COMMENTARY: How Brent Venables Has Already Set New Standards for Oklahoma Recruiting

Oklahoma's 2023 recruiting class is currently the highest rated class in program history, and Brent Venables has still yet to coach a game in Norman.

Brent Venables has already taken Oklahoma recruiting to new heights.

Friday, the new OU coach landed a pair of marquee recruits in wide receiver Anthony Evans and defensive back Makari Vickers.

The duo represented commitment Nos. 21 and 22 of Oklahoma’s 2023 recruiting class, but it also set a new high-water mark for the Sooners in the modern era.

With the additions, OU moved to fourth nationally in the 247 Sports team rankings. The 2023 class now is rated at 284.84 points, which would stand as the best mark in program history since the rise of the current recruiting ranking system in the early 2000s.

Fourteen of Oklahoma’s recruits have jumped aboard since the calendar flipped to July, and the Sooners have racked up an incredible haul before Venables has officially coached one game as the head coach in Norman.

But even more impressive is just how far OU’s class has come since former head coach Lincoln Riley helped dismantle Oklahoma’s original 2023 commits.

In the days following Riley’s move to USC, the Sooners lost the commitments of 5-star quarterback Malachi Nelson, his high school teammate 4-star wideout Makai Lemon, 5-star receiver Brandon Inniss, 4-star tight end (and local product) Luke Hasz, and 4-star running back Treyaun Webb.

Later, wideout DeAndre Moore decommitted as well, eventually finding his fit with Louisville.

Offensive lineman Joshua Bates was all that remained from Riley’s early leg work in the 2023 recruiting cycle, leaving Venables and his staff to essentially start from square one.

Upon Venables’ arrival, Sooner fans were hopeful he would be able to continue his impressive recruiting record over from Clemson.

But there was a quiet understanding that while Venables and his deputies in defensive coordinator Ted Roof, defensive tackles coach Todd Bates, defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis, safeties coach Brandon Hall and cornerbacks coach Jay Valai would usher in an uptick in defensive recruiting, the recruiting on the offensive side of the ball might take a minor step back.

OU’s new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby soon put those worries to bed.

The Sooners landed Jackson Arnold on Jan. 24, and the Denton, TX, native has done nothing but impress since then.

Arnold starred at the Elite 11 Regionals in Dallas, and then raised eyebrows across the country when he took home the Elite 11 Finals MVP on the West Coast earlier this summer. He’s now been rated a 5-star recruit by 247 Sports, and stands as the fifth best quarterback in the country according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings.

On top of Arnold, the Sooners have added 4-star offensive tackle Cayden Green, who has the distinction of being the highest-rated offensive line commitment Bill Bedenbaugh has ever landed, and staved off the likes of Georgia and Texas, respectively, to land wide receivers like Evans and 4-star Jaquaize Pettaway.

And that’s before Venables, Bates and Chavis began to lay the groundwork for what could be the most talented defensive line class in the country.

P.J. Adebawore (5-star), Derrick LeBlanc (4-star) and Colton Vasek (4-star) have already committed to OU, and the Sooners are looking to edge out Alabama to land 5-star David Hicks and 4-star Jordan Renaud as National Signing Day approaches this winter.

Again, it can’t be overstated how impressive OU’s recruiting haul has been considering that there hasn’t been a single live snap on either side of the ball for Oklahoma’s new coaching staff in 2022. Players are committing to Oklahoma on faith, promise and potential. They're committing based on the relationships they've struck with the OU staff.

In the days following Riley’s departure, Venables looked to have his hands full to merely keep his current roster together, much less look ahead to 2023.

Not only was the new Oklahoma head coach able to limit the damage and prevent a mass exodus via the transfer portal, he’s already recruiting at a higher level than Riley ever was able to achieve in Norman.

And if the Sooners can put forward a championship-caliber product on the field to match, this could merely be the beginning for Venables’ tenure as the head coach at Oklahoma. 

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