As Oklahoma Reports to Camp, Brent Venables' First Recruiting Class is Down to One Last Senior

NORMAN — As they say at Oklahoma, there's only one.

One senior who came to OU on scholarship as a true freshman almost five seasons ago will be in uniform when the Sooners open practice on Wednesday.

One.

Linebacker Kip Lewis is the only fifth-year holdover from Brent Venables’ first recruiting class as a head coach. Two former walk-ons — long snapper Ben Anderson and offensive lineman Gunnar Allen — also came in for Venables inaugural season. Anderson will be a four-year starter and two-time All-SEC selection, and Allen has played in three career games and twice landed on the SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Venables signed 21 high school prospects that year coming back from his wildly successful stint as defensive coordinator at Clemson. Oklahoma was reeling after the shocking departure of Lincoln Riley, and Venables was just what Sooner Nation needed. Having never been a head coach before, BV stepped off the jet at Westheimer Airport and then stepped immediately onto the recruiting trail.

The class was eventually ranked No. 10 nationally by 247Sports, No. 8 by Rivals. A good class.

Ten of them finished their career at OU last year, Venables pointed out, and didn't need to redshirt because they contributed so much over their first four years. That could be a statement on the quality of the incoming class, to be sure, but it also could reflect on what kind of gaps and immediate needs Riley's sudden departure created.

Still, six of the 21 original class could have chosen to come back to OU for the '26 season, but decided to leave. All six ended up at Power 4 programs.

Four members of the class — linebacker-turned-tight end Jaren Kanak, safety Robert Spears-Jennings, defensive end R Mason Thomas and defensive tackle Gracen Halton — were picked in the 2026 NFL Draft.

The other 16 all served various lengths of time as Sooners before entering the transfer — from almost immediate departures like Kevonte Henry, Alton Tarber and Cedric Roberts after the ’22 season to solid contributors like Gentry Williams, Gavin Sawchuk, Jovantae Barnes and Kobie McKinzie, who played big roles but eventually just needed a change of scenery.

That’s 76 percent who either wrapped things up in four years, chose not to finish their career at Oklahoma or were simply processed out. Only 4.8 percent — Lewis — will have been here for all five of his five seasons of eligibility, which happens to be the new standard starting this year.

Welcome to college football in 2026.

As the winds of drastic change continue to sweep over the sport, Venables’ job description has changed immensely in the last five years.

College football coaches who leaned primarily on high school recruits now have one eye on the transfer portal, one on the preps and one on their own roster.

Head coaches used to be the final word (or in many cases the only word) in the personnel department. Now most of them have a general manager and fully formed personnel staff who negotiate with players (or parents or agents) and travel the country looking for talent.

They once balanced 85 scholarships across five seasons. Now they balanced multimillion dollar budgets, revenue sharing and NIL and who knows exactly what else.

In the past, they thanked Big Money Donors for paying for a fancy trophy case or state-of-the-art locker room or big-time training facility. Now they ask who can afford a whole offensive line ... or would they rather just have another 5-star quarterback?

Juggle rosters? Criss-cross the nation looking for talent? Negotiate with shady handlers? Glad-hand entitled billionaires? Not so much. They get involved, sure. But for the most part, now coaches coach.

"We got here in the most disruptive time in college football history," Venables said, "and I get to be a head coach our first time. So, a lot to learn."

Actually, thats probably a big reason why Lewis' career has taken off. Venables is an ace linebacker coach and a mad genius defensive coordinator. He's also allowed to hire full-time, paid assistant-assistant coaches now.

Lewis, from Carthage, TX, has been one of the Sooners' most productive defenders over the past three seasons, compiling 209 career tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, five quarterback sacks and stepped into Sooner lore in 2025 when he beat both Alabama and Auburn with interceptions returns for touchdowns — “Kip Sixes,” in the OU vernacular.

While some in that '22 class either washed out early or just never quite reached the talent level needed to play in the SEC, plenty of others from the '22 class contributed along the way before hitting the portal.

Williams was a starting corner when shoulder injuries weren't keeping him off the field. Sawchuk led the Sooners in rushing in 2023. Barnes ran for more than 1,000 yards in his career. McKinzie was a steady backup and blossomed into a starter last year. Nic Anderson had 800 yards and 10 touchdown catches in 2023 and scored the game-winning TD in Venables' only win over Texas. Jacob Sexton and Jake Taylor were both starters along the o-line when healthy. Jayden Gibson averaged 27 yards per catch as a redshirt freshman.

Again, it was a good class. Venables and his staff hit some real home runs.

"Certainly, the ’22 class was excellent for us," Venables said. "We had tremendous success with the 22 class."

"They rode it out for a while because what Coach V stands for and how Coach V is as a coach," said senior safety Peyton Bowen, who's beginning his fourth season as a Sooner this week.

But it's Kip Lewis — just one out of 21 scholarship freshmen in 2022 — who put in all five years wearing an Oklahoma jersey.

"Staying at a place now is like, very uncommon, like, for all your time," Bowen said. "I respect Kip so much for staying here and wanting to be a part of this still and coming to work every day with a chip on his shoulder."

Venables said the 2022 freshman class wasn't affected by the COVID shutdown quite as badly as the 2020 and 2021 classes were, but acknowledged that they were high school sophomores trying to get recruited at a time when all recruiting, including the ever-important camps, had been elimnated.

"From their development, I think it's fair to say that they probably missed out on some development in high school," Venables said. "That means they had higher ceilings, you know, once they get to a stable place.

"But I'm sure, yeah, they missed out. They certainly didn't have the same scope when it comes to exposure in the recruiting space. You know, they get out to camps at a younger age, or coaches coming through their schools wherever they were at a younger time to identify them, and that's a big part of recruiting.

"But thankful, you know, for the guys that we did have, and certainly Kip Lewis is part of that group."

It was a tough time for coaches and recruiters, too. Ultimately, the whole COVID experience was probably the hardest on the players who were already in college and on campus — especially the younger ones.

"You bring them on campus and then you got to keep them over in a quarantine space," Venables said. "You know, first time away from home like that, happened very regularly for everybody around the country. Next you know, stay for a week to two weeks by themselves. Isolated. Drop food off at their door. You know, like they're in prison or something. Just an awful time, really, for for that age group of players, what they had to endure."

OU's Class of 2022

Who’s Left

LB Kip Lewis

Who Left

(via Transfer Portal)

DT Cedric Roberts (Texas State, 2022)
DT Alton Tarber (Colorado State, 2022)
DB Jamarrien Burt (South Alabama, 2023)
TE Jason Llewellyn (Texas Tech, 2023)
QB Nick Evers (Wisconsin, Connecticut, 2023)
DB Jayden Rowe (Kansas State, Baylor, 2024)
WR Nic Anderson (LSU, Kentucky, 2024)
WR Jayden Gibson (South Carolina, 2025)
RB Gavin Sawchuk (Florida State, 2025)
CB Gentry Williams (Georgia, 2026)
RB Jovantae Barnes (Kentucky, 2026)
LB Kobie McKinzie (Northwestern, 2026)
OL Jacob Sexton (Oklahoma State, 2026)
OL Jake Taylor (Iowa State, 2026)
TE Kaden Helms (Minnesota, 2026)

(via NFL Draft)
DE R Mason Thomas (Chiefs, 2026)
LB-TE Jaren Kanak (Titans, 2026)
S Robert Spears-Jennings (Steelers, 2026)
DT Gracen Halton (49ers, 2026)

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