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Oklahoma Earns a Running Back Pledge for 2027 Class

After losing a running back commit, Deland McCullough is finding new talent to replenish the running back room for 2027.
Brady Trantham|
Oklahoma running backs coach Deland McCullough looks on during one of the Sooners' spring practices.
Oklahoma running backs coach Deland McCullough looks on during one of the Sooners' spring practices. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

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Oklahoma Sooners

The Sooners added to their running back depth in the class of 2027.

Jakoby Dixon, a three-star running back recruit from the John Cooper High School in the Houston area, has verbally committed to the University of Oklahoma — tallying the total tailback commitments at two with four-star Keldrid Ben.

This was first reported by On3's Hayes Fawcett.

Dixon's pledge comes after the decommitment of three-star Jaxsen Stokes, who flipped from Oklahoma to stay home with the California Golden Bears.

A three-star player according to On3 and 247Sports, Dixon is 5-9, 205-pound back chose the Sooners over schools like Houston, Florida, Baylor and Miami.

Oklahoma Sooners, Deland McCullough
Oklahoma running backs coach Deland McCullough directs a drill during a spring practice. | Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

Dixon started his preps career at Brenham High School, northwest of Houston, as a freshman and sophomore. During his sophomore year in 2024, Dixon earned TSWA Class 5A All-State honors after rushing for 2,250 yards and logging 270 receiving yards with 35 touchdowns last season.

Dixon also notched a seven-touchdown performance against Killeen.

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Before his junior season began in 2025, Dixon transferred to the John Cooper School, a private school located in The Woodlands area north of Houston. He only had 22 rushing attempts for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

He has since returned to Brenham High School, where he will finish his senior season.

Dixon's quiet junior campaign may have led to his slight dip in recruiting rankings. Despite this, Dixon is listed as the No. 51 running back in the 2027 class and the the No. 100 overall player in the state of Texas.

Running backs coach Deland McCullough stopped by Brenham High School to watch Dixon's spring game performance on May 14. OU had already offered Dixon by the end of April.

The 2027 class is still ranked No. 1 in the nation per 247Sports and No. 3 according to On3 — Texas A&M and Texas Tech are ahead of the Sooners.

The other running back commit, Ben, is from Montgomery, Texas and is a consensus 4-star recruit, and he is ranked No. 86 overall in the latest Rivals300 rankings.

Earlier in the spring, OU also lost a commit from the class of 2028 in Micah Rhodes. Both Rhodes and Stokes' loss have been attributed to former running backs coach DeMarco Murray moving on to the NFL to coach the same position with the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Brady Trantham
BRADY TRANTHAM

Brady Trantham covered the Oklahoma City Thunder as the lead Thunder Insider from 2018 until 2021 for 107.7 The Franchise. During that time, Trantham also helped the station as a fill-in guest personality and co-hosted Oklahoma Sooner postgame shows. Trantham also covered the Thunder for the Norman Transcript and The Oklahoman on a freelance basis. He received his BA in history from the University of Oklahoma in 2014 and a BS in Sports Casting from Full Sail University in 2023. Trantham also founded and hosts the “Through the Keyhole” podcast, covering Oklahoma Sooners football. He was born in Oklahoma and raised as an Air Force brat all over the world before returning to Norman and setting down roots there.

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