The Sooners’ recruiting map keeps stretching, but the most encouraging sign for Brent Venables may be much closer to home. Oklahoma is now making real noise at Bixby, the state’s most dominant high school program, and the latest name to watch is 2028 interior offensive lineman Gavin Wilson.
Rivals Oklahoma recruiting editor Josh McCuistion recently logged an expert prediction for Wilson to eventually land with OU. If that plays out, it would give Bill Bedenbaugh back-to-back classes with a Bixby lineman in the fold. And Wilson might not be the last Spartan headed to Norman.
Wilson, listed at 6-foot-2 and 255 pounds, remains unrated and unranked by 247Sports and ESPN. Rivals, though, already has him as a three-star prospect, placing him No. 19 at his position in the 2028 class and No. 7 overall in Oklahoma.
The offer sheet tells the bigger story. Wilson has already picked up interest from Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas State, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Purdue, Arkansas State, North Texas and Tulsa.
Even with that list growing, Oklahoma looks like the team out front after Wilson took two unofficial visits to Norman. Rivals gives the Sooners a 99.5% chance of landing him.
On the field, Wilson was part of another Bixby machine season as a sophomore, starting at right tackle opposite 2027 OU commit Kaeden Penny at left tackle. The Spartans won their eighth straight state title, split between Class 6AI and 6AII, and have now taken home a gold ball in 11 of the last 12 seasons under Loren Montgomery.
That kind of production is exactly why Oklahoma is paying attention. Bixby keeps turning out talent, and the Sooners are trying to make sure that talent stays in-state.
Penny may be the headliner. The 6-foot-4, 280-pound tackle is a five-star recruit and the No. 2 player in Oklahoma, according to 247Sports. The hope in Norman is that he becomes the start of a different pattern - one where Bixby stars choose OU instead of Oklahoma State, Tulsa or programs outside the state.
That hasn’t always gone Oklahoma’s way. Four-star tight end Luke Hasz picked Arkansas in 2023 after a strong push from the Sooners, then transferred in 2025 and still ended up at Ole Miss rather than returning home.
In the 2026 cycle, OU also lost three-star safety Braeden Presley to Oklahoma State. He became the third Presley brother from Bixby to sign with the Cowboys, following Brennan, who became OSU’s all-time receptions leader, and Braylin, who eventually transferred to Tulsa.
That miss stung for Oklahoma because it left Venables without an in-state commit in the 2026 class. The Sooners eventually corrected course with Rejoice Christian receiver Xavier Okwufulueze, who quickly became the lone Okie in that group.
The broader picture has shifted since then. Jim Nagy has helped Oklahoma capitalize on a loaded 2027 in-state class, and that has pushed the Sooners into a top-five class nationally. Four Oklahomans are already in that group, with Penny and Fort Gibson offensive tackle Cooper Hackett making their decisions on the same day serving as the spark.
Now OU appears to be taking the same approach with 2028. Owasso athlete Kamieon Compton-Nero and Stillwater receiver David Thomas both look like future Sooners, and Bixby tight end Connor Arant is another major name to watch. Arant already has an Oklahoma offer and could wind up as the best prospect in the state for the class.
If that happens, a Wilson commitment would matter even more. It could help set the table for Arant and give Oklahoma another reason to believe Bixby is becoming its newest recruiting pipeline.
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