Oklahoma’s upset of No. 1 Texas is already paying off in a very real way on the recruiting trail.
Just three days after the Sooners knocked off the Longhorns in the Red River Rivalry, Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman logged an expert prediction Tuesday for Oklahoma to eventually land 2028 four-star linebacker Tylan Henderson. Henderson was in the Cotton Bowl to see the Sooners beat his home-state Texas team.
Rivals currently gives Oklahoma an 85.6% chance to land Henderson. Texas Tech is the next closest contender at 5%.
Henderson, who plays at Pflugerville Weiss High School, is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 25 prospect in Texas, the No. 16 linebacker and the No. 225 overall player in the 2028 class. 247Sports has him a little lower, grading him as a three-star and the No. 19 linebacker. ESPN is the highest on him, slotting him as the No. 10 linebacker in the class.
What matters most for Oklahoma is that Brent Venables, general manager Jim Nagy and the staff are all sold on him. Inside linebackers coach Nate Dreiling has been at the center of the push to bring Henderson to Norman.
Texas Tech and SMU appear to be the biggest threats to the Sooners here. Henderson has reportedly visited Texas Tech four times and SMU three times, including the weekend before he was at the Cotton Bowl to watch Oklahoma.
His offer list now sits at 31 and includes Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC and more. Oklahoma got into the mix in February.
If the prediction proves right, Henderson would become the fifth member of Oklahoma’s 2028 class, joining linebacker Jay Schell, quarterback Trey Tagliaferri, tight end Connor Arant and wide receiver Colton Fitzgibbon.
That would also give the Sooners their top two pledges at linebacker, with Henderson joining Schell, who is ranked No. 7 at the position as a four-star recruit. That fits the mold for a defense under Venables, where linebacker play has been a staple.
And Henderson may not be the only possible addition riding this wave. Oklahoma gets another chance to put recruits in the building this weekend when it hosts No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday.
The Sooners can already point to the Texas win, but another upset in front of a fresh group of prospects would send an even louder message about where this program is headed after its sluggish start under Venables.
In Other News...
Oklahoma May Have Finally Found Its Answer At Running Back
For much of the first half against Texas, Oklahomas rushing attack was stuck in neutral, managing only one yard on 13 carries and leaving the Sooners searching for any kind of rhythm on the ground. The adjustment came after halftime, when Lloyd Avant started to look like the kind of back the offense had been waiting for, giving the running game a much-needed lift with a series of productive runs that changed the feel of the matchup.
Avant finished with 10 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown, and his second-half surge was enough to put him at the front of the discussion at running back. Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle both pointed to persistence and execution as the difference, and after that performance, Avant appears to have taken a meaningful step toward becoming the answer Oklahoma has been looking for in the backfield. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma's Bowl Outlook Looks Very Different After Stunning Texas Win
A last-second field goal from Tate Sandell changed the feel around Oklahoma football in an instant, flipping a matchup with the top-ranked Texas Longhorns into one of the seasons most satisfying wins. Beyond the celebration, the result matters because it gives the Sooners a much better footing in the race for a postseason bowl berth, with the kind of momentum that can reshape how the rest of the year is viewed.
It also makes the postseason picture a lot more interesting, since different media outlets are already floating a range of possible bowl destinations for Oklahoma in 2026. The specific matchups can still move around depending on how the next few weeks play out, but this much is clear: after a win that big, the Sooners are no longer looking at bowl season from the same spot they were before the kick sailed through. [Read more 🡒]
Isaiah Sategna's Red River Heroics Changed Everything For Oklahoma
Late in the Red River showdown, Isaiah Sategna III turned a tense finish into the kind of moment Oklahoma can build around. He made two critical catches in the final seconds against Texas, helping set up the game-winning field goal and giving the Sooners a lift when the game was hanging in the balance. Sategna finished with five receptions for 64 yards, tying for the game-high.
Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle both praised Sategna during that decisive drive, a sign of how quickly he has become part of Oklahomas most important moments. For a team that needed somebody to make a play when it mattered most, Sategna delivered exactly that, and his late-game work added a new layer to what the Sooners can count on down the stretch. [Read more 🡒]