BOOM! Five-star DB Peyton Bowen signs with Oklahoma!

Dec 22, 2022 - 9:38 PM

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After a wild 48 hours, the biggest flip of the 2023 cycle is now public and official. Peyton Bowen, the five-star high school teammate of five-star QB signee Jackson Arnold, will be continuing that status with the Oklahoma Sooners.

For quite some time there was a sense of understanding among OU staff — and even your average recruiting follower — that the safety would end up a Sooner, but the longer the flip from Notre Dame took to happen, the more doubts that were raised.

Then came the National Signing Day ceremony which featured a hat-fake and a commitment to Oregon. The wildest part, however, is that this ceremony didn’t even feature an OU hat.

Thursday morning brought rumblings of unease in that commitment. Since Bowen had not yet sent his NLI to Oregon, he was still free to pick another school. That school, or course, being Oklahoma.

The commitment brings Oklahoma into the top five of the 247Composite team rankings, but beyond that, a five-star flip going the Sooners’ way FOR ONCE is just incredibly satisfying for OU fans everywhere.

Although he played some receiver at a high level, Bowen is an elite safety. He has incredible burst and playmaking instincts at a frame of 6’0” and 185 lbs. The ultimate knock on him is that he is not truly a head-hunter as a safety as much as he is a centerfielder, but that’s not to say he doesn’t play with aggression. He’ll just need a strength and conditioning program to add some extra muscle so he isn’t simply tackling people to the ground, but knocking receivers and running backs backward. In other words, he’ll become #SchmittyBuilt.

Bowen is Oklahoma’s 25th commitment for the 2023 recruiting cycle, and according to 247Sports Composite, Bowen is the No. 2 safety nationally, the No. 3 overall player from the state of Texas, and is currently the No. 14 player nationally. It’s refreshing to see OU bring in this caliber of talent on the defensive side of the ball. And, well, to compete in the SEC, the Sooners are going to need players like Bowen.

In summary, today is a good day.