Oklahoma isn’t just moving up in the recruiting rankings, the Sooners are surging! Thanks to a Friday that was filled with announcements OU has jumped past Georgia and Ohio State, in the 247Sports rankings, and are now on the heels of Notre Dame for the No. 3 class for the 2023 recruiting cycle.
Three announcements favored the Sooners on Friday. Going into the day it was expected that one prospect would be added into the mix for 2023 but by the time the sun had gone down Brent Venables and company had added three new names for next season, two of them quite unexpectedly.
The Expected
We knew coming into Friday that 4-star safety Makari Vickers was likely to be a Sooner. Rated by 247Sports as the No. 6 safety in the class and the No. 19 overall player from the state of Florida, Vickers had narrowed his decision down to Alabama, Michigan, and Oklahoma. He had six crystal ball predictions cast and all of them were in favor of OU. Had he been the only announcement on the day it would have still been a huge win for the Sooners but as it stands, he gave us one of the more unique announcements by invoking the Red River Rivalry’s Golden Hat.
The Unexpected
I think its safe to say that when we all went to bed on Thursday night 4-star receiver Anthony Evans was heading to Athens, Georgia to play college football. Somehow that all changed as the 5-11/167 Converse, Texas prospect pledged his commitment to Oklahoma on Friday afternoon. Evans was the first of the two prep commitments for the 2023 class and shows that the Cale Gundy’s departure from the coaching staff hasn’t had a negative impact on recruiting. Evans is the third receiver in Oklahoma’s 2023 class and joins Jaquaize Pettaway as the second 4-star receiver commitment.
Evans has 29 scholarship offers and made visits to Oklahoma (3rd), Georgia (10th), and Texas A&M (17th) in June. Also a track star, Evans offers speed as one of his greatest assets, registering a 10.27 in the 100m, and was a top target on Georgia’s recruiting board for quite some time. He will no doubt be a vertical threat in Jeff Lebby’s offense.
The Huge Surprise
Emeka Megwa may have pulled off the quietest transfer of the offseason. All Sooners broke the story early Friday afternoon that the former Washington running back was enrolled at Oklahoma. Formally a 4-star recruit from Keller, Texas, Megwa raked in 37 scholarship offers before committing to the Huskies as a member of the 2021 recruiting class. Oklahoma was one of the programs to offer the 6-1/220 prospect who played both running back and linebacker at the prep level. His skill on both sides of the ball earned him the 247sports ranking as the No. 19 athlete in the class.
Megwa entered the transfer portal on August 2nd and spent just a bit over three weeks in limbo before surfacing at Oklahoma. He’ll likely have to wait until 2023 to see his first college action though due to missing the May 1st deadline to enter the portal and be eligible for the 2022 season.
When you consider the recruiting momentum Brent Venable and his staff have built before even coaching a game at Oklahoma, it isn’t unfathomable that some of the best days the program has experienced on the recruiting trail are happening right now. That’s a far cry from last month when folks were saying that the program was basically left for dead after Lincoln Riley’s departure.
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