Four-star Recruit CJ Brown Commits to OSU

A big week on the recruiting trail for Mike Gundy and Co. got even bigger Friday as four-star recruit CJ Brown, a Beggs, Oklahoma standout ranked as a top-300 prospect in the 2022 class, announced his verbal commitment to the Pokes.

Brown is the second commitment of the week for OSU after landing three-star linebacker Nick Martin on Thursday. And he becomes the third commitment for OSU in the 2022 cycle, joining thus far an all-defense class of safety De’Kelvion Beamon and linebacker (and fellow in-state star) Gabe Brown.

It’s a huge in-state win for Oklahoma State not just to fend off rising Arkansas, which has done well recruiting in Oklahoma, but to secure a talent of Brown’s caliber. The Pokes tried landing Beggs star — and Brown’s teammate — Kendal Daniels as part of their 2021 class to no avail. (He is committed to Texas A&M, despite an early push from OSU.) But Brown was different; after being courted earlier this year by OSU as one of his first suitors, it seemed all along that OSU was the frontrunner. Hosting him on a campus visit just prior to the pandemic surely didn’t hurt.

Brown, a 6-foot, 175-pound athlete who plays running back and defensive back, is ranked as the No. 5 player in the state in the 2022 class. If the rankings stay the same in 2021 and 2022 and no current commitments change, it would give OSU three top-five players from the state in two cycles between Aden Kelley, Collin Oliver and Brown.