The Red River Rivalry is so great for so many reasons and one storyline is that there have been great recruiting battles between Texas and Oklahoma. Here are some that will make this year’s version so interesting heading into Saturday:
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The Denton (Texas) Ryan standout committed to Texas early in his recruitment and he stuck with the Longhorns for more than a year but backed off that commitment midway through his senior season.
About three weeks later, Bowman pledged to Oklahoma over LSU and Georgia as he finished as a high four-star prospect at No. 48 in the Rivals250 and second at athlete behind only Texas signee Ja’Tavion Sanders.
Heading into this season, Bowman has tallied 145 tackles and nine interceptions including six a year ago. The high four-star has 15 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery so far this season.
The Arlington (Texas) Bowie finished as a five-star prospect, the No. 14 prospect in the 2022 Rivals250, the top-ranked offensive guard and second in the Texas state rankings behind only Clemson quarterback signee Cade Klubnik
Will Campbell back up his five-star ranking and be a first-round NFL Draft pick? That’s yet to be seen but he hasn’t shown up yet in many mock drafts that high. Still, he has been a critical piece at right guard for the Longhorns over the last two seasons as he was one of the strongest, toughest and no-nonsense offensive lineman we’ve seen in some time.
Ohio State, Florida and Miami were others involved in Jackson’s recruitment but Texas and Oklahoma were also very much right there as he committed to the Sooners in the summer before his senior season.
There were so many top prospects at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy including fellow DL David Stone, who also signed with the Sooners, but Jackson was stellar in the middle of the defensive line and has a bright future ahead. So far, the former four-star in the 2024 class has totaled seven tackles in four games.
Texas, Oklahoma, LSU and Notre Dame were the four main contenders in Lewis’ recruitment as the four-star linebacker from Carthage, Texas committed to the Sooners in the spring before his senior season.
A tackling machine in high school who finished No. 194 in the Rivals250 and No. 15 at outside linebacker in the 2022 class, Lewis is tied for third on the Sooners with 15 tackles so far this season.
On the day that coach Lincoln Riley announced he was leaving Oklahoma for USC, the four-star linebacker from Lubbock (Texas) Cooper backed off his pledge to the Sooners. A week or so later, McKinzie committed to Texas and told me, “(Texas) is where I belong honestly.”
But when the Sooners hired defensive-minded Brent Venables and he went to work on flipping McKinzie back, the four-star jumped on board and ended up flipping to Oklahoma in one of the wildest ends to a recruitment in the 2022 class.
Last season, McKinzie totaled 22 tackles and three pass deflections. So far this year, he has seven tackles in four games.
Coming out of Spearman, Texas, the diminutive four-star receiver picked the Longhorns over Texas A&M and Oklahoma State but he played only one season in Austin and didn’t make much of an impact before transferring to Oklahoma.
Thompson has not lived up to his ranking yet - he was No. 144 overall and the No. 23 receiver in the 2022 class - as the former four-star is third on the Sooners with eight catches for 76 yards and one score heading into the massive matchup against his former team this weekend.
After two very impressive and productive seasons at TCU, Williams hit the transfer portal and it was a really competitive recruitment as it ended up between Oklahoma and LSU but Texas was also involved in landing the standout defensive lineman.
The Sooners won out and so far this season Williams, a three-star defensive end from Mission Hills (Calif.) Bishop Alemany who first committed to Cal before flipping to TCU, has totaled 11 tackles, one sack and a quarterback hurry so far this season.
