Traditionally, Colorado has not had much of a recruiting presence in Oklahoma over the last several recruiting cycles.

While the Buffaloes have experienced considerable turnover with respect to its football coaching staff since 2018, neither Mike MacIntyre, Mel Tucker or their collective assistants possessed a recruiting footprint within the Sooner State.

The same could have been said of Karl Dorrell during his first two years at the helm in Boulder.

However, with Dorrell revamping his assistant coaches in the 2021 offseason, ultimately adding six new faces underneath him, that appears likely to change.

That'll be specifically due to tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Clay Patterson, a native of Morris, Okla., a sleepy town of under 1,500 due south of Tulsa.

Patterson played high school and college football in his home state, eventually starting his coaching career at Southeastern Oklahoma in 2003.

After a handful of stops in Texas (Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Trinity Valley Community College) from 2006-2015, Patterson got his first head coaching gig at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, a position he held in 2016 and 2017.

By the time he joined Minnesota's staff in 2018, where he'd eventually cross paths with new CU offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, Patterson had learned the lay of the land in Oklahoma from a recruiting point of view.

Now, Patterson is bringing that familiarity with Oklahoma to Colorado, as, in the last month, he's issued a series of offers to Sooner State prospects.

Patterson in particular has focused his attention on younger Oklahoma preps players.

In early May, he extended offers to a pair of Beggs High School prospects, 2024 tailback Red Martel and 2025 athlete Ryan Grayson.

Then, on Thursday, 2025 tailback Ravian Larry out of Idabel High School announced an offer from Patterson.

In the case of both Martel and Grayson, Colorado was their first collegiate offer, while CU was second to get to Larry, behind only Southern Methodist.

Notable among all three players is that Patterson beat the two in-state powerhouses, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, to the punch in terms of issuing a scholarship offer.

Martel, Grayson and Larry all have multiple years of high school football ahead of them.

Colorado is unlikely to be the last program that issues an offer to them, but for now, Patterson has planted a seed.

While the Buffs have much work remaining to do within the 2023 recruiting cycle, the aforementioned three underclassmen are players to keep a tab on in the coming months.