Two of Oklahoma’s safety have come down to play at linebacker.
The Sooners were going to be thin behind returners DaShaun White, Brian Asamoah and Caleb Kelly for linebackers coach Brian Odom’s second season. Former safeties Robert Barnes and Jamal Morris have made the move to help him out, Lincoln Riley announced on Monday.
Barnes was a starter for majority of Oklahoma’s 2018 season. He appeared in 11 games, including starts in the final eight games of the season that ended with a loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff at the Orange Bowl. Barnes’ spot was taken by the tandem of Patrick Fields and Delarrin Turner-Yell in 2019 as he only appeared in four games and redshirted.
“I think it was one of those situations where we just kind of looked at where he was and opportunities for the future,” Riley said at his press conference Monday in regards to Barnes’ 2019 campaign. “I don’t know if necessarily those two decisions were made at the same time. I think more, it’s about where he was as a player at that point and thinking that that year could be of benefit. And then as time went on with conversations that we continually to have, it makes sense all the way around.”
Morris got to Oklahoma as an early enrollee from the 2019 recruiting class. He was a four-star safety out of high school with offers from the likes of Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas. Morris could be seen in street clothes on the sidelines for much of the 2019 season as he redshirted.
Riley and Alex Grinch welcome in early enrollee Shane Whitter from the 2020 recruiting class as the only newcomer into the linebacker room for the spring.
Barnes comes into the spring at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, up 12 pounds from the end of the 2019 season. Morris comes in at 6-foot-2 and 211 pounds, up 16 pounds from the end of last season.
Oklahoma begins spring practice on Tuesday.
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