Oklahoma Sooners Football Recruiting: Updates on Arjei Henderson, Marcus Hicks & Austin Stogner

The Oklahoma Sooners have been on a roll with their 2018 recruiting as of late, receiving commitments from highly-touted running back T.J. Pledger and in-state defensive lineman Jordan Kelley in recent days. However, 2019 recruiting as not to be overlooked at this particular time. Offers and unofficial visits are occurring across the country as programs try to make initial impressions with up-and-coming prospects.

Arjei Henderson

The talented receiver out of Richmond, Texas, committed to Oklahoma at Oklahoma’s Junior Day (as a sophomore) back on Feb. 19. However, recruits still typically keep an open mind after a commitment, especially when one comes this early in the game. That’s certainly the case for Henderson, who has traveled to Los Angeles this weekend for an unofficial visit.

Should OU fans be worried? Not necessarily, but it’s reasonable to be cautiously optimistic at best after your school earns a commitment from a sophomore in high school. This is how the recruiting game works nowadays — you have to make an impression early with high-profile recruits, and then you have to fend off the wolves for a couple of years if you happen to earn an early commitment. Henderson already has an offer from USC as well as a host of other top-flight programs. Between now and February of 2019, many of them will make a push to sway him away from OU. Until then, we’ll all just have to be paranoid. Don’t you love recruiting?

Marcus Hicks

The Sooners recently offered Wichita, Kan., defensive end Marcus Hicks, and he announced via Twitter that he’ll be in Norman this weekend for an unofficial visit.

Hicks doesn’t exactly compete against high-quality competition in Kansas, but he’s someone who has the length and athleticism that you like to see from a modern-day defensive lineman. The Sooners are up against Oklahoma State and Kansas State in the early going, but it’ll be interesting to see if he’s able to gain a bit more national attention by this time next year.

Austin Stogner

Coming into this week, the tight end out of Plano, Texas, had offers from Baylor, Florida State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State and TCU. After a visit to Norman this past Wednesday, Stogner now has an offer from the Sooners.

Stogner is someone who could fit right in with Oklahoma’s offense and would likely take on a role similar to that of Mark Andrews (and possibly Grant Calcaterra) down the road. At 6-6, the guy is going to be quite the weapon in the red zone for some program. Let’s hope that program ends up being Oklahoma.