The future move to the Southeastern Conference will bring several benefits to the Oklahoma Sooners. There will be a big financial windfall and the SEC with great matchups nearly every week on the schedule. While the competition will be even greater in the SEC, there will be greater intrigue on the schedule when the Sooners line up their new conference opponents.
Another aspect where the Oklahoma Sooners will get a competitive bump is on the recruiting trail. The SEC’s brand and competitive nature is a draw for the top recruits in the southeast, Texas, and on the west coast. Oklahoma has always done a good job recruiting on a national scale. As they prepare to move to the SEC, the Sooners will benefit from recruiting under the SEC’s brand.
For better or worse, the SEC has become a breeding ground for future NFL talent at schools across the conference. As recruiting analyst for OUInsider.com and 247Sports, Parker Thune noted on the Locked On Sooners Podcast that even schools like South Carolina produced first-round NFL talent in a down year.
Thune believes that the Sooners are already well-positioned to have one of the top recruiting classes for 2023. With the move to the SEC, it’s possible Oklahoma ends up with the number one recruiting class.
As high school kids look at potential colleges to attend, part of their decision-making process involves which school can help them reach the next level. For better or worse, the Big 12 hasn’t had the same level of success at putting players into the NFL as the SEC.
12 of the players selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft were drafted out of the SEC. 22 of the first 64 players selected hailed from the Southeastern Conference.
By comparison, the Big 12 had just three players selected in the first two rounds of last year’s draft, and all three of them were selected in the second round.
That’s an incredibly huge difference in the level of respect the Big 12 receives compared to the SEC. Players like Ronnie Perkins and Creed Humphrey should have been considered in the first round or at least in the top 50, but for some reason, Humphrey wasn’t taken until the last pick of the second round. Perkins wasn’t drafted until late in the third.
Even schools like Vanderbilt and Kentucky had players selected higher than the Oklahoma Sooners did in last year’s draft.
That’s a level of respect for the talent that the Oklahoma Sooners and the Big 12 just aren’t getting at this point. With success in the NFL draft brings something you can show to your recruits. Now the Sooners have had success in recent years with their top quarterbacks and wide receiver talent, but the Big 12 as a whole isn’t providing the same level of respect for the talent amongst its schools as the SEC does.
Though it will be years before we see the SEC’s overall impact on the Oklahoma Sooners recruiting efforts, it’s safe to say that the SEC puts players into the first round of the NFL draft at a higher rate than the Big 12.
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