Four-star quarterback Bowe Bentley, No. 261 in the 2026 ESPN 300, announced his commitment to Oklahoma over LSU on Friday, landing with the Sooners less than 24 hours after longtime quarterback pledge Jaden O’Neal pulled his commitment from the program Thursday night.
Bentley, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound prospect from Celina, Texas, is ESPN’s No. 6 dual-threat passer in 2026. His recruitment skyrocketed earlier this year after Bentley broke out for 4,263 all-purpose yards and 63 total touchdowns last fall while leading Celina High School to a Class 4A Texas state title in his junior season. Bentley, who took official visits to Oklahoma and LSU earlier this month, told ESPN this week that the offensive vision of first-year Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle was among his primary draws to the program.
“Going into depth on the offense with Arbuckle was huge,” Bentley said. “It’s not just what he’s done this spring, but what Coach Arbuckle has done at Washington State and Western Kentucky. I got a strong understanding of where he got this offense from and how he approaches calling it.”
For Oklahoma, Bentley’s commitment marks the close of a drawn out recruiting process that began after the Sooners shifted their 2026 quarterback plan after Arbuckle arrived from Washington State in December in the wake of the Sooners’ disastrous SEC debut last fall.
O’Neal, ESPN’s No. 7 pocket passer, had spent nearly 12 months as the top prospect in the program’s incoming class prior to his decommitment. A frequent visitor on campus over the past year, he relocated from Southern California to Oklahoma’s Mustang High School this spring, where O’Neal will play his senior season roughly 30 miles north of the Sooners’ team facility.
But multiple sources tell ESPN that the relationship between O’Neal and Oklahoma became strained in the early months of 2025 after the Sooners shifted their focus to landing a 2026 quarterback with a similar skill set to John Mateer, the dual-threat transfer who followed Arbuckle to Oklahoma after exploding for 44 touchdowns last fall.
Bentley — who threw for 3,330 yards and rushed for another 933 yards in 2024 — fits that mold, and the Sooners made the fast-rising prospect a top priority this spring before ultimately landing his pledge Friday.
Bentley joins four-star wide receiver Daniel Odom (No. 242 overall) as one of two ESPN 300 prospects in the 2026 class. Behind Mateer, who will be eligible for the NFL draft after the 2025 season, Oklahoma’s current quarterback depth includes second-year passer Michael Hawkins Jr. and three-star 2025 signee Jett Niu.
