4-star WR Commit Jaden Nickens Says He's 'All in' with Oklahoma

After falling to Washington (OK) in the OSSAA 2A state title game, Sooners' 2025 wide receiver pledge Jaden Nickens reaffirmed his commitment to OU despite an offensive coordinator change.
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When 4-star wide receiver Jaden Nickens announced his pledge to Oklahoma over the summer, former Sooners' offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby was still calling plays in Norman.

Since then, Lebby helped Dillon Gabriel and company lead one of the highest rated offenses in all of college football during the 2023 season. Lebby's second year at the helm saw Oklahoma's offense finish top 10 nationally in first downs, passing, scoring, team passing efficiency and total offense.

After the Sooners took down TCU in their regular season finale, however, Lebby accepted a job offer to make him the next head coach at Mississippi State. With the former OU play caller's departure, many fans began to worry that some of the recruits Lebby had landed would consider decommitting from Oklahoma.

A handful of high profile Sooner pledges stepped forward on social media to let OU fans know that they were still locked in with Brent Venables and company. Davon Mitchell, Michael Hawkins and Zion Kearney, amongst others, have indicated that they are still happy with their decision. 

After the OSSAA 2A state title game on Dec. 9, Nickens also stated that he is still honoring his commitment to Oklahoma.

"I never questioned about decommitting or none of that," Nickens said. "I'm staying, I'm all in."

To replace Lebby, Oklahoma promoted former UNT head coach Seth Littrell, who was on staff as an offensive analyst, and Joe Jon Finley, who was the team's tight ends coach, to co-offensive coordinators. 

Nickens said that when he heard the news, he reached out to OU wide receivers coach Emmett Jones to see where things stood when all the dust cleared.

"I sent it to Coach Jones, he said we all good, we all in," Nickens said. "He just told me to be patient, and the next thing you know, I saw the guys who got brought up, and I was very, very very happy with who they brought up."

On Dec. 2, after taking down Del City (OK) in the OSSAA 5A state title game, Sooners' 2025 quarterback commit Kevin Sperry also said that he wasn't going anywhere. 

"I'm locked in with Oklahoma," Sperry told reporters. "Nothing but happy for Coach Lebby. Locked in with Oklahoma definitely. Their culture is different, Coach Venables, I love him, and Coach Littrell and Coach Finley too."

Like Sperry, Nickens seems happy with OU's decision, saying that he is encouraged by the Sooners' new play callers. 

"College is a business man, he's got to feed his family," Nickens told reporters on Saturday. "Lebby, I tried to get very close with him... But we're bringing in, actually, an offensive coordinator who actually throws the ball a lot more than Lebby did, so just seeing that excites me more." 

So far, Nickens is joined in Oklahoma's 2025 recruiting class by fellow 4-star wideouts Gracen Harris and Elijah Thomas, giving Littrell and Finley a great start on the upcoming cycle. 

Nickens was an especially important prospect to keep on board. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, the Millwood (OK) product is rated one of the top 74 players and top 10 wide receivers in the nation.

In the 2A semifinals, Nickens returned a kickoff 77-yards as time expired to send the Falcons to the state title game. Also an extremely talented basketball player, the 4-star pass catcher will surely have another solid year on the court for Millwood now that his football season has come to an end.



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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.