OU football recruiting in SEC a new reality for Sooners ahead of National Signing Day

NORMAN — OU football recruiting is right where it’s been for much of the past 20 years.

Heading into the final few days before Wednesday’s signing day, the Sooners have the sixth-ranked recruiting class for 2024, according to Rivals.

But the Sooners are swimming in deeper water now as they make the move to the SEC.

OU will sign its first official SEC recruiting class this week.

OU and Texas have dominated Big 12 recruiting.

The last time the Sooners and Longhorns did not finish as the top two teams in the Big 12 was 2007, when Nebraska’s recruiting class was ranked 13th and OU 14th.

Since the beginning of the Rivals database with the 2002 class, there’s never been a conference team finish above both the Sooners and Texas in the team rankings.

That won’t be the case in the SEC.

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As of Saturday, OU and Texas were two of six SEC programs in the top 10 of the site’s team rankings, with the Longhorns at No. 3 and OU at No. 6.

“I like where we’re at,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of improvement to do. … I think we’ve recruited a really mature group of young players.

"The guys we get in the portal are guys that align with the values that we’ve talked about for the last 25 months — guys that have a blue-collar mindset, they value education, they’re gonna run toward accountability and discipline, they have a great deal of toughness to them, they want to be a great teammate, and they know they’re going to be expected to leave a deposit and to be a giver and a doer and not just a taker.”

While the Sooners aim to compete at the top of the SEC, recruiting battles will go far beyond just competing with Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

Since the 2004 class, nine different SEC programs finished in the top 10 in the Rivals team rankings. Of those nine, only South Carolina, which finished sixth in 2007, only appeared in the top 10 once.

During that span, every SEC program — yes, including Vanderbilt — has finished in the top 25 at least once.

The last time another Big 12 program other than OU or Texas finished in the top 10 was Texas A&M in 2003.

Though it’s clearly a tougher recruiting environment for the Sooners, the move to the SEC can also benefit OU.

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That’s particularly true on the defensive line, where OU has struggled to recruit top-flight talent in the Big 12.

Last year, OU signed Adepoju Adebawore, the No. 11 overall player in the 247 Sports composite rankings and No. 2 edge rusher.

In the 2024 class, the Sooners have commits from David Stone, the No. 9 overall player and No. 2 defensive lineman in the 247 composite.

Stone would be the Sooners’ first top-10 overall defensive line signee since R.J. Washington in 2008.

The Sooners have signed only three six top-50 defensive linemen since 2004, and only one of those — No. 38 Clayton Smith in 2021 — from 2012 through 2022.

Of the Sooners’ 27 commits for the 2024 class, 11 are either offensive or defensive linemen.

“You want great competitive depth. You want to be strong and physical. That’s the name of the game,” Venables said. “The SEC are those things. There’s great skill, great depth. The lines of scrimmage are a real thing. If you’ve been coaching football, offense or defense, you’re gonna try to build your team or your program or your locker room on the lines of scrimmage and dominating there first.

"You usually don’t get whooped on the line of scrimmage and then win most games.”

More: OU football lands Eddy Pierre-Louis, 4-star offensive lineman, for 2024 recruiting class

OU football 2024 recruiting class

Here’s a look at the players committed to OU for football in the class of 2024:

• Name, Position, Height, Weight, Hometown (School)

• Josh Aisosa, OG, 6-3, 305, Edmond (Santa Fe)

• Daniel Akinkinmi, OT, 6-4, 310, Loughborough, England (NFL Academy)

• Isaiah Autry, OT, 6-7, 300, Fulton, Mississippi (Itawamba Agricultural)

• Michael Boganowski, S, 6-2, 205, Junction City, Kansas

• Eli Bowen, CB, 5-9, 165, Denton, Texas (Guyer)

• Eugene Brooks, OG, 6-4, 320, Chatsworth, California (Sierra Canyon)

• Ivan Carreon, WR, 6-6, 196, Odessa, Texas

• K.J. Daniels, WR, 5-9, 150, Franklinton, Louisiana

• Wyatt Gilmore, DE, 6-4, 240, Rogers, Minnesota (Rogers Senior)

• Jaydan Hardy, S, 5-11, 165, Lewisville, Texas

• Michael Hawkins, QB, 6-2, 195, McKinney, Texas (Frisco Emerson)

• Jayden Jackson, DT, 6-2, 300, Brownsburg, Indiana (IMG Academy)

• Devon Jordan, DL, 5-11, 168, Tulsa (Union)

• Zion Kearney, WR, 6-2, 210,Missouri City, Texas (Hightower)

• Davon Mitchell, TE, 6-4, 245, Los Alamitos, California

• James Nesta, DE, 6-4, 205, Cornelius, North Carolina (William Amos Hough)

• Jeremiah Newcombe, CB, 5-11, 175, Queen Creek, Arizona (Casteel)

• Danny Okoye, DE, 6-4, 241, Tulsa (NOAH)

• Mykel Patterson-McDonald, S, 5-9, 175, Moore (Westmoore)

• Eddy Pierre-Louis, OG, 6-4, 320, Tampa, Florida (Tampa Catholic)

• Reggie Powers, S, 6-1, 200, Dayton, Ohio (Centerville)

• Zion Ragins, WR, 5-7, 150, Gray, Georgia (Jones County)

• Xavier Robinson, RB, 6-2, 220, Midwest City (Carl Albert)

• David Stone, DT, 6-4, 275, Del City (IMG Academy)

• Nigel Smith II, DE, 6-5, 260, Melissa, Texas

• Taylor Tatum, RB, 5-10, 205, Longview, Texas

• Brendan Zurbrugg, QB, 6-4, 185, Alliance, Ohio

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football recruiting in SEC offers challenge, benefit for Sooners