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These signees can make an early impact for Texas.
Texas’ 2023 recruiting class is loaded with talented prospects. Continue reading “Texas Football: Incoming freshmen most likely to see early playing time”
It wasn’t all that long ago when people were hitting the panic button on Oklahoma’s recruiting class
Near the end of June, the Oklahoma Sooners were sitting at No. 35 in the 247Sports 2023 team recruiting rankings. As the calendar hit the summer months, national observers and opposing fans were reveling in how the Sooners recruiting efforts were going. Oklahoma’s July and August put those thoughts to bed really quickly.
After early the first two days of the early signing period, Brent Venables has the No. 5 recruiting class in the nation, something OU hasn’t had in more than a decade.
The lesson to be learned is quite simple: Recruiting classes aren’t finalized in June.
The Sooners racked up commitment after commitment in July. Other than Colton Vasek’s flip to Texas and Anthony Evans’ to Georgia, the Sooners held on to their phenomenal class after a disappointing 6-6 season. They signed 100% of their commitments leading into the early signing period and added three-star defensive lineman Markus Strong and five-star safety Peyton Bowen.
If the Sooners can show even the slightest bit of improvement, there’s no reason to suspect Brent Venables and his coaching staff will not put together another highly ranked recruiting class. One of the priority targets in 2024, David Stone, just dropped his top 10, which included the Sooners. He could be the foundational piece of the next recruiting cycle.
Venables and his staff are proving they can recruit. They’re moving the needle in recruiting hotbeds of Florida and Texas, where they pulled in a combined 11 players, including eight four- and five-star prospects. So, how do the Sooners rank on the four major recruiting sites for 2023?
ESPN: 4th
247Sports: 5th
On3: 6th
Rivals: 7th
So depending on who you ask, this class was either top five or close to it. This was Brent Venables’ first full year on the recruiting trail as a head coach, and he and his staff accomplished this after a bad season.
After he left for USC, Lincoln Riley shared his thoughts on roster building at OU, and this quote will go down in the Freezing Cold Take Hall of Fame.
“We had really good rosters, but they weren’t the same. … I can’t imagine that there could be a setting that we could build a better roster than we can here.”
Many thought the Sooners would take a step back in recruiting. But they improved. Right now, the Trojans are No. 15 in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings. Lincoln Riley never had a top-five recruiting class during his time as head coach at OU. Venables did it in his first full year with the program. Perhaps the setting wasn’t the problem.
Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football programs, and the Sooners have just reminded everyone why Brent Venables was the right man for the job.
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Oklahoma took second place to Texas in recruiting and on the field this year.
We have reached the final months of the 2023 recruiting cycle and the picture for each team is clearer than it was prior to Wednesday’s signatures. Texas solidified a significant portion of its recruiting class on the day.
The Longhorns and their rival Sooners have accumulated impressive recruiting classes that both figure to finish in the Top 10 of the 2023 team recruiting rankings.
Due to proximity, there is plenty of overlap in the players to which each team has offered scholarships. Many of each team’s targets hail from the state of Texas.
While the Sooners have put up an impressive class in Brent Venables’ first full cycle, they haven’t fared as well with players who Texas also offered. Even the state’s top quarterback Jackson Arnold did not receive a scholarship offer from Texas.
Here’s a look at how the two teams fared with players that each team offered.
Oklahoma took a loss this week as the Sooners lose 2023 WR commit Anthony Evans. Evans flipped to Georgia on Friday. From @thatmanbryant
In one week, the Oklahoma Sooners experienced the full emotions of the recruiting spectrum. They racked up four defensive commits giving them extra reasons to be thankful on Thanksgiving.
Today they’re experiencing the opposite end of the recruiting spectrum. Black Friday was just that for Oklahoma who lost four-star wide receiver Anthony Evans flipped his commitment from the Oklahoma Sooners to the Georgia Bulldogs.
BREAKING: Four-Star WR Anthony Evans has flipped from Oklahoma to Georgia!
The 6’0 175 WR had been committed to the Sooners since August. One of the fastest players in the nation
He joins Georgia’s No. 2 Class in the 2023 Team Rankings https://t.co/6wGwxwDJ50 pic.twitter.com/RHsW9n5Wwa
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) November 25, 2022
The flip comes as no surprise to those who follow Oklahoma recruiting closely as Evans has taken multiple visits to UGA despite his commitment to Oklahoma on August 26th.
The connection with Georgia was very real, considering he was down to either Oklahoma or Georgia for his initial commitment in the first place. His mother is a big Georgia fan and even in the graphic where he commits to UGA it included, “My mama’s dream come true.”
The 5-foot-11, 167-pound Evans has explosive athleticism, and he’s a 10.27 guy in the 100m dash and 24-foot plus long jumper. That would have been a treat to have as a slot receiver for Oklahoma to pair with the rest of the offensive pieces they are assembling.
With Evans now exiting the class, the Sooners only have two receivers committed: Jaquaize Pettaway and Keyon Brown.
Evans is the fourth prospect to commit to Brent Venables and then later decommit in the ’23 class, joining names like Ashton Cozart (Oregon), edge rusher Colton Vasek (Texas) and linebacker Kaleb Spencer (Miami).
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Which players have committed to the Oklahoma Sooners for the 2023 recruiting cycle?
The 2023 class is about a month away from early signing day and less than three months away from national signing day.
Since Brent Venables’ arrival in Norman, the Sooners have been one of the top recruiting schools in the country over the last two cycles. After finishing eighth in 247Sports team recruiting rankings for 2022, the Sooners sit at No. 7 and have a great chance to move into the top five by national signing day.
With the recent additions of Ashton Sanders and Taylor Wein, Oklahoma has 22 players committed to the 2023 class. Recent projections favor the Sooners to add more talent if the Rivals Futurecasts come to fruition. Oklahoma received a pair of projections from Rivals analysts to land five-star safety and Notre Dame commit Peyton Bowen after he spent time in Norman for Bedlam.
Brent Venables, his coaching staff, and the recruiting support staff have done an excellent job over the last year building out their 2023 recruiting class and they don’t appear close to being done.
The final tally will come on national signing day, but the Oklahoma Sooners look well-positioned to have one of the country’s best group of signees.
Let’s take a look at the updated commitment tracker.
On the same day Oklahoma issued an offer for 2023 EDGE Taylor Wein, the Sooners were projected to land the rising Tennessee prospect. From @john9williams
The Oklahoma Sooners wasted little time identifying defensive line talent to add to the 2023 class. Recently they offered and received Rivals futurecasts for 2023 defensive lineman Ashton Sanders, and now it looks like Oklahoma’s zeroed in on another defensive lineman to add to the class.
On Wednesday, the Sooners issued an offer to 2023 defensive end [autotag]Taylor Wein[/autotag] out of Nolensville, Tennessee. Not long after he received his offer, Brandon Drumm of OUInsider at 247Sports submitted a crystal ball prediction in favor of the Oklahoma Sooners.
Wein is a 6-6 245-pound defensive end who primarily plays on the right side in three and four-man alignments. He displays an ability to perform in both one-gap and two-gap defensive schemes.
The first thing that jumps off the page about Wein is his first step. He’s quick off the snap, often allowing him to beat his blocker before they even come out of their stance. He displays good hand usage at the point of attack to defeat blockers. Wein shows off a strong set of pass rush moves, deploying a diverse set to keep blockers off balance. He can win inside and outside when rushing the passer.
As a run defender, it’s clear his length causes problems for offensive linemen. Despite his height, he shows a strong ability to play with leverage and does a great job at setting the edge and playing with discipline in the run game.
Taylor Wein’s a playmaker too. He’s adept at ripping the ball out of the ball carrier’s hands.
While listed as just a three-star player at the moment, Wein has the appearance of a diamond in the rough. A player that has been under-evaluated at the moment. But after picking up his first Power Five offers from Oklahoma, USC, and Virginia Tech in recent days, his value exceeds his recruiting rating.
As we inch toward the early signing period and national signing day, Taylor Wein’s recruitment will be one to watch. This is a player that has a chance to far exceed his current three-star rating at the collegiate level.
Taylor Wein’s Recruiting Profile
Hudl
Where do the Oklahoma Sooners land in the team recruiting rankings after Colton Vasek’s flip to Texas?
Colton Vasek’s flip to Texas was surprising but perhaps not nearly as surprising as the commitment, to begin with. Vasek comes from a family of Longhorns and lives in Austin. So, the fact that Brent Venables, Miguel Chavis, and Todd Bates were able to pull the commitment in the first place was pretty impressive, even if it only last for a few months.
While Vasek was the ninth highest-rated commit for the Sooners before flipping to Texas, he’s a good player with a lot of potential. It’s a loss for Oklahoma. Vasek marks the second flip from Oklahoma in the last couple of weeks after three-star linebacker Kaleb Spencer turned his commitment from the Sooners to Miami.
It’s a bummer to lose commitments, but it’s not a sign that confidence is fading in the Sooners. There’s still work to be done to lock in the 2023 recruiting class, but Oklahoma is still trending toward a top 10 and maybe even a top five class in 2023.
With the decommitment of Colton Vasek, let’s take a look at where Oklahoma stands in the 247Sports and On3 team recruiting rankings for the 2023 cycle.
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The college football world is beginning to take notice of the Longhorns’ building recruiting momentum.
Texas pulled off a major recruiting steal from rival Oklahoma on Tuesday as four-star EDGE rusher Colton Vasek flipped his commitment from the Sooners to the Longhorns.
The Austin Westlake product described his change of heart during the recruiting process.
“I’ve grown up a UT fan my entire life. When I went to go see the OU vs Texas game as an OU recruit, it just really didn’t feel right to me at all. Deep down I wanted to be playing for the team wearing burnt orange.”
The addition of Vasek pushes Texas’ 2023 recruiting class up to No. 6 in the nation in the 247Sports composite rankings. The Longhorns have the chance to keep rising up the ranks with a big weekend of visitors ahead of them.
The college football world is beginning to take notice of the Longhorns’ building recruiting momentum. Here is how social media reacted to the news of Vasek committing to Texas.
The Sooners lost a key commitment on Tuesday as four-star edge rusher Colton Vasek flipped his commitment from Oklahoma to Texas. From @john9williams
The Oklahoma Sooners crushed it on the recruiting trail over the summer. Pulling in commitments from across the country and raising their recruiting ranking into the top five of the 2023 class.
That 2023 class took a hit on Tuesday as four-star edge rusher Colton Vasek flipped his commitment from Oklahoma to the Texas Longhorns.
Vasek, a native of Austin and son of a former Texas player, made the decision after being committed since the first of August.
“I’ve grown up a UT fan my entire life,” Vasek told Hayes Fawcett of On3 Sports. “When I went to go see the OU vs. Texas game as an OU recruit, it just really didn’t feel right to me at all. Deep down, I wanted to be playing for the team wearing burnt orange.”
It was a surprise commitment at the time, given his roots in Austin and affinity for the program since his childhood. Ultimately the allure of the team he grew up with was too much to resist, as the Longhorns steal a key commitment from the Oklahoma Sooners.
The writing was on the wall yesterday when OU Insider and 247Sports’ Parker Thune issued a crystal ball prediction sending Vasek to the Longhorns and today’s decision made that a reality.
Oklahoma now turns their attention to four-star edge rusher [autotag]Tausili Akana[/autotag] to replace Vasek. The Sooners were recently included in Akana’s top 10.
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Flipmas coming early for the Longhorns?
Steve Sarkisian and Texas’ coaching staff are not giving on on two priority targets in the 2023 recruiting class. The Longhorns remain all-in on five-star linebacker Anthony Hill and four-star defenive end Colton Vasek.
Texas appears to be trending in the right direction for both prospects. The Longhorns received multiple crystal ball projections in their favor for Hill and Vasek on Monday afternoon.
Hill announced his decommitment from Texas A&M on Monday and is scheduled to be in Austin this weekend for Texas’ matchup against TCU. Vasek is still verbally committed to Oklahoma but has been no stranger to Texas’ campus over the past few weeks.
Flipping the two blue-chip players would push Texas’ 2023 recruiting class up to No. 2 in the 247Sports composite rankings.
Last season the Longhorns struck gold by flipping five-star left tackle Kelvin Banks from Oregon late in the process. Time will tell if Texas’ relentless recruiting strategy is to pay off again this go around.
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