4-star LB Kobie McKinzie flips from Texas back to Oklahoma

The boost to the 2022 Texas Longhorns linebacker class provided by the commitment of Lubbock-Cooper’s Kobie McKinzie on Dec. 5 was short lived, as the 6’2, 245-pounder flipped back to the Oklahoma Sooners on Monday.

A consensus four-star prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, McKinzie quickly decommitted from Oklahoma after Lincoln Riley took the head coaching job at USC. Things moved quickly from there with Texas — the Longhorns offered two days later, hosted McKinzie for an official visit the following weekend, and received his pledge two days after he visited.

But when Oklahoma hired former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who long held the same role in Norman under Bob Stoops, McKinzie’s recruitment took another major turn. So less than a week after Venables make his return to the Sooners, McKinzie opted to pledge to OU for a second time.

The decision should cap a recruitment that at one point featured a commitment to hometown Texas Tech nearly three years ago. The Sooners then offered McKinzie in spring 2019 and were able to get him on campus that July. A month later, he decommitted from Texas Tech and then pledged to Oklahoma in January 2020.

Other schools continued to pursue the 6’2, 245-pounder, with Florida State, Notre Dame, USC, and Arkansas all extending offers. But now McKinzie’s winding journey has led him back to Norman — signing with Oklahoma on Wednesday will finalize the drama in his lengthy recruitment.

For Texas, Arlington Martin product Trevell Johnson is once again the only interior linebacker prospect signed in the 2022 recruiting class, though Mario Cristobal’s departure from the Ducks could pay off once again if the Longhorns are able to make a late move with former Oregon linebacker commit TJ Dudley, a consensus four-star prospect from Montgomery, Ala. ranked as the No. 19 linebacker nationally. Dudley took an official visit to Austin back in June.