One of Oklahoma’s young offensive lineman is headed for the transfer portal.
Eugene Brooks , who redshirted as a true freshman in 2024, is reportedly looking for a new home, per 247 Sports.
Oklahoma highly-ranked freshman offensive lineman Eugene Brooks has entered the transfer portal, @chris_hummer and I have learned for @cbssports/@247Sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 16, 2024
Was a Class of 2024 top-75 overall recruit.https://t.co/10Sz3YxlzO pic.twitter.com/idUn2cs56g
Brooks arrived as a 6-foot-3, 336-pound prospect from Las Vegas by way of Sierra Canyon High School (CA).
He was rated a consensus 4-star recruit by On3, 247Sports and Rivals and he was ranked inside the top 200 among all prospects by all three recruiting services.
Brooks played against Temple, Houston and Tulane for Oklahoma this past season.
He was one of five scholarship offensive linemen who signed with the Sooners in the 2024 recruiting class, alongside Eddy Pierre-Louis, Isaiah Autry-Dent, Daniel Akinkunmi and Josh Aisosa.
Brooks was a big recruiting win for Brent Venables and Bill Bedenbaugh last year.
A massive prospect, Brooks pairs unique lateral movement and agility with power and frame. He was a 2023 CIF Southern Section Division IV champion in the shot put title his junior year with a throw of 55 feet, 6 inches. In his throwing career, he went 56-0 in the shot put and 127-1 in discus.
“Eugene Brooks from the state of California, just a real natural powerful guard. Just great girth and size. Just really nimble and he’s got a great story about his development,” Venables said. “He’s lost 50 pounds in the last couple of years and he’s still a mountain of a man to really create a lot of opportunity for himself. He’s got a great testimony.”
Brooks' recruitment came down to OU and Texas. He said last spring that the opportunity to play for Bedenbaugh was too great to pass up. That's why he chose the Sooners over the Longhorns on July 25. Bedenbaugh has twice been named a finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to college football’s top assistant coach. For five straight years from 2016-20, an OU player won Big 12 lineman of the year. In total, Bedenbaugh has helped 10 Sooners offensive linemen get drafted.
“He’s really just passionate about the game, you know, he really loves the game, and just being able to come in early and just be able to be coached by him is a blessing,” Brooks said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to come in and be coached by him.”
The winter transfer portal window is open from Dec. 9-28.
Players do not have to know their destination by Dec. 28, they just have to be in the portal when the window closes to retain immediate eligibility.
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