3 OU stars Texas offered as recruits
The Oklahoma Sooners are one of the most frequent competitors on the recruiting trail for the Texas football program. Especially with both programs leaving the Big 12 for the SEC this past summer, Texas and Oklahoma will continue to be massive competitors on the recruiting trail in the current and future cycles.
Who Texas football recruited on OU's current roster before Red River this weekend?
When the Longhorns and Sooners were Big 12 foes, the competitions were just as fierce on the trail for top recruits, including those in and around the state of Texas.
OU, along with the Texas A&M Aggies, LSU Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, and Alabama Crimson Tide, among a handful of other SEC schools are consistent competitors for the Longhorns on the trail. And this weekend's matchup in the Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas will have a big impact on where many of the top recruits considering both schools will end up in a couple of months on signing day in early December.
Many of the players on Oklahoma's current roster were once recruited by the Longhorns, and held offers from Texas either when they were in the transfer portal or coming out of high school.
Here are three current Oklahoma standouts that the Longhorns once recruited.
Billy Bowman Jr., S
Former blue-chip recruit from Denton (TX) Ryan High School, Billy Bowman Jr., essentially flipped his commitment from the Longhorns to Oklahoma a couple of months before signing day in late 2020. Bowman was teammates at Denton Ryan High School with fellow former blue-chip recruit in the 2021 class, tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders, who committed to and signed with the Longhorns on signing day.
In the past three years, we've seen Bowman and Sanders have a good amount of success for the respective schools they signed with a few years ago. Sanders was a multiple-time All-Big 12 selection and a 2024 NFL Draft pick by the Carolina Panthers coming out of the Longhorns after the 2023 season.
Bowman is a multi-year starter and a stud in Oklahoma's secondary for the last couple of seasons. He led the Big 12 in interceptions (six) last season, and led the entire country in interceptions returned for touchdowns (three).