Tag: Makari Vickers

ChampU BBQ Visitor List: Who’s coming to Norman this weekend?

A look at who’s coming to town for the ChampU BBQ this weekend.

Oklahoma’s future looks bright. Less than a day ago, they received news of their first slate of SEC opponents when they begin play in their new conference in 2024. It’s a compelling slate and something that gets the competitive energy flowing.

If they plan to make an impact when they get there, the class of 2024 will have a profound hand in that. This class will be the first class that hits the ground and is immediately thrown into the fire that is the SEC. They’ll spend their whole careers being molded by the best football conference in the country. For the Sooners to compete for the top, this 2024 class must be unique.

It’s only fitting that Oklahoma has its premier recruiting event, the ChampU BBQ this weekend, right after the SEC opponents were revealed.

The Sooners can use the SEC to their advantage, selling the appeal of playing in an elite conference to any athlete unafraid of competing against the best in the country.

Last year’s ChampU BBQ had attendees signing with the Sooners and are now on campus with the current roster. Here’s a running count:

  • OT [autotag]Cayden Green[/autotag]
  • LB [autotag]Phil Picciotti[/autotag]
  • ATH [autotag]Jacobe Johnson[/autotag]
  • RB [autotag]Daylan Smothers[/autotag]
  • CB [autotag]Makari Vickers[/autotag]
  • WR [autotag]Jaquaize Pettaway[/autotag]
  • OT [autotag]Logan Howland[/autotag]
  • QB [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]

In short, a nice chunk of OU’s 2023 class came to the event. Arnold was already committed before the BBQ, but having him there helped Oklahoma recruit and, ultimately, the remaining players committed in the months after.

The visitor list for the event is long, with well over 20 official visitors already confirmed.

This weekend in Norman will be jam-packed with an extensive amount of talent. David Stone, a consensus top-10 recruit, is the headliner. He’s a hometown kid who grew up a Sooner fan. A commitment from him would be massive. He’s at the top of the Sooners’ recruiting board and a must-have in this cycle.

[autotag]Caden Durham[/autotag] and [autotag]Taylor Tatum[/autotag] are two talented four-star running backs Oklahoma would be delighted to have.

Oklahoma has four 2024 commits in the building this weekend, and aside from them enjoying their officials, they can and will likely be used to recruit some of their uncommitted counterparts. [autotag]K.J. Daniels[/autotag], [autotag]Zion Kearney[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Autry[/autotag], and [autotag]Jaydan Hardy[/autotag] are the four commits who will enjoy their officials as Oklahoma Sooners.

[autotag]Joseph Jonah-Ajonye[/autotag], [autotag]Nigel Smith[/autotag], and [autotag]Dominick McKinley[/autotag] join David Stone as highly touted defensive linemen in Norman this weekend. Aside from landing Stone, can Oklahoma at least snag two of the remaining three? This weekend of visits could go a long way in determining that.

This weekend will have ripple effects for the 2024 cycle and help lay the foundation for Oklahoma’s future in the SEC. Last year’s event netted Oklahoma seven commits in the weeks and months after. The Sooners will be thrilled if the same happens this year.

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Oklahoma Sooners to host a number of big names June 8-11

Oklahoma will look to turn up the heat on their 2024 recruiting as they host a number of prospects for official visits this weekend.

Recruiting has hit its zenith as the June has rolled around, and prospects across the 2024 class can take official visits. Oklahoma has a number of prospects expected to visit during the month, and the program’s signature ChampU BBQ is the headline event.

While this weekend’s official visitors will be a week early, June recruiting visits are where teams begin to separate themselves. Oklahoma will aim to start the recruiting month by knocking this first weekend of officials out of the park. Here is who is expected in Norman in this weekend.

  • Four-star OL [autotag]Grant Brix[/autotag]  

  • Four-star OL [autotag]Jason Zandamela[/autotag]

  • Four-star OL [autotag]Eddy Pierre-Louis[/autotag]

  • Four-star OL [autotag]Weston Davis[/autotag]

  • Four-star DB [autotag]Marcelles Williams[/autotag]

  • Five-star DL [autotag]Williams Nwaneri[/autotag]
  • Five-Star CB [autotag]Kobe Black[/autotag]
  • Four-star CB [autotag]Eli Bowen[/autotag]

  • Three-star Edge [autotag]Caleb Redd[/autotag]

  • Four-star OL [autotag]Eugene Brooks[/autotag]
  • Four-star WR [autotag]Zion Ragins[/autotag]
  • Four-star QB [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag] (committed)

There’s a great deal of talent coming to Norman this weekend, headlined by five-star prospects Williams Nwaneri and Kobe Black. The Sooners have been the projected leader for Nwaneri, who hails from the Kansas City area, but this is a huge weekend for Brent Venables and his staff to close the deal. Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee and Missouri are serious names to watch.

Black’s recruitment is more contentious at this point, but given the success Jay Valai has had over the last two recruiting cycles, I wouldn’t count out the Sooners.

The Sooners also welcome fellow blue-chip defensive backs Eli Bowen and Marcelles Williams. Oklahoma leads for Bowen based on recruiting projections. The Sooners are hoping to pry Williams from West Coast schools USC and UCLA.

Oklahoma’s also is hosting five offensive linemen over the weekend, which provides them a good opportunity to spend time with the staff, namely Bill Bedenbaugh, but also each other. Chemistry is a huge factor in offensive line play. Spending time with offensive linemen on campus and those the Sooners are pursuing could create a further comfort level with Oklahoma.

This is a big weekend to kick start Oklahoma’s June recruiting efforts.

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Oklahoma Sooners: Ranking their top 10 recruits in the 2023 class

Here are the Sooners’ top-10 ranked recruits in the 2023 cycle.

Alabama, Georgia and Texas have all gotten a ton of acclaim for their recruiting work during the last year, as they earned the top three spots in the 2023 recruiting rankings, respectively.

The No. 4 ranked school has flown under the radar, with that distinction going to Oklahoma, who got commitments from 26 players total, including a five-star quarterback prospect and Gatorade Player of the Year, plus four of the top 75 nationally ranked players in the class.

Here are the Sooners’ top-10 recruits in the 2023 cycle.

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5 things we’re watching for at Oklahoma’s spring game

Oklahoma has its spring game this weekend, and we’ve got five things we’ll be looking at for Oklahoma’s spring debut of team 129.

Team 129 in Oklahoma’s illustrious football history takes the field publically for the first time on Saturday afternoon. It’s a game and weekend that means a lot to the team, staff, fanbase, and recruits.

Oklahoma comes into this spring off the heels of its worst season in over 20 years. The Sooners were a rough watch at times. Despite that, they still found themselves in a bowl game against a talented Florida State team.

Oklahoma lost the likes of [autotag]Brayden Willis[/autotag], [autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag], [autotag]Anton Harrison[/autotag], [autotag]Wanya Morris[/autotag], [autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag], [autotag]Jalen Redmond[/autotag], and [autotag]DaShaun White[/autotag] to the NFL Draft process.

The Sooners saw players transfer out but also welcomed in a number of players from their top-five recruiting class. The Sooners attacked the portal with some serious intensity bringing in impact transfers on both sides of the ball.

It’s now time for the world to at least get a glimpse of some of these new Sooners while getting a chance to see how the returning players improved from last year.

Here are our top five storylines heading into the spring game.

Oklahoma cornerback Jaden Davis enters the transfer portal

Oklahoma Sooners cornerback Jaden Davis enters the transfer portal.

The second transfer window is underway, and Oklahoma has lost another player to the portal. Senior cornerback [autotag]Jaden Davis[/autotag] announced via social media that he’s entering the transfer portal.

In his announcement, Davis said, “Thank you Sooner Nation for everything. I’ll be entering the transfer portal as a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.”

Davis started 21 games in his Oklahoma career, according to Pro Football Focus, including nine games in 2022. He fell out of favor late in the season with the emergence of [autotag]C.J. Coldon[/autotag].

The Oklahoma Sooners have added a lot of cornerback talent in an attempt to rebuild their secondary in [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]’ second year in Norman. With the additions of [autotag]Jayden Rowe[/autotag] and [autotag]Gentry Williams[/autotag] in 2022 and [autotag]Makari Vickers[/autotag], [autotag]Kendel Dolby[/autotag] and Jasiah Wagoner in 2023, the Sooners brought in a number of players that were signed by this coaching staff.

This transfer portal season has been one of attrition to the Grinch defense. A number of players have departed that weren’t really factoring into the defensive rotation.

Though Davis had become a veteran member of the secondary, practice reports were high on Wagoner, Dolby and Vickers in their first offseason with the Sooners.

Oklahoma offers four-star interior defensive lineman D’Antre Robinson out of Florida

Oklahoma continues to plant its feet firmly in the Florida recruiting landscape as they offer four-star defensive tackle, D’Antre Robinson.

Florida was very lucrative to the Oklahoma Sooners in the class of 2023. With the staff’s comfort recruiting in the Sunshine State, it makes sense they would be right back there for the class of 2024.

The Class of 2023 gave the Sooners CB Makari Vickers (early enrollee), DL Derrick LeBlanc (early enrollee), LB Lewis Carter, WR Keyon Brown, and defensive lineman Markus Strong. All are from Florida. With that success, why would Oklahoma not go back to the well?

The Sooners believe they can replicate that success in 2024 and reached out to offer four-star defensive tackle D’Antre Robinson out of Orlando, Florida.

Robinson is a true space eater in the interior. He has decent lateral quickness and is disruptive at the point of attack. Robinson’s natural strength allows him to stonewall opposing offensive linemen and effectively eliminate them from moving him off his spot. That frees up his teammates to go and make plays and attack the ball carrier.

He played AAU basketball. The athleticism required to play basketball at that level is on full display. With his frame, it is reasonable to believe he could still add anywhere from 10-15 pounds if necessary. The extra pounds would help significantly if he plays along the interior for an SEC team.

D’Antre Robinson’s Recruiting Profile

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5 true freshmen who could have a big impact for the Sooners in 2023

With winter workouts ongoing ahead of the start of spring ball, which true freshmen have a chance to make an impact in year one for the Oklahoma Sooners?

Earning playing time as a true freshman can be difficult. Veterans on the depth chart with knowledge of the defense and experience against the higher level of competition often get favored because of the security the coaches feel with those players.

In 2022, players like [autotag]Jaren Kanak[/autotag], [autotag]R Mason Thomas[/autotag], and [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] made an impact for the Sooners. Guys like Kanak and Thomas flashed throughout the season, even if they didn’t get a full complement of snaps as a backup.

Barnes, on the other hand, was huge for Oklahoma as Eric Gray’s primary backup. Thrust into playing time due to the injuries of Marcus Major, Barnes held onto the job and gave Oklahoma a different element running the football. He’s expected now to be the Sooners’ lead back with [autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag] off to the NFL.

After the turnover that Oklahoma experienced each of the last two offseasons, there’s an opportunity for several 2023 true freshmen to come in and be day-one impact players.

For the purposes of this exercise, we’re going to assume [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] stays healthy for the duration of 2023, which would limit [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] to backup duty. Arnold gives [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] and the offense a much better option at quarterback if the Sooners were to need someone to fill in for Gabriel in a pinch.

Pair of defensive backs considered big recruiting wins by 247Sports for 2023

In 247Sports Big 12 recap of the 2023 recruiting cycle, a couple of Oklahoma signees were considered big wins for the Sooners.

The 2023 cycle went about as well as it could have for the Oklahoma Sooners. They had a top 10 class heading into the early signing period and then flipped Peyton Bowen from Oregon at the buzzer.

Getting Bowen was a huge win for the Oklahoma Sooners. Anytime your favorite football program is able to get a signature from a player that was heavily pursued by Notre Dame and Oregon, it’s massive. In the 247Sports’ Big 12 roundup from national signing day, Gabe Brooks agreed.

A longtime Notre Dame pledge who announced Dec. 21 for Oregon but flipped and signed the next day with Oklahoma, Bowen (No. 57 overall) gives Oklahoma a potential early impact player in the secondary, as well as a surefire special teams option, whether covering kicks or returning them. He’s one of the nation’s top safety prospects thanks to what he’s shown on the field and the layered athletic profile and combine testing data we’ve seen over the past couple of years. – Brooks, 247Sports.

[autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] will be an impact player for the Oklahoma Sooners in year one. Even if it’s only as a rotational or matchup safety, Bowen’s athleticism and playing range will help Oklahoma on the back end of the defense, similarly to how [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] did for Oklahoma in 2021.

In addition to Peyton Bowen being a huge win, Brooks called the addition of [autotag]Makari Vickers[/autotag] a “huge win” as well. What’s become evident in Brent Venables first full year on the recruiting trail, is that the Oklahoma Sooners are going to recruit blue chip defensive players at a much higher rate than before.

Another Sooner signee who should be considered a huge win is Makari Vickers (No. 101), who in our opinion represents a seismic victory for OU to pull the versatile, athletic defensive back out of Tallahassee (Fla.) Munroe and away from all the programs nationwide who frequent the Sunshine State. Vickers impressive in his man coverage ability during All-American Bowl week and, like Bowen, could become a personnel chameleon in Norman. Piling up defensive prospects such as Bowen, Vickers, big-bodied in-state corner Jacobe Johnson (No. 115),and Florida linebacker Lewis Carter (No. 123) gives Brent Venables and his staff exceptional talent for their stop unit. – Brooks, 247Sports

The Oklahoma Sooners defense struggled to get stops in 2022. They struggled both through the air and against the ground game. It was crucial for the Sooners to hit some home runs on the recruiting trail in 2023 and Venables and his staff did just that.

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Led by Adepoju Adebawore and Jackson Arnold, 9 Sooners featured in final Top247 for 2023

Led by Adepoju Adebawore and Jackson Arnold, nine Oklahoma Sooners ranked inside the final Top247 rankings for the 2023 recruiting cycle.

The Oklahoma Sooners finished strong in the 2023 recruiting class, landing a top-five group in Brent Venables first full year on the job in Norman.

It’s an incredible feat considering the season the Sooners had on the football field in 2022. Despite all that didn’t go right, Venables and his staff showed that they can flat-out recruit.

The 2023 class featured nine players inside the 247Sports final Top247 for the 2023 class, and all nine were inside the top 125 and six inside the top 100.

Armed with a top-five group in 2023 and the No. 8 class in the 2022 cycle, the Sooners have laid the foundation for success as they prepare for a future in the SEC.

Where did Oklahoma signees from the 2023 recruiting class land in the final ESPN 300?

Which Oklahoma Sooners were ranked in the final ESPN 300 for the 2023 recruiting class?

The Oklahoma Sooners had a field day in the 2023 recruiting cycle, closing with a recruiting class that ranked in the top five according to 247Sports and ESPN and were seventh nationally according to On3 and Rivals.

With the early signing period, much of the 2023 cycle is finished, which has led several publications to release their final player rankings for the class. Over at ESPN, 13 of Oklahoma’s signees for the recruiting class were ranked inside their top 300. By comparison, Alabama had 23 players and Georgia had 21 of the top 300. The Sooners still have a ways to go to get the number of top recruits like the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs. Another team relevant to the Sooners, the USC Trojans, only earned signatures from five players in the ESPN 300.

Led by Jackson Arnold, Oklahoma had seven players in the top 100, including four on the defensive side of the football. And that’s the biggest difference in this recruiting class compared to those from the past. The Sooners added a ton of defensive talent, 10 blue-chip prospects on defense, according to 247Sports.

Here’s a look at where each player ranked in the ESPN 300 and where they ranked at their position.