but it is picking up steam thanks in part to last weekend's ChampU BBQ, as well as the commitment earned from four-star quarterback prospect Bowe Bentley.
Oklahoma's average national class ranking for the last 25 football recruiting cycles (or since 2000) is 10.3. The Sooners have generally done well in recruiting since Bob Stoops became part of the OU football family.
The Sooners had 10 top-10 recruiting classes in the 18 seasons that Stoops was head coach, and they continued that trend with four top-10 classes in five seasons under Lincoln Riley, while Brent Venables has delivered three consecutive top-10 classes.
Although Oklahoma has gotten off to fast starts in the three previous recruiting cycles under Venables, and also while Riley was at the helm in Norman, that wasn't the case with the 2026 class.
Sooners' 2026 recruiting starting slow, but picking up steam
Prior to June 1, the Sooners had just seven verbal commitments in the 2026 class, and two of those (QB Jaden O'Neal and OL Will Conroy) decommitted this month. In the month of June alone, however, Venables and his OU staff have matched that number, picking up eight new commitments. In addition, several more commitments could be coming as a result of the annual ChampU BBQ held in Norman last weekend and attended by a number of Oklahoma's top recruiting targets.
Now that OU has gained Bentley's commitment, the highest-rated player to date in the Sooners' 2026 class, that should help boost interest in other recruiting targets holding offers from Oklahoma. It worked that way to the Sooner's benefit with both Caleb Williams and Jackson Arnold, and there's no reason to think Bentley couldn't also be a key influencer in recruiting.
The Sooners have steadily started to climb in recruiting class rankings with all the June commitments. They're up to No. 22 in On3's 2026 class rankings, but are 32nd, according to Rivals, and at a highly uncharacteristic 40th in the 247Sports rankings.
This is typically the busiest time of the year in high school recruiting, which is why we see the number of OU commitments starting to ramp up more steadily. There are always going to be schools that want to get out in front of the process, get as many early commitments as they can and jump out to a top-10 or -20 national class ranking that they can use for promotional value and fan excitement.
But the process does not lock down officially until Early National Signing Day in December and again in early February. There is still a lot of time between now and then, and there's pretty good historical evidence to conclude that what the Oklahoma recruiting class ranking is today is not where it will be when all the dust settles and the ink is dry on the signed national letters of intent.
So there is no need for Sooner fans to panic or be overly concerned that the OU class rankings are not in the top 10 or where they typically are here in June. Moreover, recruiting rankings and ratings are only meaningful if they translate to results on the field, and we won't know that for Oklahoma or any other team for some time in the future
While the number of verbal commitments is growing, Oklahoma also recently picked up a couple of predictions on a pair of elite recruiting targets. Rivals national recruiting analyst Greg Smith on Wednesday issued a FutureCast projection that OU will land four-star athlete Jacob Eberhart, a two-way player who holds offers from eight SEC schools, as well as Nebraska.
Also this past week, Josh McCuistion of On3 projected that the Sooners will add the commitment of four-star offensive lineman Deacon Schmitt out of Windsor, Colorado. Schmitt is ranked by On3 as the No. 1 player in the state of Colorado and No. 30 offensive tackle in the 2026 class nationally. Oklahoma isn't the only suitor for Schmitt's services. The 6-foot-5, 320-pound interior lineman also has offers from such national powers as USC, Georgia, Tennessee, Nebraska, Colorado and national champion Ohio State.
You can probably expect several more of these in the coming weeks leading up to the start of the new season. It is also important to note that verbal commitments are not binding until there is a signed letter of intent. You can be sure that recruiting contact is still going on by Oklahoma, as well as with certain OU commits to get them to change their minds ahead of Early National Signing Day
We'll be following this closely for the next several months, and while the primary focus is naturally going to be on the current recruiting cycle, activity is already actively underway for the 2027 cycle. The pursuit of top talent to keep the pipeline flowing is never ending.
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