What Brent Venables has Done With Oklahoma's Recruiting Footprint

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Oklahoma's recruiting footprint was drawn long before Brent Venables was the head coach.

Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer understood Norman's proximity to north Texas as an advantage for the Sooner program. The Dallas metroplex has produced countless Sooner legends over the decades.

Now entering his fifth season as head coach while trying to put the finishing touches on sixth recruiting class, Venables has already shown an ability to grow that footprint. The SEC patch on OU's jersey certainly doesn't hurt.

In his short time, Venables' recruiting prowess has shown some stark differences from his predecessor, Lincoln Riley, and even his old boss, Bob Stoops. They may be coincidental blips, or early indicators of where Venables wants to move the program towards.

Riley's last full cycle of recruiting – 2018 to 2021- had the all the markings of a traditional Sooner recruiting haul. Of the 87 players Riley signed out of high school during that time, 42 came from the state of Texas, 14 came from Oklahoma, eight from Florida, four from California and three from Missouri. Other states were represented with one or two recruits.

If someone had a bone to pick with those numbers, perhaps the state of Oklahoma was not as represented as it should have been, but Riley still pulled half of his recruits from Texas during that time.

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Venables has pulled from the same areas – Oklahoma, Texas with Florida and California standing as OU's main non-regional pulls.

As OU entered the SEC in 2024, Venables dared to go into the south to try and build pipelines in areas the program had minimal success in historically.

One of the states that Oklahoma has had success in recently has been Alabama. Venables already brought in a linebacker from Selma, Kristan Moore, in 2026. He is now trying to maintain the No. 2 recruiting class in 2027 that has three players from Alabama.

To accent the effort in Alabama, Venables has also earned recruiting victories in other southern states along the Gulf Coast. Some have been one-offs so far, but they do paint a better picture of the Sooners' recruiting efforts in the backyards typically held by the Crimson Tide, LSU or Ole Miss.

Since 2022, OU has signed two players from Mississippi and one from Louisiana. Currently, Oklahoma has the number one tight end in the nation in the class of 2027 – Seneca Driver – who hails from Kentucky.

One notable effort that has grown in numbers since Venables arrived has been Arkansas, where OU has signed four players from.

As Oklahoma builds itself a winner on the field in the SEC, there has been an effort on the recruiting trail to hold to traditional pipelines while growing the footprint within its new confernce's borders. Winning games in 2025 helped set the stage for OU's recruiting momentum for the class of 2027 and beyond.

It cannot be forgotten that Jim Nagy's connections within the south, stemming from his former position with the Senior Bowl based in Mobile, has helped the cause. Nagy's scouting department knows that OU will always be at the front of the line within Oklahoma and Dallas – but if OU wants to compete with its peers in the south, they're trying to influence that talent to Norman.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/oklahoma as What Brent Venables has Done With Oklahoma's Recruiting Footprint.

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