NSD Review: Sooners Quarterbacks
As we review Oklahoma’s 2024 class that is, largely, put to bed we’ll have to look back at how the Sooners got here and few positions could be more interesting than quarterback. The Sooners not only added two signal callers in the class but did so in spite of losing their quarterbacks coach in late November.
Michael Hawkins Keeps it in the Family
Since he began to emerge very early in his high school career there was always a question of just how much interesting Michael Hawkins would have in the Sooners. From the outside looking in, it seemed a simple matter – his father, Michael Sr., played at Oklahoma under Brent Venables and co. Surely his son’s return to Norman was written in the stars, right?
Well, not so fast my friend as Hawkins and Oklahoma took some time to get off the ground. The explosive signal caller reeled in offers from coast to coast but Jeff Lebby was patient with Hawkins and waited for a strong camp performance to extend an offer in June of 2022.
Hawkins would go on to have a strong junior season at Allen. In that junior season he accounted for over 2,400 yards of offense and 24 touchdowns. However, after the year, some off field ugliness would lead to a change of schools.
The Hawkins family, including 2025 Sooners defensive back offer Maliek Hawkins, made the move to Frisco Emerson and not long after the Sooners got their legacy quarterback in 2024. Though plenty of quarterbacks were interested in Norman for the last few decades. For Hawkins it was about seeing how things changed after the arrival of Brent Venables.
“Once Coach V got there, the culture changed,” Hawkins detailed. “Oklahoma has come a long way with the culture over there. You can instantly tell that everyone is together as a whole, as a family.”
As a senior Hawkins would see a massive jump in his numbers when he got to Emerson. After a strong junior season he was a 69-percent passer as a senior and nearly 3,800 yards of offense along with an unbelievable 52 touchdowns.
And after several programs made a run at Hawkins, following the departure of Lebby to Mississippi State, he seems all set to sign on Wednesday.
Zurbrugg Is One of 2024’s Surprises
While most felt Hawkins was always destined for Norman, his fellow quarterback commitment – Brendan Zurbrugg – would have been much harder to foresee. The talented quarterback from Alliance, Ohio took the longest of paths to Norman.
Zurbrugg had numerous offers in the spring but it had gotten down to a battle between Northwestern and Syracuse. As we’ve highlighted before, the timeline for activities that caused seismic shifts in his recruitment, were rapid bursts.
- June 7 – Syracuse Offer
- June 14 – Northwestern Offer
- June 16 – Syracuse Official Visit
- June 18 – Syracuse Commitment
- June 26 – Northwestern Commitment
- July 10 – Northwestern Fires Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
- July 18 – Oklahoma offer
- July 28 – Oklahoma Visit for the Party at the Palace
So in short, Syracuse made an offer and set up an official visit. Just before that visit happened, Northwestern offered him and got into his head even as he committed to the Orange. But then as things went wildly amuck in Evanston, Ill. this summer the door opened for a third possible commitment.
The Sooners quickly made it clear that Zurbrugg was a focus of their efforts and he would pledge to Oklahoma just days after returning for his Party at the Palace visit.
His decision would cap Oklahoma’s quarterback work in the 2024 class and seal up the Sooners first two-man quarterback class since Sam Bradford and Joey Halzle in 2006.
