Former Texas recruiting targets playing for Oklahoma in Saturday's Red River Shootout

A number of players on the Oklahoma Sooners roster in 2024 were once Texas offers, targets, and commitments. Now they’ll face the Horns on Saturday at the State Fair while wearing crimson and cream.

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David Stone, DL, IMG Academy via Oklahoma City (Okla.)

Texas offered the former five-star defensive lineman. The relationship with the Longhorns didn’t progress much further.

Dasan McCullough, LB, Bloomington (Ind.) via Indiana

Texas flirted with the former Hoosier for a while during his high school recruitment. McCullough eventually left Bloomington to join the Sooners.

Billy Bowman Jr., S, Denton (Texas) Ryan

The former Texas commit flipped to the Sooners late into his junior season. Something about a girlfriend in Norman, blah, blah, blah. It’s worked out well for Ja’Tavion Sanders’ best friend.

Jovantae Barnes, RB, Las Vegas (Nev.) Desert Pines

Texas offered the speedster but signed Jaydon Blue in the 2022 class instead.

Nic Anderson, WR, Katy (Texas)

The Longhorns offered Anderson but he was always following in his brother’s footsteps.

Nigel Smith, DL, Melissa (Texas)

Texas recruited the big in-state defensive lineman for a couple of years, with Smith even visiting Austin on multiple occasions. Texas did not gain much traction in this recruitment and moved to other more attainable targets.

Taylor Tatum, RB, Longview (Texas)

Texas offered the #bEASTtexas tailback between his junior and senior years, and hosted him on a handful of unofficial visits. But after Texas RB coach Tahsard Choice identified his two RB targets for 2024 in Christian Clark and Jerrick Gibson, Texas moved on from the speedy, multi-sport four-star.

Kip Lewis, LB, Carthage (Texas)

Another East Texas talent that the Longhorns pursued who headed up north to Norman.

Kobie McKenzie, LB, Lubbock (Texas) Cooper

The one-time Texas pledge was a very brief pledge. OU got the result the process indicated was most likely all along.

JJ Hester, WR, Tulsa (Okla.) Booker T. Washington via Missouri

Texas offered the 6-foot-4, 200-pound receiver as a junior.

Jaydan Hardy, S, Lewisville (Texas)

The Texas staff was fond of the Lewisville native, offering him after his sophomore season.

Brenen Thompson, WR, Spearman (Texas) via Texas

The speedster played one season in Austin before entering the NCAA Transfer Portal and heading to Norman.

Danny Okoye, EDGE, Tulsa (Okla.) NOAH Home School

Texas hosted Okoye for an official visit in June before his senior season, and were among his top final schools before the Sooners kept the in-state prospect in Oklahoma.

Casey Thompson, QB, Newcastle (Okla.) via Texas, Nebraska, and Florida Atlantic

The well-traveled former Texas signal-caller is now on the opposite side of this rivalry. He signed in Texas’ Class of 2018 under Tom Herman.

Jaquaize Pettaway, WR, Houston (Texas) Langham Creek

Texas liked and offered the speedster from H-Town.

Makari Vickers, DB, Quincy (Fla.) Munroe

Texas offered but that was about all.

Peyton Bowen and Eli Bowen, DBs, Denton (Texas) Guyer

While Texas offered the brotherly duo, only Eli seemed interested in the Longhorns. The two were nice gets for Oklahoma.

Damonic Williams, DL, Mission Hills (Calif.) via TCU

One of the more interesting transfer targets in the last portal window. The Sooners won the battle for Williams, but Texas was able to pivot to other portal targets at DT.

Jayden Jackson, DL, IMG Academy

One of UT’s top defensive line targets from the last cycle.

Jacob Sexton, OL, Edmond (Okla.) Deer Creek

Texas offered and sniffed around the Oklahoma native before Sexton decided to stay in-state.

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Davon Mitchell, TE, Los Alamitos (Calif.)

Mitchell re-classified and committed to Oklahoma shortly after hearing from Texas.