Brendan Zurbrugg, an Oklahoma quarterback commit, had a unique recruitrecruit for the Sooners.
Three-star quarterback Brendan Zurbrugg met his prospective head coach earlier this week, despite having committed to Oklahoma since early August.
Over the previous few weeks, Brent Venables has made time to see his potential quarterback and the other Sooners 2024 early enrollees, despite being preoccupied with other matters during Zurbrugg’s two visits.
Just a few weeks after their initial in-person meeting, Venables will greet Zurbrugg in Norman next month when the 6-foot-4 signal caller and most of his recruiting class show up on campus.
It is almost incredible that Oklahoma was able to get and hold onto a commitment from the gifted dual-threat quarterback, considering he was pledged to two other schools before to Oklahoma, that Norman had a late-season coordinator change, and that he was the second quarterback selected in the Sooners’ 2024 class.
Zurbrugg visited Norman in July after making pledges to Syracuse and Northwestern earlier, and on August 1 he declared his commitment to OU.
“A big part of it was the people there, the coaches that I was going to be surrounded by,” Zurbrugg stated. “I forged relationships with the coaching staff right away when I visited in July. In addition, the local culture—the football culture—is present. comparable to a blue-blood program.”
During his official visit back in early December, the All-Ohio track runner expressed his satisfaction with his stay on campus.
The fact that Zurbrugg is not the only quarterback in OU’s 2024 recruiting class—the Sooners also have a highly-regarded 4-star signal caller in Michael Hawkins, an Oklahoma legacy recruit who has been committed since April—was one of the most intriguing aspects of Zurbrugg’s recruitment.
In an effort to prevent a repeat of the embarrassing 2022 Red River Rivalry loss to Texas, where backup quarterback Davis Beville suffered greatly in Dallas, it is thought that Venables sought to bolster the Sooners’ quarterback room with more experience.
Even though he and Hawkins will have to fight for playing time, Zurbrugg told AllSooners that they are excited to work together.
“I met him in July on my visit, we both welcomed each other and said we’re excited to play with each other,” Zurburgg stated. “We have a good relationship, we’re excited to compete with each other.”
Given that both players had successful senior seasons in 2023, Oklahoma should have intense rivalry going ahead in the quarterback room, which will only help each player become more proficient in the position struggle.
Fans were left wondering if some of the commitments the quarterback coach had landed would follow him to Starkville after Sooners’ play caller Jeff Lebby left his position at Oklahoma to become Mississippi State’s head coach after persuading Zurbrugg to switch from the Wildcats to OU and join a class that already had a proven quarterback.
In order to reassure Oklahoma supporters that they were locked in with the Venables and company, some prospects resorted to social media. Zurbrugg told AllSooners that he is still steadfast in his commitment and hasn’t reevaluated since Lebby’s exit, despite the fact that he hasn’t made any online posts regarding the shift.
“No, absolutely not,” Zurbrugg replied. We have already begun the process of developing a relationship. Coach (Seth) Littrell and I met briefly in July, and since then, he has gone to Alliance and I have visited Norman. I feel like I know him now. The night after he was hired, he phoned me and said that when an offensive coordinator is hired and the staff changes, the recruit always wonders if the new offensive coordinator has the same viewpoints as them.
