All Sooners

Sunday Offering: Oklahoma Makes Top Schools List for 5-star 2025 DB

The Sooners are in the mix for three more 2025 recruits, continuing an impressive stretch for OU on the recruiting trail.

Randall Sweet

Recruit Jonah Williams watches Ohio State warm up before playing Penn State Oct. 21, 2023
Recruit Jonah Williams watches Ohio State warm up before playing Penn State Oct. 21, 2023 / Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA

Despite spring football coming to an end for Oklahoma last Saturday, the Sooners have still had a busy week on the recruiting trail.

After hosting its annual Red/White Game and roughly 100 recruits across four classes, OU received multiple commitments and landed in the top schools list for three 2025 recruits. Additionally, Brent Venables and company handed out scholarship offers to five high school prospects.

Here is a recap of all the commitments, lists and offers from the past seven days.

Commitments

Last Sunday, former SMU center Branson Hickman announced his pledge to Oklahoma after visiting Norman for Oklahoma's spring game.

In the past three seasons, Hickman has made 33 starts at center for the Mustangs and will add immediate experience to a position on the Sooners' roster that was desperately lacking a veteran presence.

In the Red/White Game, redshirt freshman Joshua Bates and true freshman Josh Aisosa worked as the first- and second-team centers.

Bates has yet to start a game in his OU career and only appeared in one game last season. Aisosa has only been in college for around three months and played tackle during his time at Edmond Santa Fe (OK).

The Sooners also have Troy Everett at the center position, but Everett was sidelined with an injury for most of spring ball and was seen on the sidelines of Oklahoma's spring game in crutches and a heavy brace.

With the addition of Hickman, however, the Sooners have a veteran offensive lineman with plenty of experience to anchor a completely new starting five in 2024. In his final season at SMU, Hickman earned a 79.8 offensive grade from Pro Football Focus.

On Monday, former Arizona State and Louisville defensive lineman Jermayne Lole announced that he will also transfer to Norman. Lole began his college career in 2018 and will enter his seventh year of eligibility next season.

As a true sophomore in 2019, Lole tallied 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks playing for the Sun Devils. The following year, Lole played in just four games before missing the entire 2021 season.

The Long Beach Poly (CA) product played just two games in 2022 before a season-ending injury cut his first year with the Cardinals short. In 2023, Lole played 411 defensive snaps, the second-highest of his entire career.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds, the interior defensive lineman recorded five tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two pass deflections and one forced fumble in his final season at Louisville.

Like Hickman, Lole brings a veteran presence to a position group on OU's roster that consists mostly of young, unproven players. Alongside Da'Jon Terry, Lole adds valuable size and experience to a unit that needed both as it heads into the SEC.

Then last Sunday night, 2027 edge rusher Zane Rowe announced his pledge to the Sooners. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, Rowe is one of the top freshman football players in the nation, and was named to MaxPreps Freshman All-American Team.

How Recruiting Came Early and Ended Quickly for Oklahoma Commit Zane Rowe

Playing for Denton Guyer (TX), Rowe is teammates with Oklahoma 2025 QB commit Kevin Sperry, who transferred to the DFW-area powerhouse after one season at Carl Albert (OK) in Midwest City.

Rowe visited Norman last June for the Brent Venables Elite Camp and has returned multiple times since, most recently for last week's spring game.

Top Schools

On Tuesday, 4-star Brophy (AZ) offensive lineman Logan Powell announced his top five schools, with Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Arizona State, Tennessee and Alabama making the cut.

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds, Powell is rated the No. 229 overall prospect and No. 24 interior offensive lineman in the nation, according to 247Sports.

The next day, 4-star Klein Oak (TX) cornerback Courtland Guillory announced his top four schools along with a commitment date: on Sunday, the 6-foot-2 DB will choose between Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and UCF.

Guillory's announcement comes just one day after the Sooners' defensive coaching staff visited the Panthers' standout at his high school in Spring, TX, and just four days after Guillory made the trek to Norman for Oklahoma's spring game.

If OU is able to land Guillory on Sunday, he would be the third defensive back to join Jay Valai and Brandon Hall in the 2025 recruiting class.

On Friday, 5-star defensive back Jonah Williams announced his Top 7, with Oklahoma, Texas, LSU, Oregon, Texas A&M, USC and Ohio State in the mix for the Lone Star State standout.

Hailing from Ball High School in Galveston, TX, Williams is rated the No. 12 overall prospect and No. 2 safety in the 2025 recruiting class.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Williams is a star on the baseball diamond and has great versatility with solid size and speed. The Tornadoes' standout visited Norman in January and at one point was believed to favor OU.

Offers Extended

In addition to landing three commitments and making the cut for three more talented prospects, the Sooners also extended five scholarship offers to high school recruits this week.

On Monday, Venables and company offered 2026 DeSmet, MO, edge rusher Titan Davis. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, Davis is rated the No. 100 overall prospect and No. 11 defensive lineman in the nation according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

The next day, Cypress Springs, TX, athlete Paris Melvin Jr. picked up an offer from Oklahoma. Listed at 6-foot, Melvin Jr. is rated the No. 198 overall prospect and No. 15 athlete in the 2026 recruiting class, per 247Sports.

Also on Tuesday, OU extended an offer to 2027 Jenks, OK, wide receiver and defensive back Semaj Stanford. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 177 pounds, the talented freshman has already picked up offers from Oklahoma State, Arkansas and Missouri.

Stanford is teammates with 4-star athlete Kaydin Jones at Jenks, who also holds an offer from the Sooners. Together, the duo helped lead the Trojans to a state title berth where Jenks ultimately lost to Bixby.

On Wednesday, Oklahoma offered 2027 Arlington Lamar (TX) wide receiver Trenton Yancey. Listed at 6-foot and 185 pounds, Yancey has impressive speed and explosiveness for a freshman in high school.

Yancey also holds offers from Oregon, Washington, Mississippi and others.

On Saturday, Venables and company offered 2027 Palos Verdes (CA) linebacker Joshua Williams.

Listed at 6-foot and 200 pounds, OU is the first school to offer the freshman defender from the Los Angeles area. Williams is also the younger brother of Damonic Williams, a former TCU defensive lineman who the Sooners are targeting in the transfer portal and hosted at the Red/White Game on April 20.

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Randall Sweet

RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK.