All Sooners

Oklahoma Lands Commitment from Another Local OL Star

Bixby's Kaeden Penny joined Fort Gibson's Cooper Hackett when they committed to the Sooners on Wednesday night.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma offensive line commit Kaeden Penny
Oklahoma offensive line commit Kaeden Penny | Bixby Athletics via Twitter

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Oklahoma Sooners

Jim Nagy and his personnel staff at Oklahoma were working late into the night on recruiting.

Their efforts paid off Thursday morning as another elite in-state offensive line prospect joined the Sooners.

Kaeden Penny, a 4-star offensive lineman in the 2027 class from high school juggernaut Bixby, OK, pledged to OU, according to On3 recruiting insider Hayes Fawcett.

Reports of Penny’s verbal commitment came just minutes after OU pulled off a flip and landed a verbal commitment from 5-star offensive lineman Cooper Hackett, one of the top overall prospects in the 2027 class. Hackett, the top player in Oklahoma in the 2027 recruiting class, had given his verbal commitment to Texas Tech on Aug. 30, but Nagy, head coach Brent Venables and the OU staffs continued.

At 10:55 p.m. Wednesday, OU’s general manager posted a tweet indicating he had some good news. While many surmised it was related to quarterback John Mateer’s hand surgery Wednesday morning, Nagy’s tweet was a response to Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line room getting much better in the future.

At just after 11 p.m. Wednesday, OU director of high school scouting Kale Pearson followed with a tantalizing post. 

Penny is a 6-foot-4, 265-pound junior at Bixby. He chose OU over Ohio State, as well as offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, LSU, Miami, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, SMU, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, among others. 

247Sports rates Penny as the No. 2 interior offensive lineman in the nation and the No. 51 overall player nationally in the 2027 class, as well as the No. 2 overall player in the state of Oklahoma — behind only Hackett.

As Bixby has now won seven consecutive Class 6A state championships, Penny has developed into a key component under coach Loren Montgomery. 

Penny also has played on the Spartans’ defensive line. In 2024, he recorded 18 tackles, two sacks and seven quarterback hurries as a sophomore defensive tackle. 

Penny’s recruiting got going on the FBS level in January 2024 when Boston College offered him a scholarship. In May of that year, Texas Tech and Arkansas offered. Kansas offered on Oct. 10 of last year, and Oklahoma came through with an offer on Oct. 19, cording to 247Sports.

After that, Penny landed offers from Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Nebraska, Baylor, TCU and SMU in January alone. Texas A&M offered in March, and since then he has five more SEC offers as well as Ohio State and  Miami.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN 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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