Will Oklahoma’s Transfer Cornerbacks Contribute Immediately to Secondary?

The Sooners didn't make any "splashes" when adding to their secondary from the portal, but they did land two players who could contribute immediately.

Oklahoma cornerback Prince Ijioma practices during fall camp. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

NORMAN — Even after losing a handful of defensive backs to graduation and the transfer portal, Oklahoma didn’t have to do much retooling with its secondary.

The Sooners graduated safety Robert Spears-Jennings after the 2025 season, while Devon Jordan, Kendel Dolby and Jaydan Hardy all transferred out. The Sooners, though, retained several likely starters — like cornerbacks Courtland Guillory and Eli Bowen and safeties Peyton Bowen and Michael Boganowski.

Still, the Sooners went into the portal to sign two cornerbacks: Prince Ijioma and Dakoda Fields.

Bowen and Guillory will hold down the starting cornerback spots, while senior Jacobe Johnson will be a reliable backup behind those two.

But assistant defensive backs coach Xavier Brewer is confident that Ijioma and Fields will be impactful whenever they’re called upon.

“Continued growth — we do a lot on defense, so coming in in January, it’s really hard to get acclimated with what we do, the demands we have on these guys,” Brewer said. “But what I've seen from them is (they’re) guys that can run and that can cover guys that have a lot of ability that just need to learn the system.”

Here’s what to know about each of OU’s transfer cornerbacks:

Dakoda Fields

Fields was a highly touted prospect out of high school. He was a consensus 4-star recruit and chose to begin his college career at Oregon.

His time in Eugene, however, was rocky.

Fields tore his ACL in the weeks leading up to the 2024 season, forcing him to miss his entire freshman season. Then, in 2025, Fields got healthy enough to play for the Ducks, and he appeared in three of their early-season games. Fields abruptly left Oregon in the middle of its 2025 season and ultimately transferred to OU in January.

The transfer cornerback has yet to become a star, or even a regular contributor at the collegiate level. But Fields still has plenty of untapped potential to offer, and cornerbacks coach LaMar Morgan previously said that he’d be “surprised” if OU doesn’t get the best out of him.

Prince Ijioma

Ijioma’s journey to Norman was entirely different from Fields’.

As an unranked prospect, Ijioma began his college career at Mississippi Valley State, which competes at the NCAA Division I FCS level.

Ijioma appeared in 10 games as a true freshman in 2024 before breaking out in 2025. He finished his last season at MVSU with 39 tackles and four pass breakups, and he started in 10 of the Delta Devils’ 12 games.

Transferring in from a middling FCS program, Ijioma hasn’t gotten much attention leading up to the 2026 season. But after logging a 70.9 Pro Football Focus (PFF) defensive grade in 2025, he could be an under-the-radar contributor in his first season at Oklahoma.