To date, Oklahoma has made just two 2027 offers at the quarterback position, and both offers occurred within the span of days during the Sooners' elite camp series last June.

Mundelein (Ill.) native Trae Taylor was the first to perform in front of the Oklahoma staff at camp, and consequently the first to receive a scholarship opportunity. But the following week, Shreveport (La.) product Peyton Houston came to camp and turned in a sensational performance of his own. He, too, received an offer by day's end.

In the nine months since, it's become apparent that Taylor and the Sooners won't be a match. Oklahoma didn't really push the envelope with the blue-chip Midwesterner after the firing of Seth Littrell, and Taylor recently released a top five that didn't include Oklahoma. But in stark contrast, new OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle made Houston an immediate priority when he joined the staff in December.

This weekend, Houston made it back to Norman for the fifth time in the past year — and the first time since Arbuckle's hiring. The Sooners hosted several dozen elite prospects for their annual Future Freaks recruiting rendezvous on Saturday, which was advertised and treated as a one-day event. But Houston actually spent the night in Norman and had additional meetings with the staff on Sunday, which gave him a comprehensive opportunity to hear Arbuckle's vision for Oklahoma's next era of offensive football.

“The main thing was how they coach the quarterbacks, and how the offense is built around them," Houston explained. "It’s always around what the quarterback does best, and not what the coach really wants to do. It’s always what could help the team and how the quarterback can help the team on the field. Because overall, the quarterback, he’s the one seeing everything.

“A lot of the plays they call, we run back at Evangel," he continued. "So the transition would be very smooth, and at the college level, it’s kind of changing now. You need a quarterback that can move. And they got two guys like that right now, one in John Mateer and the other in Mike Hawkins. Those two quarterbacks can move and pass the ball, so the offense is very similar.”