How Rivals ranked Oklahoma's signees in comparison to the other networks

Across the industry, rankings updates for the class of 2024 are complete, which means it's time for a glimpse at what the four major recruiting services thought of Oklahoma's 2024 class — and the individual signees therein.

Based on a concept originally contrived by John Williams of the Locked On Sooners podcast, the following chart outlines the respective rankings on each service (Rivals, ESPN, On3 and 247Sports) for the Sooners' 27 scholarship signees, plus walk-on extraordinaire Andy Bass. As a unit, the Sooners' class ranks No. 7 nationally according to Rivals, while 247Sports and On3 both have Oklahoma at No. 9 in the nation. Meanwhile, ESPN's team rankings are paywalled and thus not publicly available for comparison.

In some cases, players were given the same numerical rating or overall ranking by multiple services, in which case tiebreakers were used sequentially. The first tiebreaker was the player's rank at their respective position, followed by their rank within their home state. The final tiebreaker, used only in a few sparse cases, was the player's numerical rating relative to the grading scale of the specific service.

Using a scale that awards points proportional to the prospect's ranking among the networks (4 points for having the prospect ranked highest of the four services, 3 points for second-highest, 2 points for third-highest, and 1 point for having the prospect ranked lowest), here's the Class Preference Index (CPI) for each service's ranking of Oklahoma's signees.

Rivals: 83 points

ESPN: 74 points

247Sports: 69 points

On3: 54 points

— Rivals is highest on 11 of Oklahoma's 28 signees, the most among the four services. ESPN ranks seven of the signees higher than the other services, followed by 247Sports (six) and On3 (four).

— Rivals has the industry's lowest ranking on just three of Oklahoma's signees, the least among the services. On3 has the lowest ranking on exactly half (14) of the Sooners' signees, with significant distance from 247Sports (six) and ESPN (five) in that regard.

— Rivals is the only service to have awarded a fourth star to defensive back signees Mykel Patterson-McDonald, Michael Boganowski and Devon Jordan, all of whom are regarded as three-star players by each of the other services.

— Rivals is the only service that ranks consensus five-star DT David Stone as a top-five overall prospect in the nation.

— Rivals is substantially higher on Eddy Pierre-Louis than any other recruiting service. The Rivals scouting team considers Pierre-Louis the No. 1 offensive guard in the nation and the No. 33 overall player, while each of the other services merely consider the Tampa native a three-star prospect. ESPN ranks him No. 25 among interior offensive linemen, while he's No. 40 at the position for 247Sports and No. 72 at the position for On3. At 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds, Pierre-Louis has run the 100-meter dash in less than 13 seconds and has recorded 27 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press.

— 23 of Oklahoma's 28 signees have a blue-chip designation (i.e., at least four stars) on at least one of the major recruiting services. The only consensus three-star recruits in the class are Isaiah Autry, Xavier Robinson, KJ Daniels, Josh Aisosa and Brendan Zurbrugg.

— Rivals was ahead of the curve on Eugene Brooks, who soared up the rankings across the industry after a dominant performance at the Under Armour All-American Game earlier this month. Prior to Brooks' senior season, Rivals was the only service that had him ranked as a blue-chip prospect.

— Rivals thinks quite highly of Michael Hawkins, ranking him No. 167 overall, No. 3 among dual-threat quarterbacks and No. 10 among all quarterbacks. No other service across the industry has Hawkins ranked in the top 15 at the position or in the top 250 nationally. At the 5A level on the competitive Texas prep scene, Hawkins accounted for over 4,000 total yards and 55 total touchdowns as a senior, committing just four turnovers all season.

— As a senior, Brendan Zurbrugg made a major impression on the Rivals scouting team, which had considered the Ohio native a mere two-star prospect following his junior season. Zurbrugg accounted for over 3,300 total yards and 39 touchdowns in 2023, completing 70 percent of his passes and graduating as Alliance High School's career leader in most major passing categories. Rivals now ranks Zurbrugg higher than any service in the industry; he finishes the cycle as the country's No. 18 dual-threat quarterback.

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