In-state swiss army knife Andy Bass commits to OU

It’s hard to look at Andy Bass and not have flashbacks to Venables securing the commitment of a relatively unknown preferred walk-on from Heritage Hall named Gavin Freeman. Both are speedsters who likely would have been much more heavily recruited if not for their heights. It also doesn’t hurt the comparison that they both attended the same high school. There are some differences that separate the two though, one being that Freeman spent his time at receiver in high school. Meanwhile, Bass is actually the starting quarterback for the Chargers. 

Recruitment

Bass owns nearly 20 offers, including a slew of division one schools. Both Kansas schools, all three service academies, and of course the home state Sooners have offered. It wasn’t long ago that Bass narrowed his decision down to a top three of Oklahoma, Syracuse, and Kansas State. However, a recent visit to Oklahoma was enough for Bass to shut it down and commit to the Sooners.

Bass’ Versatility

Andy Bass will serve multiple roles for the Sooners, the main one being in Demarco Murray’s running back room. Beyond that, Bass also plans to spend time with the wide receivers, as well as being involved at quarterback. Sooner fans can expect a role similar to that of the San Francisco 49ers’ Deebo Samuel from Bass.

2024 Class

With his commitment, Bass becomes the 19th commitment for the Sooners in the 2024 class, and the 3rd running back to jump aboard, however both Bass and Xavier Robinson can be considered as having roles much more flexible than just running back, allowing room for potentially one more running back to join this class later on. He’s also the 3rd in-state prospect to join the class, joining Xavier Robinson out of Carl Albert High School and Mykel Patterson-McDonald out of Westmoore High School. The Sooners also already have commitments from two Oklahoma products early in the 2025 cycle, Kevin Sperry and Elijah Thomas. This serves as proof of Venables and the staff’s efforts to be more involved in recruiting Oklahoma prospects. They have also secured many more Oklahoma prospects via preferred walk-on offers that have been tied to NIL deals, allowing them to act as a sort of DIY scholarship.