Oklahoma football recruiting: 5-star RB Taylor Tatum picks Sooners over USC

Oklahoma added a key offensive piece to its class of 2024 on Friday when five-star Taylor Tatum committed to beating the Sooners on USC. Here is what you need to know:

Tatum, who plays for Longview (Texas) High School, is ranked No. 31 overall and is ranked No. 31 running at 247 Sports Composite.

He made two state visits in June, to USC on June 2 and Oklahoma on June 16.

Tatum is the 15th committer to the Sooners, which now ranks 16th nationally. He is OU’s second running back, joining Xavier Robinson’s three-star Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) Carl Albert.

The Sooners have signed only one top 100 finisher in their last 10 recruiting cycles—Gavin Sawchuk, a Colorado native who is ranked 98th in the class of 2022.

What does this mean for the organizational unit?

The class of 2023 Oklahoma featured three five-star players and eight players overall who were ranked 120th nationally. Part of that group was five-star Texas quarterback Jackson Arnold and five defensive linemen. While things haven’t quite gone according to plan for Oklahoma at Venables Square so far, he has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to go to Texas and grab a five-star player. He did it with Arnold last year and he’s doing it again with Tatum in the 2024 tournament.