Football Recruiting Rankings as of Fourth of July: Oklahoma State All Over the Place

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State just added a really good piece to its 2026 football recruiting class to get back to 13 commitments in Bixby athlete, Braeden Presley. Of those, six are in-state in Oklahoma and of those, the SEC OU Sooners worked hard to try to get three of them (RB - KD Jones, DE - Tajh Overton, and Ath. - Braeden Presley). Oklahoma also wanted neighboring Arkansas top prospect in defensive tackle Danny Beale III, and it was Oklahoma State who got his pledge. That is four head-to-head beats over an SEC school in Oklahoma (ranked No. 21 in On3 nationally, No. 40 in 247, and No. 28 in Rivals). Not bad for a little ole Big 12 school. 

That’s right: the biggest disparity and the clearest message in the current national recruiting rankings in the four major sources (three recruiting sites and ESPN) is that in the SEC and the Big Ten, recruiting does “just mean more.” Check out the top five in each ranking and then where the first Big 12 and ACC teams come up? The ACC has an advantage with a few blue-blood schools like Clemson, Florida State, and Miami, Fla. The Big 12 is really down the rankings. 

What really struck me was that all of these sites and ESPN are so consistent at the top of the rankings, but so wildly different the further down you go. Why. I have my theory that outside of their top 200-300 prospects they differ way more. Outside of prospects in the top 200-300 and in heavy football recruiting states like Florida, Georgia, Texas, and California there are so many prospects that don’t get seen a lot or don’t get seen at all. The more a school recruits out of those states, then the less likely these sites and their staff are familiar with those players. 

Thats just a theory, but one I think makes sense. Also, like we said, the SEC (especially) and the Big Ten mean more to recruiting and the sites that cover them. More as in subscribers and money, and in the end all of these sites are in this business for business, to make money.

Here is how the sites currently rank the Big 12 and where Oklahoma State is there and nationally. Happy Fourth of July!