Oklahoma did not have a player selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night, and the night instead turned into a showcase for a coach now in Norman. Deland McCullough, who joined Oklahoma over the offseason, watched two of his former Notre Dame running backs go off the board in Round 1: Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 to the Arizona Cardinals and Jadarian Price at No. 32 to the Seattle Seahawks.
For McCullough, the draft served as the clearest possible endorsement of his work with the position group. Love finished his college career as the Doak Walker Award winner after posting his first 1,000-yard season in 2024, while Price produced 674 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in one season and reached a career-best 746 rushing yards in 2024 under McCullough’s guidance. That gives Oklahoma a coach whose résumé now includes the last two players to win the Doak Walker Award, Love and 2024 winner Ashton Jeanty.
McCullough spent three seasons coaching Notre Dame’s running backs from 2022 to 2024, the same span in which Love and Price developed into first-round picks. His list of protégés also includes Audric Estime, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kareem Hunt and Tevin Coleman, a group that gives Oklahoma a ready-made sales pitch to recruits and a reason to believe its newest assistant can do more than talk about development.
The timing matters because Oklahoma entered the draft night without a first-round selection from the state, leaving McCullough’s arrival as one of the program’s most visible offseason moves. He came to Norman after one season as the Las Vegas Raiders’ running backs coach, and the draft results offered immediate proof of the kind of production Oklahoma hopes to get next.
For now, the headline from Thursday night is simple: McCullough’s hands are on two of the draft’s first-round backs, while Oklahoma’s own first-round list stayed empty. That is the kind of track record that can carry weight in living rooms, on recruiting trails and in a program looking for evidence that its newest coach can turn talent into the kind of players NFL teams take early.
