Brent Venables is on track to do what Lincoln Riley never did with the Oklahoma Sooners, but there is still work to be done
Brent Venables is on a roll when it comes to recruiting.
The Oklahoma Sooners now have the top recruiting class in the country for 2027, taking into account the type and number of recruits they have committed so far. On3 and Rivals have OU as the No. 2 class, just slightly behind the Penn State Nittany Lions, and 247 Sports has them at No. 3.
However, Oklahoma has the same number of five stars as Penn State, the same number of four stars, and then one more three-star, which should make them the best class, at least, in terms of raw numbers, when you take out composite ratings, which are largely subjective.
Oklahoma snagged 2027 four-star CB Mikhail McCreary to reach that level, a level that, if it holds, Lincoln Riley never had reached at Oklahoma.
Brent Venables and his staff are on fire
The Sooners ended their 2026 recruiting class on a high note. They got Jake Kreul to commit, and some others to finish off the class strong. That’s not even counting the guys they could get to flip at National Signing Day.
For the 2027 class, they have Cooper Hackett, who’s a five-star offensive lineman and the best player in Oklahoma, a four-star offensive lineman in Kaeden Penny, a four-star wide receiver in Demare Dezeurn, and a three-star offensive lineman in Luke Wilson.
Now they have added McCreary, a four-star cornerback, and a player trying to follow in the footsteps of Courtland Guillory, a true freshman on the team right now who may be the best at his position.
Riley never had a class this good at Oklahoma, or at least as good as this one has started. The highest class he has had while at OU was the sixth-best in 2019, and he followed that up two years later in 2021 with a seventh-ranked class.
Now, granted, Riley does have the No. 1 class in 2026 with the USC Trojans, which Venables has never had. But if this class and momentum hold, it will be one of the biggest in the history of Oklahoma Sooners’ football recruiting.
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