Porter Moser has often touched on the idea of a roster “growing old together,” his way of terming continuity and development within a program.
It’s something that has been difficult for Oklahoma to do in recent years during the transfer portal and NIL era, but heading into Moser’s fifth season with the program, the Sooners will have a level of roster continuity, officially. Oklahoma on Monday announced that five players will be returning for the 2025-26 season: Dayton Forsythe, Mo Wague, Jeff Nwankwo, Jadon Jones and Kuol Atak.
The announcement came just hours after Oklahoma secured its first transfer portal addition of the cycle in former Notre Dame forward Tae Davis, who visited campus last week and made his decision public Monday morning.
The retention of Forsythe, Wague, Nwankwo, Jones and Atak is a nice boost for Moser and the Sooners as they try to build off a second consecutive 20-win season and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021. All five were widely expected to return—with Nwankwo previously affirming his intent a couple weeks ago—but now it’s official.
With those five in place, Oklahoma has at least four rotational-caliber players who will be in their second season in the program. Both Forsythe and Wague were part of the Sooners’ success this season, while Nwankwo and Jones were expected to either start of play consistent minutes for the Sooners prior to offseason injuries.
Forsythe, a former three-star guard out of nearby Dale, averaged 4.3 points and 1.1 rebounds per game this season. He appeared in 31 games and averaged 12.1 minutes a night, but his role began to increase at the end of January amid SEC play. He shot 45% from the field, 44.7% from 3-point range and 90.9% from the free-throw line during a freshman season that featured four games of double-figure scoring, including a 25-point outburst at Ole Miss on March 1, when he hit 7-of-9 shots—with a 4-of-5 mark from beyond the arc.
Wague, who transferred to Oklahoma after being part of Alabama’s Final Four run a year earlier, averaged 3.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game across 33 appearances for the Sooners this season. The 6-foot-10 big man was a key reserve in Oklahoma’s frontcourt but stepped into a starting role late in the season following a season-ending knee injury to starter Sam Godwin. After Godwin went down with injury, Wague started the final four games of the season. Over his final five appearances — including the game in which Godwin went down — Wague averaged nine points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He has one year of eligibility remaining thanks to the NCAA’s waiver for former junior college athletes.
Nwankwo was expected to be one of Oklahoma’s biggest offseason additions a year ago, when he was the No. 2 JUCO prospect in the country. He established himself as Oklahoma’s top scorer and defender during the first couple weeks of summer practices before he ruptured his Achilles tendon, which ultimately sidelined him for the season. He returned to practice in January but continued to rehab his injury while redshirting this season.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound guard/wing originally from Oklahoma City, averaged 18.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, two assists and 1.9 steals per game during his final season at the JUCO level. During that campaign, he shot 49.8% from the field, 37% from 3-point range and 73.8% on free throws.
Over the final six weeks of his redshirt sophomore season at Cowley College, Nwankwo averaged 24.6 points per game on 51.7% shooting, including 46.9% from beyond the arc. He added 7.2 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.3 assists per game during that stretch.
Jones was another transfer who was expected to be a reliable part of Oklahoma’s 2024-25 rotation after joining the program from Long Beach State. Jones, a 3-and-D type guard/wing, experienced a herniated disc in his back shortly before the start of the season and did not see the court for Oklahoma while working his way back. Prior to coming to OU, Jones averaged a career-high 12.1 points per game in 2023-24 while shooting 37.7% from 3-point range and adding 3.3 rebounds and leading his conference in steals, with 61 on the year. The year before that, he was the Big West Defensive Player of the Year.
As for Atak, he was part of the Sooners’ 2024 signing class that included Forsythe and star freshman Jeremiah Fears (who last week declared for the NBA Draft). The 6-foot-9 forward redshirted this season and did not see the floor for Oklahoma.
The Sooners still have six more roster spots to fill this offseason.
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