Oklahoma lands commitment from legacy S Mykel Patterson-McDonald

When it comes to his recruitment, Mykel Patterson-McDonald is keeping everything in the family.

Patterson-McDonald, the On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 75-rated safety in the country out of Moore (Okla.) Westmoore High School, ended the month of July with a commitment in-state to the Sooners. Patterson-McDonald elected to pick Oklahoma over the likes of UNLV, Missouri and also Houston, which like the Sooners, got the three-star DB on campus last weekend ahead of his final decision.

In the end, however, Patterson-McDonald followed in the same footsteps as his father, Larry McDonald, a former Oklahoma football player. He is excited to continue to legacy in Norman.

“My recruitment until now has been an amazing experience and I started to make up my mind after all of these visits,” Patterson-McDonald told On3.

“When it comes to Oklahoma, they made me feel at home and feel comfortable — not just the coaches, but the players as well.”

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound hybrid defensive back and hard-hitter points to his June 16-18 official visit for the ChampU BBQ as the turning point in his recruitment. That’s when several different Sooners coaches began to turn up the heat on the legacy target.

“The love from the coaches that weekend, from the rest of the staff and the players that weekend was the highlight,” Oklahoma’s No. 7-rated recruit in the 2024 class started.

“Coach (Brent) Venables, Coach (Jay) Valai and (Brandon) Hall are all great people. They’re great people as well as great coaches, and Coach Hall checks up on me often,” Patterson-McDonald went on. “He sends me motivational stuff and scriptures, and that helps me get through the day. Coach Venables is an amazing coach, an amazing person, and we have a lot of good talks and good laughs above all. It’s the same with Coach Valai … we have some amazing conversations and some of the things that they’ve done or go over in practice. They teach me new stuff every time I see them.”

While different schools have had momentum in the three-star safety’s recruitment, the Sooners have checked off a critical box: consistency.

As crunch time approached, the ability to continue his family’s legacy at Oklahoma provided even more incentive.

“My family loved that I wanted to stay home,” he laughed. “It meant a lot to them, especially my dad.”

The newest Oklahoma verbal commitment checks in as the No. 767 overall recruit in the country, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.