Led by Brent Venables and his staff, the Oklahoma Sooners have proven in a short time that they can recruit. While they’ve continued to focus heavily on Oklahoma and Texas, they’ve opened new recruiting grounds in the Southeast, namely Florida, and on the East Coast.
They’ve used their Clemson connections to build relationships in SEC and ACC territory, which will help Oklahoma ready its roster for the move to the SEC.
Over at The Athletic (subscription required), their group of college football writers were asked to rank the teams with the best recruiting potential. Even after the No. 8 class in 2022 and the No. 4 class in 2023, Oklahoma came in No. 10.
At Oklahoma, the championship tradition sells itself. When you take the proven results — two decades of excellence, elite offenses, NFL Draft picks — and you add SEC status, it’s not hard to get blue-chip recruits to buy in and build top-five recruiting classes. – Max Olson, The Athletic
Georgia was No. 1 and Alabama No. 2. Both understandable selections that could be flipped for one and two based on championship pedigree and recent recruiting prowess. However, what’s puzzling is where the Oklahoma Sooners land in their recruiting potential rankings.
Other teams ahead of Oklahoma? Ohio State, LSU and Texas round out the top five. Then comes No. 6 USC, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Clemson and No. 9 Oregon.
Ohio State and Texas are understandable selections. They finished three and four in the 247Sports team composite for 2023. Texas regularly finishes ahead of Oklahoma, and Ohio State has built a solid recruiting floor with Ryan Day. So they make sense.
Clemson, with two national championships in the last decade also makes a a great deal of sense, but I wonder how well it will continue to fare without Venables and Bates recruiting for the defensive side of the ball.
Then there’s USC, Texas A&M and Oregon.
USC had strong recruiting potential on the offensive side of the ball, but the narrative that Lincoln Riley can’t field a strong defense has followed him to Los Angeles. At some point, that might turn, but it’s still a bit early to assume Riley has the turnaround figured out in LA.
Texas A&M had the No. 1 recruiting class in the 2022 cycle and then finished with the No. 15 class in 2023. It also experienced a mass exodus of talent in the transfer portal. Eventually, the results have to match the recruiting and the contract Jimbo Fisher is receiving. Otherwise, that potential will begin to wane.
As for Oregon, it is off to a strong start with Dan Lanning at the helm. Can it build off a strong first season and its No. 8 recruiting class?
Oklahoma’s staff has proven it can recruit with the best in the nation. From Venables and his assistants on the defensive side to Lebby and the position coaches on the offensive side, there’s quite the track record of recruiting success in Norman.
They proved it by resurrecting the 2022 recruiting cycle in just two months and then put together the best recruiting class in the modern era in 2023.
While they haven’t received a commitment in the 2024 cycle, they seem to be on the verge of breaking the ice on that front. They’re trending heavily in the recruitment of several high-profile targets: [autotag]Williams Nwaneri[/autotag], [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag], [autotag]Bryant Wesco[/autotag] and [autotag]Tovani Mizell[/autotag]. They have the inside track for [autotag]David Stone[/autotag].
With as well as Venables and his staff have recruited in their first year and a half in Norman, there’s a lot to like about the recruiting potential for the Oklahoma Sooners.
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