Sooners make Top 8 teams for priority target at quarterback

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

The Oklahoma Sooners are set at the quarterback position for the 2026 season. Their QB room currently consists of returning starter John Mateer, returning backups Whitt Newbauer and Jett Niu, and incoming true freshman Bowe Bentley. The only quarterback that OU has lost from last season is Michael Hawkins Jr., who transferred to West Virginia.

However, the Sooners are still looking for their quarterback in the 2027 recruiting class. Fifth-year head coach Brent Venables and second-year offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle have been showing the love to one prospect in particular lately, as Oklahoma has visited him, and has set him up with a visit to Norman in March.

That player is Saraland (Alabama) High School’s Jamison Roberts, a three-star QB prospect in the ’27 class. On Monday, Chad Simmons, the director of recruiting for Rivals, reported that Roberts has narrowed his recruitment down to eight schools, and that OU is part of that bunch.

According to Simmons, the final eight programs vying for Roberts’ services are Oklahoma, Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Kentucky, Iowa, Duke, and Northwestern. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound passer is the the No. 52 quarterback in the ’27 class, according to On3, and the No. 22 player in the state of Alabama in their rankings.

Roberts is one of five quarterbacks that have received an offer from Oklahoma in the 2027 class. Nebraska commit Trae Taylor hasn’t received much interest from OU since Arbuckle took the reins of the offense, but Arbuckle pursued LSU commit Peyton Houston hard, before losing out on him to the Tigers.

As far as uncommitted prospects go, both Jonathan Moore and Greydon Howell have also received offers from the Sooners, but OU may have designs of them playing different positions (defensive back and wide receiver, respectively) and the college level. Dane Weber took a visit to OU when the Sooners beat Missouri in November, but he has yet to receive an offer from Oklahoma.

Roberts has emerged as the clear-cut top priority for the Sooners at QB in 2027, and he’s been linked to Oklahoma for some time now. He is a fast-rising prospect in his class, not unlike when Arbuckle identified Bentley as “his guy” early on in the ’26 cycle, and then saw him turn into a four-star prospect. Arbuckle clearly likes what he sees in Roberts, despite just a three-star ranking at this point, and he’ll try to lock down the dual-threat signal-caller as his quarterback in the ’27 class.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.

This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: OU’s top priority at QB in 2027 class down to his Top 8 schools

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos