How did The Athletic grade Oklahoma's transfer portal haul?

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The 2026 Oklahoma football team is shooting for a national championship. They certainly added players this offseason like a team with big dreams.

Coach Brent Venables brought in the No. 15 high-school recruiting class in the country and the No. 20 transfer-portal recruiting class in the country to help get the Sooners into the next tier after they fell in their first College Football Playoff game in the fall. As for the elder statesmen who joined OU, comparing them to their Southeastern Conference rivals is more apt.

That's just what the folks over at "The Athletic" did this week, giving report cards to each of the SEC's 16 teams when it came to transfer portal additions. Oklahoma finished strong, ranking with a 'B.'

"The best thing they did was add pass catchers to help senior quarterback John Mateer," wrote Manny Navarro. "Oklahoma receivers combined to drop 17 passes last season, according to Pro Football Focus. (Trell) Harris, (Parker) Livingstone and (Hayden) Hansen combined to drop eight."

Oklahoma ranked a middling 59th out of 136 FBS teams in yards passing per game last year. But the additions, Mateer's health, and the return of All-SEC wide receiver Isaiah Sategna should see that number go up.

But Navarro also pointed out that the Sooners didn't get as much out of the portal on defense as they probably would have hoped. Oklahoma has to replace seven players who are participating in the NFL combine and the Sooners landed just one player who started at an FBS school last year. The good new is that OU defense ranked sixth in FBS. 

Four teams in the SEC made 'A' grades: Texas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and LSU.

This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma's portal additions earn 'B' grade from 'The Athletic'

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