Oklahoma Recruiting Report (Feb. 22nd)
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It might be the offseason in Oklahoma and not much is going on across the state in football. But there’s always something to cover and recruiting is in full swing across the state for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 classes. Each week, we’ll take a look at some of the top stories happening in recruiting across Oklahoma. In our latest post today, we put a spotlight on the first four prospects that have given a verbal commitment in the state’s 2024 class. Oklahoma State is off to a great start with the state’s 2024 class as they’ve already landed three in-state commitments and they’ve extended quite a few offers to the 2024 class in the state as well.
(Committed To Oklahoma State – January 17th, 2023) rnStillwater tight end Josh Ford Josh Ford 6’3″ | TE Stillwater | 2024 State OK kicked off the run of Oklahoma State commits last month when he announced he was staying home and committed to the Cowboys. Ford is a prospect with an incredibly high ceiling moving forward. He also continues a trend of top Pioneer prospects staying home and playing for the home team. Top 2022 linebacker Gabe Brown signed with the Cowboys and top 2023 offensive lineman JaKobe Sanders JaKobe Sanders 6’3″ | 285 lbs | OL Stillwater | 2023 State OK signed with OSU. Now, the top 2024 tight end has committed to Oklahoma State and we think that it’s just the beginning for Ford. As we’ve mentioned before, we’ve been fans of Ford as a power five prospect since seeing him in person at a team camp last May. We’re looking forward to seeing how the Pioneers use him this fall as they work in a new quarterback and have to replace several key parts along the offensive line. But Ford is going to provide the Pioneers with a good cornerstone to go after another gold ball.
(Committed To Kansas – November 8th, 2022) rnThe very first commitment in the state’s 2024 class came back in early November as Beggs running back Red Martel Red Martel 5’11” | 195 lbs | RB Beggs | 2024 State OK announced he was committing to Kansas. Martel has been on the radar since his freshman season and has consistently been considered one of the top overall prospects in the state’s 2024 class ever since. Martel burst onto the scene during his first two seasons in the Beggs backfield, despite sharing that backfield with OSU-bound CJ Brown. In 2022, Martel became that feature back within the Beggs offense and he took the opportunity and ran with it. Literally. Martel had a great season as Beggs would have a roller coaster year in the win-loss column. But they made plenty of noise in the Class 2A playoffs when they stunned district champion Rejoice Christian and Martel would go off in that game. The thing that really impresses us about Martel is the fact that he has continued to get better and better every time we have seen him since the first time towards the end of his freshman season.
Highlights
(Committed To Oklahoma State – January 27th, 2023) rnAbout a week and a half after the Ford commitment, Southeast running back Rodney Fields Rodney Fields 6’0″ | RB Del City | 2024 State OK announced his commitment to the Cowboys late in January. It feels like we’ve written about Fields a handful of times in the last two months because he’s had a pretty solid two months to start this year. First, he was the runaway winner of our running back MVP last month at our camp in mid-January. He then vaulted up our 2024 prospect rankings during the last update. He’s also had several marquee performances at a few 7v7 tournaments down in Texas while playing with Sooner 7. And then you throw in the Oklahoma State commitment and Fields has been in the news for a while now. He had an outstanding junior season with the Spartans and firmly established himself as one of the top running back prospects in the state’s 2024 class. Fields is an absolute playmaker with the ball in his hands and we’re very impressed with what’s next for him this offseason as well as this fall with the Spartans.
(Committed To Oklahoma State – February 16th, 2023) rnThe most recent commitment came last week when Choctaw standout Will Smith Will Smith 6’4″ | 240 lbs | DL Choctaw | 2024 State OK announced his commitment to the Cowboys and Oklahoma State. We’ve known about Smith for a little over a year now and we’ve told the story about he first got on our radar with his play on the basketball court. The raw athleticism that we saw there has translated incredibly well to the football field and Smith was one of the breakout stars of the 2022 season as a defensive end or outside linebacker, whichever way you want to look at it. Smith and 2023 defensive end and Tulsa signee RJ Jackson RJ Jackson 6’4″ | DL Choctaw | 2023 State OK combined to make up one of the top rushing duos in the state, regardless of classification. Now with Jackson headed to Tulsa, Smith will get his opportunity to be the marquee rush end and Choctaw has had a good run of them over the last few years. In fact, the Choctaw to OSU pipeline has been kind to defensive ends. 2022 defensive end DeSean Brown signed with the Cowboys last year. Smith has firmly established himself as a top prospect in the 2024 class.