Both the Early Signing Period and National Signing Day have come and gone for the 2026 high school recruiting class in college football. The Oklahoma Sooners signed 25 total players in the ’26 class, with 11 players on offense, 13 players on defense, and one player on special teams.
All but one of those players signed with the Sooners on December 3rd, during the Early Signing Period, but OU was also able to land three-star defensive back LeBron Bauer on National Signing Day on February 4th to complete their 2026 class.
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With the cycle complete and the focus turning to the 2027 and 2028 classes, ESPN released their final team recruiting rankings for the 2026 class, compiled by Craig Haubert.
OU was ranked as Haubert’s No. 17 recruiting class, placing them at eighth in the SEC. A total of nine SEC teams made the top 25 spots in the rankings, over half the conference.
Oklahoma’s haul is headlined by Jake Kreul, the gem of OU’s class, at defensive lineman. The Sooners also landed a dynamic duo in the backfield tandem of quarterback Bowe Bentley and running back Jonathan Hatton Jr. who they hope can both be a big part of the future of the offense in Norman.
Head coach Brent Venables, general manager Jim Nagy, and their respective staffs clearly built on the momentum gained from the Sooners winning 10 games and making the College Football Playoff in 2025. They heard the negative recruiting after a six-win season in 2024, and they got to work on and off the field to change that.
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The 2026 class will go down as Nagy’s first class with the Sooners, as Oklahoma looks to start leading the way in the transfer portal/NIL/revenue sharing era of college football, instead of trailing behind. However, the best way to improve upon a 17th-ranked class is to continue to win on the field and show recruits that championships will be won at OU under Venables and Nagy.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Where did the Oklahoma Sooners fall in ESPN’s recruiting class rank?
