Sooners general manager Jim Nagy had to learn the hard way about the biggest wildcard in recruiting
Jim Nagy and the Sooners wrapped up their 2026 class in a great way.
When you first hire someone to be the general manager of your football program, a newer position in college football, you’re looking for someone who can evaluate talent. If there is anything Oklahoma Sooners GM Jim Nagy can do, it’s evaluate. So, hiring Nagy to help with recruiting was a no-brainer. However, he’s never been a college football team’s general manager, so he’s learned some things the hard way.
“Momentum is a real thing in recruiting. I learned that this cycle,” Nagy said Wednesday on National Signing Day. “I learned a lot this cycle. I’m learning every day on this job, but that’s clearly a big deal. Working in the NFL, I always heard that you shouldn’t negative recruit in college.
“I learned really quickly in this job that people were negatively recruiting, so that was probably working against us. Now that we’ve had some success on the field, we have some players coming back our way.”
Nagy nailed his first cycle
The Sooners got a little bit of everything in their latest recruiting class. The 2025 class was pretty good to the Sooners this season, with guys like cornerback Courtland Guillory starting. The 2026 class will try to follow that up, but so far, they look great on paper.
“Love this class, love where we ended up here,” Nagy said. “…If you had told me back in March, when I got here, I remember looking at the board they had in place and the names that were up there — to be here standing in December with this group of young men is pretty exciting.”
This class has a little bit of everything. The Sooners addressed every single need they had on their list, including quarterback, with the signing of Bowe Bentley. Oklahoma landed all of the guys they wanted, and a lot of those players weren’t committed just a few months ago, or even weeks ago.
Nagy is right, after winning some big-time games, recruits started to flip, and some started to commit. After beating the Tennessee Volunteers, the trend started. After beating the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Sooners started to target some players in Alabama.
The Sooners need to use some of this momentum entering the College Football Playoff on their 2027 class. So far, they have the No. 1 2027 class. They need it to finish that way. Winning a playoff game, or heck, even a National Championship, would certainly help.
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