Oklahoma
Report: Oklahoma Loses Another WR Commit
Just days before National Signing Day, Oklahoma’s 2025 recruiting class has suffered another blow.
Wide receiver Gracen Harris, a two-sport star from Ennis, TX, is no longer an OU commit. He told On3’s Hayes Fawcett that he has officially decommitted from OU but still intends to sign somewhere when the Early Signing Period opens on Wednesday.
BREAKING: Class of 2025 WR Gracen Harris has Decommitted from Oklahoma, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 5’10 170 WR from Ennis, TX had been Committed to the Sooners since May 2023
He still plans to sign on December 4thhttps://t.co/UBCposuflo pic.twitter.com/nlNgv0vfXX — Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 2, 2024
Harris, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound speedster, has been verbally committed to OU since May 1, 2023. His intention was to play both football and baseball for the Sooners.
BREAKING: Four-Star WR Gracen Harris has Committed to Oklahoma!
The 5’10 165 WR from Ennis, TX chose the Sooners over Florida State, TCU, Baylor, & others.
The 2025 WR will play baseball as well
“I’m coming and there ain’t no stopping me!”https://t.co/W4LPfzxOND pic.twitter.com/M33QvLJINk — Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) May 1, 2023
However, a source close to the program tells Sooners On SI that Harris is an unfortunate casualty of what head coach Brent Venables has referred to as the “carnage” of the coming NCAA scholarship adjustments.
Essentially, Harris still wanted to go to OU, and OU still wanted to take him. But a numbers crunch is on the way, which forced Venables to make a hard and unpopular decision. And it won’t be his last.
Although the SEC has reportedly decided to use its autonomous authority and maintain its 85-scholarship limit (with 20 walk-ons) for 2025-26, it is expected the SEC will eventually conform to the NCAA’s coming rule changes when details from the landmark House v. NCAA settlement are revealed, resulting in a revenue sharing model between schools and athletes that is expected to start at around $22 million annually.
Power conference commissioners have established that they will move from the current NCAA limits of 85 scholarships and 105 total players on the roster to a flat 105 roster limit, with 105 scholarships available for schools willing to provide the maximum — although those scholarships will be able to be split among multiple players, such as in the current equivalency sport models.
That is forcing football programs and coaches into some difficult decisions that are based strictly on making the future numbers work.
“Again, the real carnage is getting our roster to 105,” Venables said at his weekly press conference on Nov. 20. “So what does that mean? That means you’re going to have to tell several players that they don’t have a spot. That’s the only thing that has caused me just anxiousness. It’s just not good.”
It means that players — those currently on the roster as well as high school or junior college prospects who have been offered full scholarships — can have their existing deals altered or dropped with little notice.
In Harris’ case, it means the loss of a four-year starter at Ennis who has compiled 258 career receptions for 4,242 yards (16.4 yards per catch), 37 touchdown catches and three 1,000-yard seasons.
Harris also produced 1,249 career rushing yards (8.4 yards per carry) and 12 TDs on the ground as well as 768 passing yards and nine TD throws, 351 yards on kick returns and 548 yards and a touchdown on punt returns — a whopping 7,157 all-purpose yards and 59 total touchdowns in his career.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a home fire late Tuesday evening, around 10:42 p.m.
According to OKCFD, fire could be seen from a window of the home located in the 4200 block of N. Phillips Avenue.
Firefighters were able to rescue an adult female from inside the home. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.
Investigators believe that the fire may have originated from an outlet near the refrigerator that had a power strip plugged in that was supplying multiple appliances.
There was also no smoke detector present within the home.
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NORMAN — The Sooners were behind the eight ball for much of Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts.
But one swing of the bat got them in a more favorable position.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits blasted a grand slam in the sixth inning to give No. 14 Oklahoma its first lead before eventually winning 7-6.
The Sooners trailed by as many as five runs before they rallied late.
In the first inning, Oral Roberts’ Cooper Combs hit a two-out grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable cushion. OU infielder Deiten Lachance got the Sooners on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, but ORU responded with a solo shot of its own in the next frame.
The Golden Eagles made it a 6-1 run game in the top of the fourth, and they appeared to be on cruise control. But in the bottom of that frame, OU’s rally began.
Dasan Harris made it a four-run game again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth before Camden Johnson hit a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth.
Then, in the sixth, the Sooners took their first lead of the game.
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Harris singled before Kyle Branch and Connor Larkin walked to load the bases. Willits then swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it well over the right-center field fence.
Neither team scored after Willits’ home run, as OU relief pitcher Xander Mercurius retired nine ORU batters in a row to seal the Sooners’ one-run win.
Michael Catalano started on the mound for Oklahoma, but his outing was short-lived — he gave up four earned runs on two hits and five walks in 1 ⅓ innings.
After coach Skip Johnson relieved Catalano in the second inning, six different OU arms entered the game. Reid Hensley collected the win, while Mercurius got the save.
OU improved to 28-12 overall with the win, while Oral Roberts dropped to 23-15. The Sooners are 7-3 in midweek games this season, and they clinched the season sweep of the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.
Next, the Sooners will hit the road for a three-game series against Auburn. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball, are 10-8 in SEC play and took two of three games against Florida over the weekend.
The series will open on Friday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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NORMAN — After an up-and down week that saw Oklahoma drop the lone Bedlam match of the season, and then split two tight games with Arkansas before blowing out the Razorbacks on Sunday, the Sooners remained No. 1 in the NFCA/Go Rout coaches’ poll released Tuesday.
But there’s far from a consensus.
Oklahoma received 12 first-place votes — the same total they had last week — but five other teams received first-place votes.
Texas Tech remained No. 2 with four four-place votes and Alabama No. 3 with seven. Nebraska moved up two spots to No. 4 with four first-place votes, followed by Florida with two and UCLA with two.
Texas is No. 7, followed by Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida State.
Texas A&M, the Sooners’ opponent for the final regular-season weekend in two weeks, comes in at No. 11.
Other SEC teams include Georgia at No. 15, Mississippi State at No. 17 and LSU at No. 20.
OU hosts the Georgia Bulldogs in a three-game series beginning Friday.
Other Sooners’ opponents this season in the polls include No. 14 Duke, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Arizona, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 25 Washington.
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Oklahoma also remained in the top spot in the D1Softball poll, with Alabama No. 2 there followed by Texas Tech, Nebraska at Texas.
The Sooners dropped a spot in the Softball America poll, with Nebraska elevating to No. 1 behind the two-way stardom of former OU standout Jordy Frahm (formerly Jordy Bahl).
Frahm is 13-4 with a 1.36 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 118 2/3 innings in the circle and hitting .440 with 16 home runs and 42 RBIs. Another former Sooners player, Hannah Coor, is among the Cornhuskers’ regulars as well.
The Sooners have 158 home runs, just three away from tying their own season record in the category, but UCLA has closed the gap in a major way, sitting just four behind Oklahoma.
OU freshman sensation Kendall Wells leads the nation with 34 home runs, three ahead of UCLA’s Megan Grant. Wells tied Jocelyn Alo‘s program record for home runs in a season with her home run in Sunday’s win.
The Sooners host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 6 p.m. Tuesday in their final non-conference game of the season before opening the series against Georgia at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Love’s FIeld.
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