Brent Venables Continues to Lock Down Oklahoma After Earning Elite Prep Star Pledges

With the recent verbal pledge from Mustang's Gabriel Osborne Jr. — the No. 6 cornerback in the country and the third best prospect from Oklahoma — the Sooners' highly rated 2027 class is somehow finding ways to be even better.

It doesn't hurt to have great offensive line prospects like Cooper Hackett and Kaeden Penny in your backyard, a luxury you won't hear Jim Nagy or Brent Venables complaining about. The state of Oklahoma always puts out its fair share of talent, but recent years have seen an influx of elite talent that Venables has pounced on.

OU now has four in-state prospects who have verbally committed to the program for the class of 2027. Three of those four — Hackett, Penny and Osborne — rank inside the top-50 among the best players in the nation according to 247Sports and Rivals.

This has been a concerted effort by Venables and Nagy. Oklahoma will always be a name that carries weight nationally and Dallas-Fort Worth will be the major recruiting ground but this staff's ability to lock down the state when other big names come calling has been impressive to see.

Oklahoma Sooners, Brent Venables — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

It's been an effort to build walls around Oklahoma's in-state recruiting. When Venables arrived in late-2021, previous head coach Lincoln Riley had only landed 11 of the state's top 40 athletes over his previous four years — with five of those 11 coming in his first recruiting class as head coach in 2018.

Certainly there was a hole in the Sooners' recruiting efforts: home base. Venables and the added efforts of Nagy who joined in 2025, have helped rebuild OU's place as the preferred choice for the state's best prep stars.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

Osborne also represents a growing trend within Oklahoma's recruiting successes.

No one will complain about Eli Bowen, who has been a mainstay at corner since 2024 and a budding star among a defense full of them. The realities of Bowen's size at 5-9, 185 pounds has presented challenges when OU has faced big bodied pass catchers in the SEC. Still Bowen, has won a lot of those battles.

Courtland Guillory's signing and breakout freshman campaign showed Oklahoma could go after, sign and quickly develop corners with more ideal size at 6-0, 187 pounds.

Osborne is entering his senior season at 6-2, 180 pounds. As a high-end 4-star according to the services, it should make sense why Michigan and Ohio State envied the chance at prying away a potential super talent just over 20 miles away from Norman.

Oklahoma Sooners Brent Venables Gabriel Osborne — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables (left) with new commit Gabriel Osborne and family in January, 2026. | Gabriel Osborne via X

It would appear that the days of Booker T. Washington's Dax Hill spurning the Sooners and going to Michigan or Owasso's top-100 talent Josh Proctor choosing the Buckeyes are long gone thanks to Venables and Nagy.

Speaking of that period in Oklahoma recruiting history, the Sooners did sign a top-100 prospect from the state in Bob Stoops' final class — Justin Broiles. A handful years later, Beggs' prospect and top-100 talent Kendal Daniels initially signed with Texas A&M before landing with rival Oklahoma State before Venables was able to sign him out of the transfer portal for his final season in 2025.

OU is heading into 2026 with another former highly-coveted prospect in David Stone as one the faces of the team. Stone was from Oklahoma but came out of IMG Academy, but there was no doubt that the potential of losing a player of his caliber with in-state ties would have been a disastrous look in recruiting.

With the defense rebuilt and the growing effort to build back the offense after its recent dip, Venables has shown that if you want top-end talent from the state of Oklahoma, you're going to be in for a battle. One that you may lose.

Add us as a preferred source on Google