Jim Nagy and the Oklahoma Sooners are showing that being outbid in recruiting doesn’t always mean you lost the battle
Oklahoma Sooners general manager Jim Nagy is putting in work.
In this era of college football, it feels like everyone is so concerned with money. When it comes to the Oklahoma Sooners, they have NIL money for football, but they’re not all about spending millions of dollars on one player, especially one who isn’t a quarterback.
Now, it’s still early in the process, but in that regard, hiring Jim Nagy as the general manager feels like the right decision. He capped off the 2026 recruiting class in a huge way, while also starting off the 2027 cycle in a huge way.
As far as Cooper Hackett, their new five-star commit, he flipped from Texas Tech, who’s been paying their players millions left and right, but sometimes that just doesn’t matter.
“It’s a good chunk less,” Hackett told Rivals when asked about his decision to flip to Oklahoma. “If I’m in the NFL, which is what I want to do overall, that money is not going to matter, and I’m going to bet on myself a good amount of the time, and that’s what I’m doing.”
Oklahoma is doing it the right way.
Sooners are recruiting well enough to get by bidding wars
When it comes to the high-profile recruits, like Hackett, they usually want a ton of money, and that makes sense. Who doesn’t like money? However. Hackett is a genuine kid, and it’s clear he wants to play football for a great program that will help him reach the NFL. The Oklahoma Sooners make much more sense for that goal than Texas Tech, the school he was previously committed to.
So, yes, it is a combination of Hackett being a great kid that doesn’t care as much about that, along with them recruiting well. However, you cannot understate the job that Nagy has done since he’s been in town. Nagy has landed five-star offensive lineman Hackett for their 2027 class, followed by a four-star offensive lineman in Kaeden Perry, and maybe another four-star in McCreary, based on a prediction we have seen.
Pair that with how he finished the 2026 class with guys like Jake Kreul and others, and it’s clear that he has been cooking when it comes to recruiting. Did it take him a second to get going? Yes, but the Sooners are doing it all the right way, and that’s obvious.
You often hear a recruit talk about how they feel after their visit, saying they already feel like family, and similar sentiments. It’s obviously working. Currently, the Sooners have the No. 2 class in 2027, and it’s not due to financial considerations.
Oklahoma Sooners News
Oklahoma Sooners are clearly using their momentum on the field in all of the right ways off of the field
The Oklahoma Sooners have landed Cooper Hackett and Kaeden Penny for the 2027 recruiting class.
