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Elite Edge Rusher Reportedly Impressed by Oklahoma Visit

The Sooners hosted the nation's top defensive lineman over the weekend, seemingly making a good impression on the 5-star defender.

Randall Sweet

Cayden Green via Twitter
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Williams Nwaneri, the No. 1 defensive lineman in the 2024 recruiting class, visited Norman this weekend — and apparently liked what he saw. 

The No. 3 player in 247Sports' recruiting rankings was one of multiple talented players on campus this weekend, marking a huge two days of recruiting for the OU coaching staff. Nwaneri was joined in Norman by his high school coach, Jamar Mozee, as well as Mozee's son and Nwaneri's teammate, Isaiah Mozee.

Isaiah is a 4-star wide receiver, who Oklahoma also hopes to earn a commitment from. Jamar, Isaiah's father, played football for the Sooners' under Bob Stoops, creating a great connection from the Lee's Summit North (MO) program to OU. 

In addition to the two current Lee's Summit North standouts, former LSN lineman and incoming Sooner freshman Cayden Green accompanied the group for photos over the weekend. 

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On Monday, Nwaneri was introduced by 247Sports as the No. 3 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle and earned a fifth star to his recruiting profile. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds, the rising senior is a dominant force on the edge and is rated as the No. 2 overall player per On3's recruiting database.

Being such a highly touted prospect, Oklahoma has stiff competition to land Nwaneri, who has lined up official visits to Oregon, Missouri and Tennessee in the coming weeks. Last weekend, Nwaneri was in Georgia visiting the defending national champion Bulldogs, who in all likelihood will be one of the fiercest competitors in the battle to land the nation's top d-lineman.

According to Nwaneri's coach, however, the Sooners are in a good spot with his star defender.

"I know he likes (Miguel) Chavis and (Todd) Bates a lot. They have a really good relationship. Better than most. They’ve done a really good job recruiting him being able to relate to him and talking to him and those two have done a really good job," Mozee told 247Sports (subscription required). 

If the Sooners' are able to earn a pledge from Nwaneri, it would be Venables' biggest victory on the recruiting trail since taking over at Oklahoma and would mark two consecutive classes that have brought a 5-star edge rusher to Norman. 

Additionally, Nwaneri's commitment could be the first domino to fall in what still has the potential to be one of the best defensive line recruiting classes in OU history. 

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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