When Brent Venables was hired in December of 2021 to be the 23rd full-time head football coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, one of the biggest things that got fans excited was his recruiting ability, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Now, as he heads into Year 4 on the job, he’ll need a big season from his first recruiting class at OU if he wants to keep his job in Norman.
The 2021 recruiting class was former head coach Lincoln Riley’s final class at OU. Those players signed in December of 2020, when Venables was still the defensive coordinator at Clemson. That 2021 class featured names like Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman and Ethan Downs, who were three of Oklahoma’s best players in 2024. The only player left from the Riley era that appears on OU’s 2025 spring football roster is veteran reserve wide receiver Major Melson. Riley left at the end of the regular season in 2021. The 2022 recruiting class, scheduled to sign in mere weeks, was left in tatters. Not to mention that the 2023 class had to be re-built completely from the ground up by Venables and his staff, save for offensive lineman Joshua Bates, who transferred to SMU this winter. Bates was the only player in the 2023 class who committed to Riley and eventually signed to play for Venables. The 2024 class and all future classes at Oklahoma were players who committed to Venables and his staff.
So, that leaves the 2022 class as a hybrid between the two coaches with opposite ideologies. These are the players who signed to play for Venables in December of 2021, weeks after Riley left and Venables was hired. As fate would have it, those players are now in line to play a crucial role in the success or failure of the 2025 team.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Sooners are looking to bounce back after a rough year in 2024. New offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle needs to be able to rely on some of his fourth-year veterans to move the ball in the new system. Players like running backs Gavin Sawchuk and Jovantae Barnes, wide receiver Jayden Gibson, tight ends Kaden Helms and Jaren Kanak and offensive linemen Jacob Sexton and Jake Taylor could all find themselves playing large roles as some of the longest-tenured players on this roster.
Sawchuk, Helms, Sexton and Taylor had all previously committed to Oklahoma under Riley. Barnes had previously received an offer, but didn’t commit until January of 2022. Gibson and Kanak weren’t on Riley’s radar, but Venables was able to land their signatures in short order.
But it’s on defense, where Venables takes over the play-calling and has to replace so much veteran production, that the 2022 class really has a chance to shine.
Defensive linemen Gracen Halton and R Mason Thomas, linebackers Kip Lewis and Kobie McKinzie and defensive backs Robert Spears-Jennings and Gentry Williams make up part of the core of OU’s defense heading into a pivotal year. All came from Venables’ very first class, and he’s the reason most of them ended up in Norman.
Halton and Thomas, two of OU’s best players up front, weren’t recruited by Riley, but Venables was able to get them to sign with the Sooners after very little time on the job. Lewis, Spears-Jennings and Williams were all Riley-era commits who Venables convinced to stay on board.
McKinzie originally committed to Texas Tech, then decommitted and committed to Riley and the Sooners in January of 2020. He decommitted again after Riley and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch left for USC, and wound up committing to Texas. But Venables was able to flip him back to OU in time for signing day. Fast forward to the spring of 2025 and McKinzie is taking over the spot vacated by Stutsman in the middle of the Sooner defense.
As Venables and the staff head into a “prove-it” year, they’ll be leaning on this 2022 recruiting class to lead the way in their fourth seasons together in Norman.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma needs big year from 2022 recruiting class
