Cooper Witten Commits To Oklahoma, Jason Witten’s Four-Star Son Picks Sooners
The Witten name is going to Norman. Cooper Witten, the son of Cowboys legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Witten, has committed to Oklahoma for the 2027 recruiting cycle. And this is not a legacy pick where the kid does not belong. Cooper is a four-star outside linebacker and one of the top defenders in his class.
The younger Witten is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound edge defender out of Liberty Christian School in Texas. ESPN has him ranked as the No. 2 outside linebacker in the country and the No. 30 overall recruit in the 2027 class. That is a real player. That is not a recruit getting inflated rankings because of the last name.
The choice made sense the moment his dad made his own choice. Jason Witten was hired by Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables in January to be the Sooners’ tight ends coach. Once dad went to Norman, the dominoes were always going to fall this way. But that does not mean Cooper had to take the offer. He had Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas A&M all recruiting him hard.
He picked the Sooners anyway. And that tells you Venables is doing something right in Norman.
Oklahoma is building a monster of a 2027 recruiting class. Cooper Witten becomes the second top-30 pledge for the Sooners in this cycle, joining four-star offensive tackle Cooper Hackett, who is ranked No. 27 overall. Two blue-chip commits early in the cycle, and Venables is just getting started.
The Sooners needed this. Their first two seasons in the SEC were a wake-up call. The league is faster, deeper, and meaner than the Big 12 ever was. Venables was hired as a defensive mind, and he has been rebuilding the roster on that side of the ball ever since. Adding an elite outside linebacker to that project is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Cooper Witten has bloodlines that show up on tape. His father was one of the most reliable, tough, cerebral players of his generation. Jason Witten played 17 NFL seasons, made 11 Pro Bowls, and just walked into the Hall of Fame. The lessons that get passed down from a dad like that are the intangibles that separate good players from great ones.
Preparation. Practice habits. Film study. Weight room discipline. Those are the traits that Cooper has been around his entire life. Combine that with his own natural athleticism and elite recruiting profile, and you have the kind of player who can walk into an SEC program and start contributing right away.
The other schools that were in the mix are worth noting. Georgia is Georgia. Kirby Smart lands top defenders every year. Tennessee has a growing recruiting operation under Josh Heupel. Texas A&M with Mike Elko is a rising program. For all three of those schools to lose out on a top-30 recruit to Oklahoma tells you that Venables is finding a way to compete for talent at the highest level.
The legacy component is a nice story, but it is not the story. The story is that Oklahoma is stacking blue-chip talent and building a class that could finish in the top five nationally by signing day 2027. That is how you rebuild an SEC program. That is how you close the gap on the Georgia and Alabama level of the sport.
Sooners fans should be very happy today. Cooper Witten is a player. His last name is a bonus. His talent is the reason he was recruited by everyone in the country, and his talent is the reason he is going to be a very good college football player in Norman.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
