Jonathan Hatton took Sooner Nation by complete surprise when he announced his commitment to Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon.

After all, the blue-chip running back is only a sophomore in high school. Only eight of Rivals’ top 100 players in the 2026 class are committed anywhere, and the Sooners didn’t yet have a pledge in the cycle.

But after a weekend visit to Oklahoma, his third trip to campus in the span of four months, Hatton decided he was ready to shut down his recruitment. The game-day experience at Owen Field solidified his decision, as he’d very quietly acknowledged on Twitter after a late July visit that OU had emerged as his No. 1 school.

“The atmosphere was crazy,” Hatton said. “It was just amazing, seeing them warm up and everything, the crowd — it was just fun. It was a fun time. The relationships is real strong, and I think that was the main thing.

“I really like their S.O.U.L. Mission; it helps you find your future on and off the field. And I think that helps a lot for players that don’t know their future. [It] helps them find it.”

Hatton held numerous other FBS offers, including Baylor, Texas Tech, Nebraska and Houston. However, he had no problem spurning them all for the program that he calls his dream school — but not in the traditional sense. Though the term “dream school” generally implies some sort of childhood fandom or inherited attachment, Hatton acknowledges that he didn’t know a whole lot about Oklahoma before the Sooners began pursuing him. Throughout the brief four-month period between offer and commitment, Hatton came to realize OU was his dream school in the sense that it checked every box for him. He knows Oklahoma’s no-visit policy for commits, and he’s fully intent on adhering to that policy.

“Everything down there, I loved,” he explained. “So I was like, ‘I should just go ahead and commit and not wait if I already know where I’m going to go.’ I think it fit for me, on and off the field. I think they have a good program and [one] I want to be a part of. I’ve seen everything I needed to see, and I think it was the right fit for me. It was my dream school.”

Though Hatton chose Oklahoma for a multiplicity of reasons, one particular factor that made the decision much easier was the resumé of his future position coach in Norman. DeMarco Murray is quickly establishing a reputation as a developer of talent, but his background as a three-time Pro Bowler gives Hatton confidence that running backs at Oklahoma are in the most capable of hands.

“It’s fantastic,” he said of the opportunity to learn from Murray. “I don’t even know how to explain that. Because he had such a great career. It’s just a great thing, learning from a back like that. I like how they use their running backs. They don’t just always run them; they also put them on swing routes and put them in the slot — like a balanced type of attack, basically.”

He added that when he called Murray to let him know he wanted to be a Sooner, Murray sent one message loud and clear: Hatton would now be the spearhead for the Sooners’ recruiting efforts in the 2026 cycle.

“He said be ready to come,” Hatton recalled. “And he was saying, just try and bring other 2026 recruits. Because I’m the leader of the 2026 [class].”

And as the Sooners turn the page from the Big 12 era to the SEC era, a back like Hatton will be a welcome addition to the backfield. At 6-foot-1 and 203 pounds, he’s already physically prepared for SEC football, and now has over two years to sharpen his skills before jumping into the fire in Norman.

“I think that’ll be good for me,” said Hatton of playing in the SEC. “Because everybody’s physical. Everybody’s fast. And I think that’s the level I need to go to, and I think I can play at that level. I think [it’s] my speed, my power. I can catch out of the backfield. I can block. I can do a lot of things.”

Hatton is regarded as the No. 69 overall player and No. 4 running back in the 2024 cycle, and should he sign with the Sooners, he has a chance to be the earliest sustained commit on record for Oklahoma in the modern recruiting era. That distinction was previously held by former five-star OL Brey Walker, who committed to the Sooners in November of his sophomore season.