Which Oklahoma Position Groups Improved via the Transfer Portal?

Even after the Sooners reached the CFP in 2025, they needed to reinforce a handful of position groups via the transfer portal.

Virginia Cavaliers wide receiver Trell Harris (11) celebrates with Cavaliers running back Kobe Pace (5) after scoring a touchdown against the Richmond Spiders during the first half at Scott Stadium. | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

The Sooners are in a different spot than they were a year ago overall.

After the 2024 season in which OU finished 6-7, it had to practically reload its entire offense with transfers at every position.

OU went 10-3 in 2025 and made the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019. The Sooners still struggled with offensive inconsistency, but the product was largely better than it was in the season before.

So far, the Sooners have signed 15 players from the transfer portal, 10 of which are offensive players.

Here are three Oklahoma position groups that have improved as a result of the transfer portal:

Wide Receiver

Of the five wideouts that Oklahoma signed from the portal a year ago, Isaiah Sategna was the star.

Sategna, who came to OU from Arkansas, finished his first season in Norman with 965 yards and eight touchdowns on 67 receptions, leading the Sooners in all three categories.

Sategna, though, is one of the only prominent players who will return to OU’s wide receiver room in 2026. Deion Burks is out of eligibility, and Javonnie Gibson, Zion Kearney and Jayden Gibson signed with other programs after the 2025 season.

OU has signed three receivers from the portal: Trell Harris (Virginia), Parker Livingstone (Texas) and Mackenzie Alleyne (Washington State).

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Harris and Livingstone have both proven to be impactful at the Power Four level. In 2025, Harris Harris registered 847 yards and five touchdowns, while Livingstone went for 516 yards and six touchdowns.

Alleyne was a redshirt freshman in 2025, and he caught four passes for 72 yards and a touchdown.

The trio of Sategna, Harris and Livingstone should be on par with — or at least not far behind — some of the SEC’s other star-studded receiver rooms like Texas, Texas A&M and Alabama. Oklahoma’s efforts to grab Harris and Livingstone must be refreshing for OU fans after three of its receiver signees in 2025 came from the FCS ranks.

Plus, OU will return Jer’Michael Carter and Jacob Jordan in 2026, giving the Sooners depth behind their projected starters.

Tight end

Florida tight end Hayden Hansen (89) runs against Florida State during the first half of an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, November 29, 2025. | Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tight end will easily be the Sooners’ most changed position group in 2026.

And it’s hard to argue that the position hasn’t improved in the first month of the offseason.

Oklahoma hired NFL legend and former high school football coach Jason Witten as its new tight ends coach to replace Joe Jon Finley.

The Sooners also signed three tight ends from the transfer portal: Hayden Hansen (Florida), Rocky Beers (Colorado State) and Jack Van Dorselaer (Tennessee).

Hansen went for 254 yards and two touchdowns in his final season with the Gators, while Beers caught seven touchdowns for a 2-10 CSU squad in 2025. Van Dorselaer, a true freshman last year, appeared in all 13 of Tennessee’s games and caught one touchdown pass.

Jaren Kanak was the only tight end who was particularly impactful for OU’s offense in 2025, as the converted linebacker finished the year with 533 yards on 44 catches. Kanak, though, played his final college football game on Dec. 19, when OU lost 34-24 to Alabama in the CFP First Round.

There really isn’t anywhere for OU’s tight end room to go but up. The Sooners needed a makeover at the position group, and they got that.

Cornerback

The biggest area in which Oklahoma’s cornerback room will be better in 2026 is the fact that Courtland Guillory and Eli Bowen will be one year older.

As a true freshman in 2025, Guillory played 640 defensive snaps and logged an impressive 74.2 Pro Football Focus (PFF) defensive grade. Bowen, who missed OU’s first four regular-season games, finished his sophomore year with 24 total tackles, 19 solo tackles, three pass breakups, two interceptions and a pick-six.

Those two will be the starting cornerbacks in 2026, meaning the Sooners didn’t have to go after any high-billed players at the position.

But OU did grab a couple of cornerbacks for depth, signing Dakoda Fields (Oregon) and Prince Ijioma (Mississippi Valley State). Fields, a former 4-star recruit, played in three games for the Ducks as a redshirt freshman in 2025, while Ijioma recorded a 69.9 defensive grade in his final season with the Delta Devils.

While Gentry Williams and Devon Jordan both transferred after the season, the Sooners will have Jacobe Johnson and Trystan Haynes back as reserves in the secondary. The additions of Fields and Ijioma should help the Sooners’ cornerback room stay strong on the first, second and third lines of the depth chart.