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Looking Back on Oklahoma's 2021 Recruiting Class, Sooner Summit, and OU’s Core Four

Lincoln Riley's best class never really got started and certainly didn't live up to its potential after he took off for USC and almost everyone scattered to the transfer portal.
John E. Hoover|
Looking Back on Oklahoma's 2021 Recruiting Class, Sooner Summit, and OU’s Core Four
Looking Back on Oklahoma's 2021 Recruiting Class, Sooner Summit, and OU’s Core Four

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Oklahoma Sooners

The Sooner Summit was a promising glimpse into what once looked like an almost limitless future for Oklahoma.

Instead, it’s become just a bad memory for Sooner Nation, and almost a punch line for enemy fan bases.

It was August 2020, and the pandemic was still raging. The college football season was in peril — some conferences and divisions didn’t even play or tried out a truncated schedule — and the 2021 freshman class was prohibited by the NCAA from taking their official college visits.

So Caleb Williams organized the Sooner Summit, a voluntary opportunity for OU’s highest-profile recruits from around the country to travel on their own dime to Norman for an unofficial visit.

More than 16 high school prospects attended, and the whole thing was directed by Williams, the 5-star, can’t-miss quarterback who had committed to Lincoln Riley, Alex Grinch and the Sooners a month earlier, and then went on to win the starting job as a freshman at OU and the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore at USC.

Players gathered at a Norman hotel, hung out, went out to dinner in Oklahoma City, met with OU coaches via video and then assembled on campus the next day for an unofficial campus tour. Like many things Williams did, it was simply unprecedented.

In addition to Williams, there were offensive linemen, running backs, wide receivers, linebackers, defensive backs and more — some already committed to OU, some still uncommitted, most in the ’21 class, but a few in ’22 — and all were talking about suiting up for the Crimson and Cream.

2023-24 Oklahoma Player Tracker

But instead of coming together and carving a collective legacy and making history as members of the 2021 recruiting class — a class that 247 Sports ranked No. 6 nationally — the class is hardly recognizable just three years later.

When the NCAA Transfer Portal opened on Dec. 4, two more from the Sooners’ ballyhooed 2021 class jumped in.

That left just four — call them Oklahoma's Core Four.

Of the 16 freshmen or jucos who signed with OU that year — including 13 4-star prospects and one 5-star — only four remain on the roster ahead of the Alamo Bowl and will presumably play their senior season in Norman:

Safety Billy Bowman, defensive end Ethan Downs, wide receiver Jalil Farooq and linebacker Danny Stutsman.

“Yeah, I mean, we’ve talked about this ever since we got on campus,” Stutsman said last week. “Our time is now. It’s crazy with the transfer portal, the turnaround.”

All four of them have been invaluable members of the team, sold on the program at a young age, nonplussed by Riley’s abrupt departure, wholly bought into Brent Venables’ culture, and now all wildly productive football players who are Sooners through and through. Stutsman has been the most visible of the four, even posting a hype video on social media featuring himself with Sooner legend Brian Bosworth making the announcement of his return.

“It’s great for the locker room, for the fans and for this culture,” Bowman said. “It's great to have a guy like Danny come back and finish his last season out.

Saturday's notes from Sooner Summit, including full list of participants

“We live in a different time now where people are trying to make a rush to go somewhere. I'm not in no rush. That's going to be there, so let me finish my college. Let me finish my school. Let me finish these things. Then I'll get on to the next stage of my life.”

The transfer portal is always open, of course, and the future isn’t set. But at this point it would be a shock to see any of that quartet not finish their college careers as Sooners.

That year’s class also included nine four-year transfers, six of whom finished (or likely will finish) their college careers with OU: Michael Turk, Wanya Morris, Eric Gray, Mike Woods, Josh Plaster and Robert Congel. Among those six, only Plaster remains on the roster.

But as valuable as those transfers were, it was Riley’s final class of freshmen that will always be lamented as a massively missed opportunity, a voluminous waste of recruiting budget and time and effort, and almost an entire class lost to a coach’s shocking and clumsy departure.

Here’s a look at how the Sooners’ 2021 freshman class evolved — and dissolved:

DB Billy Bowman

Denton, TX

Three-year starter and made first-team All-Big 12 in 2023. Played in eight games in 2021 as a true freshman with 21 tackles and one forced fumble. Played in 11 games with 60 tackles and three interceptions and two fumbles in 2022. Started 12 games with 61 tackles, six INTs and three pick-sixes this year. Announced last week he will return for his senior year in 2024.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Georgia, LSU, Texas

OL Savion Byrd

Duncanville, TX

Played in 2022, became a starter in 2023, but lost his starting job. Played in eight games and logged 181 offensive snaps. Entered the transfer portal on Dec. 4. Hasn’t announced his new school yet.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: LSU, SMU, Texas

DT Isaiah Coe

Homewood, IL

Played in 36 games and was a regular starter in his three seasons since signing as a junior college transfer, with 55 career tackles, 15 tackles for loss and three QB sacks. Eligibility expires after the Alamo Bowl.

247 Sports Rating: 3-star

Chose OU over: Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss

DE Ethan Downs

Weatherford, OK

Led the Sooners in 2022 and again in 2023 with 4.5 quarterback sacks each season. Has played in 33 games with 80 tackles, 23 TFLs and 9.5 sacks with two total fumbles. Played 491 snaps this season and logged a Pro Football Focus grade of 75.1. Will be a senior in 2024.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: LSU, Penn State, Texas

WR Jalil Farooq

Lanham, MD

Has 81 catches for 1,167 yards and 7 touchdowns receiving in his three seasons, plus another 240 yards rushing and 697 yards on kickoff returns. Recorded 37 catches for 466 yards and five TDs last year and 41 for 637 and two this year. Hasn’t announced his plans for 2024, saying last week, “Haven’t decided. But I feel like I’m going to stay, most likely.”

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Alabama, Clemson, LSU

DE Kelvin Gilliam

Richmond, VA

Played in four games as a freshman and nine as a sophomore, then played six games as a backup in 2023. Made 10 career tackles and landed Academic All-Big 12 honors. Entered the transfer portal on Dec. 7 and hasn't announced his new school yet.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Notre Dame, Penn State, South Carolina

DB Damond Harmon

Richmond, VA

Played in seven games as a true freshman, then logged 11 games and two starts as a sophomore. Made 22 tackles in his first two seasons. Entered the transfer portal in spring of 2023 and landed at North Carolina A&T, where he has not recorded any stats.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Georgia, Penn State, Tennessee

WR Cody Jackson

Richmond, TX

Played in two games as a true freshman and caught 5 passes for 45 yards. Entered the transfer portal in spring of 2022 and landed at Houston, where he played in four games and didn’t record any stats.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Alabama, LSU, Texas

CB Latrell McCutchin

Austin, TX

Played in nine games with one start and recorded nine tackles and two forced fumbles as a true freshman. Entered the transfer portal after the 2021 season and landed at USC, where he played in 14 games with two starts in 2022 with 22 tackles and a fumble recovery, then transferred to Houston, where he did not play in 2023.

247 Sports Rating: 3-star

Chose OU over: Alabama

OL Cullen Montgomery

Pearland, TX

Didn’t play in his first two years at Oklahoma. Entered the transfer portal in spring 2023 and landed at Memphis, where he’s a backup left tackle.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M

DB Jordan Mukes

Choctaw, OK

Played in 11 games as a true freshman (mostly on special teams) with four tackles. Played just one snap in 2022. Entered the transfer portal in November 2022 and landed at FCS Abilene Christian, where he played in four games in 2023, making four tackles.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Arkansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State

DE Nathan Rawlins-Kabonge

Portland, OR

Didn’t play in 2021 as a true freshman. Announced his entrance into the transfer portal in April 2022 and landed at South Alabama, where he played in three games in 2022 and three games in 2023, with a total of two tackles.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Arizona State, Stanford

LB Clayton Smith

Queen City, TX

Played in four games in 2021 and four games in 2022, with a high of 35 snaps and four tackles at Nebraska. Entered the transfer portal in December 2022 and landed at Arizona State, where he played in 11 games in 2023 and made 21 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 quarterback sacks and had seven quarterback hurries.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Florida State, LSU, Oregon, Texas

LB Danny Stutsman

Windermere, FL

Led the Sooners with 126 tackles last year and 99 tackles (so far) this year, with 28 tackles for loss, seven sacks, three interceptions and five total fumbles. Made first-team All-Big 12 this season and was accorded numerous All-America honors. Announced last week he will return for his senior year in 2024.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, West Virginia

QB Caleb Williams

Washington, DC
 Took over as starting QB midway through his freshman season and threw for 1,912 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2021. Entered the transfer portal in January 2022 and landed at USC with Lincoln Riley, where he passed for 4,537 yards and 42 touchdowns and won the 2022 Heisman Trophy, and this season passed for 3,633 yards and 30 touchdowns. In three collegiate seasons has 10,082 passing yards and 93 TDs with 14 INTs. Also rushed for 966 yards and 27 TDs. Hasn’t announced his plans for 2024.

247 Sports Rating: 5-star

Chose OU over: LSU, Maryland

WR Mario Williams

Tampa, FL

Played 12 games as a true freshman in 2021 with 35 catches for 380 yards and four touchdowns. Entered the transfer portal in January 2022 and landed at USC, where he caught 40 passes for 631 yards and five TDs as a sophomore in 2022 and 29 for 305 and two TDs in 2023. Entered the transfer portal again and hasn’t announced his new school yet.

247 Sports Rating: 4-star

Chose OU over: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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