What Brent Venables, Jim Nagy said about OU's 2026 signees on offense
NORMAN — Oklahoma signed 24 high school players to its 2026 recruiting class on Wednesday.
Powered by a strong finish, the Sooners’ 2026 class ranks 16th nationally, per Rivals. It’s also the first recruiting class led by OU general manager Jim Nagy.
“Really excited about the depth of this class,” OU coach Brent Venables said. “We’ve really hit all of the targets that we set out to. It’s been a long several months. I don’t know how long it’s been since we started. Many of these guys, several of them, we’ve been recruiting them for a couple cycles now. We really landed in a good space. Would be remiss if I didn’t take this moment just to think our staff, our front office, all of our coaches, our players in our locker room.
“You don’t put together the quality of a class that we are able to do so without a lot of intentional effort, a lot of people pulling together, selling the vision of the program. Just a lot of relentless work in making it happen.”
Here’s a look at what Venables and Nagy said about all 11 of the offensive signees:
(Note: Everything Venables and Nagy said about the defensive players can be viewed here).
Bowe Bentley, QB
Venables: “He wins. A great competitor, the accuracy he throws with, the anticipation he throws with, the guts and the toughness he plays with, he’s got a great disposition for it unlike a middle linebacker or an alpha that’s barking all the time, Bowe is pretty cerebral, reminds you a little bit of Sam Bradford from that standpoint. Never too high, never too low. Every environment he’s in he loves to compete. He’s year-around, stays busy, has his whole life whether that’s track, baseball, football. He’s got an athletic family. He’s got a family that happens to be Sooners as well. So that’s cool.
His brother is signed to play baseball here. Incredibly talented… A family that went through the process, for you would have hoped it would’ve been easier, but they went through a real process. He was recruited by pretty much everybody in the country and they needed to get through a process to get to a spot that had great peace about things and looking back at it I’m thankful they did. Things that we sold them in the recruiting process, those things have come to fruition and really could say that about the whole class. Really excited about what Bowe is going to bring to the quarterback room.
Nagy: “I think you just say he’s a winner. He’s never lost a game. Cool to see him in the locker room the other day. He had his arm in a sling, I didn’t know what that was about, so he’s gonna gut it out and I believe play in the state title game this week. But seeing Bowe, the cool thing with Bowe being so close to home is he’s been here basically every week. He’s been around this team. He’s seen why this team has been successful, the grittiness by this team to go 10-2 and he’s just been around it. It feels like Bowe’s been a part of this team, a couple of these guys, Noah Best, I mean there’s a few guys that have been at it feels like every game. But for our future leader of this football team to be around it and see John and see this team has been really valuable. So love Bowe Bentley, love all he’s about. Love the family. They’ve done a good job with him.”
Jayden Petit, WR
Venables: “Got a freak-a-zoid out of Florida in the Tampa-area in Jayden Petit. Guy that was a long commit to another school but a guy that we’ve had our sights set on for a long time. Big, strong, athletic, amazing, not only in catch-radius but his strain at the top of the route, again, for a guy in high school is just a little bit different. He’s a kid that’s quiet, he’s got great confidence, great work ethic, he’s a real simple guy, comes from an amazing family.
“Jayden’s a really spiritual guy and I think he just had a peace about coming to Oklahoma. And so he’s gonna jump into a great group, and really feel like he’s — from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint — he’s gonna be able to jump in right away and help make that position immediately better.”
Nagy: “Jayden Petit, as Brent said we chased him pretty hard. He was one of my favorite players when I got here in March that was currently on the board.”
Jahsiear Rogers, WR
Venables: “Fantastic player. With the ball in his hands, he can score at any point in time. Again, loves to compete. He’s been out here several times here this fall. Real excited about the playmaking ability of Jahsiear.”
Xavier Okwufulueze, WR
Venables: “He’s going to be a fantastic player. And he’s got tremendous athletic ability, great upside, great spirit, all of his best days are in front of him. Hadn’t played football a long time, but the way he can jump – he’s got an amazing catch radius – and just amazing competitive spirit that is going to serve him well.”
Daniel Odom, WR
Venables: “Daniel Odom, again, comes from one of the best programs in the country out in California. Bosco High School. Got great size, he’s ready to play. We’ll see if he has all the other stuff and willingness to come in, which we believe he does, to work and learn the new system and compete and those types of things. But man, incredibly polished, got great size to him. Tremendous hands. Going to be a really really good one.”
Jonathan Hatton Jr., RB
Venables: “Got a guy we’ve been recruiting, a former commit, in Jonathan Hatton, and that came full circle. It’s about relationships. I think Jonathan will tell his own story at some point in time. But DeMarco (Murray) did a great job staying in touch with the family, they’re the right kind of people. Jonathan comes from one of the best programs in the entire country, at Cibolo Steele High School. Had a fantastic senior year. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s 6-2, he’s 220 plus pounds and he can fly. He’s got great instincts, got great ball skills, he’s a great human being. Real excited to get him back in that group.”
DeZephen Walker, RB
Venables: “Great power, great speed, great instincts, great family. His dad played college football. Had a cup of coffee in the NFL. He’s got great genes to him. But all his best days are in front of him as well.”
Ryder Mix, TE
Venables: “Ryder, his dad played baseball here and man, he’s mean as a snake. He’s got great quickness, really savvy football player, tore his ACL his senior year here. He’ll be back and better than ever.”
Nagy: “Love Ryder. Texas-tough kid, shows up every week with his cowboy boots on. Unfortunately he suffered an injury so he’s going to come here and be rehabbing but we love his toughness, he’s what we’re all about.”
Tyler Ruxer, TE
Venables: “Tyler Ruxer, that we found later in the recruiting process and thankfully we did. He’s a tremendous athlete. He doesn’t leave the field on both sides of the field. A great special teams player. But a tremendous competitor, great instincts, great ball skills and people across the country still fighting all the way to the 11th hour trying to get him to flip. So, thankful for his loyalty along with everyone else.”
Nagy: “Rux was a really fun find. We were just scrolling high school track times last year and I think he was the fastest tight end in the country, ran 11-flat hundred meter so that’s rolling for a tight end, so we think we can get some cool playmaking ability out of Tyler.”
Noah Best & Deacon Schmitt, OL
Venables: “Noah Best and Deacon Schmitt both are guys that are very versatile. Can play inside and outside. Noah can play the interior, whether that’s center, either guard. Deacon can play outside, he’s athletic enough to play outside, but also can help you inside. Really important for us to be efficient from a roster standpoint. Find guys that have great position flexibility when you can. So those two guys fit that bill. Again, both come from fantastic programs, one in Colorado, best in Color, or uh in Texas. Then Deacon Schmitt Colorado.”
Nagy: “Noah Best and Deacon Schmitt, position versatility is key. And Deacon’s ability to play both guard and tackle and then Noah more interior guard to center is going to be huge. We can’t have any one position players moving forward, that gets you in a lot of trouble with your roster. So both of those guys can move around quite a bit. Deacon Schmitt is just a lot of fun to watch. He’s an absolute bully. He’s going to be the benchmark moving forward of guys we want to add on this offensive line. Got a great FaceTime with him today. He has had his OU parking spot at high school painted out all fall which is pretty awesome. He and his family are all about OU.”
Trace Rudd, K
Venables: “A guy we feel is the best kicker in the country out of high school in Trace Rudd. He’s got a lot of the qualities that our current kicker does in regards to his confidence and his toughness. We had him at camp this summer and the ball just exploded off his foot, man. You could just close your eyes and hear the leg speed and the explosiveness, the physicality in which he punches the ball is really something.”
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