Oklahoma receives commitment from edge rusher Dane Bathurst

Carmel (Ind.) High edge rusher Dane Bathurst has committed to Oklahoma. The Sunshine State native who played his senior season in the Indianapolis area chose to play for head coach Brent Venables and the Sooners over Vanderbilt, Purdue and many others.

Bathurst is a former Duke commit that also had a late offer from Nebraska.

“Feeling,” Bathurst said, adding this was a back and forth with the Commodores over the past couple days. “I slept on it a couple nights. There are a lot of factors that went into it and I’m excited.”

Linebackers coach Nate Dreiling recruited the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Bathurst to Norman. Dreiling’s father coached Bathurst’s uncle in high school. Bathurst’s mother is from the same high school as Venables.

Those connections and the official visit last weekend ago which included the win over Missouri made Bathurst feel comfortable with his future at Oklahoma.

“Coach Dreiling is a good guy,” Bathurst said. “They have a great program. They have a good locker room. The culture, the people and they setup their players for success. That’s what I really like.”

Bathurst is commit No. 25 for Venables and his staff in the 2026 class. He adds to a haul ranked No. 15 nationally.

“National Championship,” Bathurst said of the program trajectory. “We have all the pieces we need to do it all, and the resources we need to make it happen.”

As a senior in eight games, the explosive Bathurst had 56 tackles, 11 for loss and six sacks. He is a relentless player with a lot of upside.

”He helped change the culture,” Carmel coach Kevin Wright said of Bathurst who moved up from Tampa (Fla.) Plant prior to the season. “I’ll never forget he made the comment early in June, he goes ‘some guys think that we have to practice,’ he goes ‘we get to practice!’ It’s that mentality when you’re trying to flip things around from the last few years and get to the championship mentality you have to have.

”He’s made us better in practice,” Wright said. “He’s made our offensive line in practice better because he’s that physical. What you see is he’s brought it out in other guys.”