Brent Venables Says in Some Big Ways, New QB Bowe Bentley Compares to an Oklahoma Legend

Oklahoma landed its quarterback of the future on Wednesday, and coach Brent Venables tossed out a name from the past that should fire the imagination of Sooner Nation.

Bowe Bentley is a consensus 4-star QB from Celina, TX. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he’s rated as the No. 8 high school quarterback in the country by 247Sports.

Venables has seen some of his qualities before — up close.

“Bowe’s pretty cerebral,” Venables said Wednesday as the Sooners officially welcomed the 2026 recruiting class with a morning full of social media posts and a press conference.

“Reminds you a little bit of a Sam Bradford from that standpoint — never too high, never too low. But yeah, every environment he's in, he loves to compete.”

That’s heady stuff, of course. Bradford grew up in Oklahoma City the son of a former OU offensive lineman, wasn’t a priority recruit until Mike Leach identified him at Texas Tech, and then went on to set virtually every single-season passing record in his two full seasons as the starter, which included two Big 12 Championships, a trip to the BCS National Championship Game and the 2008 Heisman Trophy.

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To be clear, Venables isn’t making any predictions about Bentley winning the Heisman or setting records.

But listening to the tone of Venables’ voice, he can’t wait to get Bentley on campus.

“Yeah, just he wins,” Venables said. “A great competitor.

“You know, the anticipation, the accuracy that he throws with, anticipation that he throws with. … the toughness that he plays with. He’s got a great disposition for it — you know, unlike a middle linebacker alpha that’s barking all the time.”

Last year at Celina — just across the Red River, equidistant between Allen and Ardmore — Bentley led his team to a 16-0 record and their first state championship in nearly 20 years. He accounted for more than 4,200 yards total offense (3,211 passing, 923 rushing) and 63 total touchdowns (47 passing). That included 333 total yards and five TDs in the Class 4A Division I State Championship Game, a 55-21 blowout of Kilgore.

He’s got them back in the state playoffs this year — still undefeated at 13-0 as Celina plays Alvarado (12-0) in the quarterfinals on Friday in Mansfield.

OU general manager Jim Nagy said Wednesday that he has been impressed with Bentley for a long time — particularly in one important area.

“I mean, I think you’d just say he's a winner,” Nagy said. “He's never lost a game.”

Nagy revealed that Bentley is currently nursing an injury as he tries to lead Celina back to the state title.

“Cool to see him in the locker room the other day,” Nagy said. “He had his arm in a sling. I didn't know what that was about. So he's going to gut it out and playing, I believe, the state (playoff) game this week.”

Bentley’s visit for the season finale against LSU last week was no surprise.

“Being so close to home, he’s been here basically every week,” Nagy said. “He's been around this team. He's seen why this team has been successful, the grittiness it's taken for this team to go 10-2. And he's just been around it, you know, it feels like Bo has been a part of this team this fall.”

Nagy said getting to watch OU starter John Mateer up close has been huge for Bentley.

“For our future leader of this football team to be around it and see John and see this team has been really valuable,” Nagy said. “So, love Bowe Bentley, love all he's about, love his family. They've done a great job with him.”

Bentley also runs track and plays lacrosse — another trait he shares with Bradford.

“He's year-round,” Venables said. “Stays busy, has his whole life. So whether that's track, it's baseball, it's football — he's got an athletic family. He's got a family that happens to be Sooners, as well, and so that's cool. His brother's gonna play baseball here, and incredibly talented two young twins that are on the clock next.

“But just a great, great family, you know, a family that went through the process. You would love for it to have been easier, but they went through a real process.”

Bentley was recruited and offered by Arizona, Cal, Colorado, Florida State, Georgia, Kansas State, Missouri, Ohio State, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and others. He boiled his final pairing down to OU and LSU, and in June, he picked the Sooners.

“He was recruited by pretty much everybody in the country,” Venables said, “and they needed to go through a process to get to a spot where they had great peace about things. And looking back at him, I'm thankful that they did. The things that we sold them early in the recruiting process, those things have come to fruition.

“Really excited about what Bowe is going to bring to the quarterback room.”