Tag: Kalib Hicks

Another Oklahoma running back enters the transfer portal

The hits continue as the Oklahoma Sooners lose another one to the transfer portal.

Transfer portal season is here. The Oklahoma Sooners had several players enter their names into the portal on Monday. The Sooners have lost three running backs to the [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag]. [autotag]Marcus Major[/autotag] made his announcement earlier Monday.

Major came in as a highly touted running back from Oklahoma City, but injuries held him back. He came back this season and started for much of the year before getting injured once again.

Major finished his Oklahoma career with 194 carries for 833 yards and eight touchdowns. Major has one year remaining and will be a sixth-year senior wherever he decides to go next.

Most likely, this leaves the Sooners with [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag], [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag], [autotag]Kalib Hicks[/autotag] and [autotag]Emeka Megwa[/autotag] for the bowl game.

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2023 Position Review: Oklahoma Sooners running backs start the season slow, finish strong

The running back position was a disappointment for most of the season but how they closed the year provided reason to be excited about 2024.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ running back room had an up-and-down season in 2023. It was supposed to be one of their stronger groups led by [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] and [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag].

But both players battled injuries earlier in the season, so instead, it was the [autotag]Marcus Major[/autotag] and [autotag]Tawee Walker[/autotag] show for the first half of the year. Walker and Major did a solid job in that role, but both have their limitations. Oklahoma needed Barnes or Sawchuk to get healthy and take the reins.

Barnes was never really able to get healthy or contribute, but after the bye week, Sawchuk took off. He finished the year with four straight 100-yard games and gave the Sooners a look at what they hoped to have all season.

Let’s take a look at their overall grade based on preseason expectations, who stepped up, their best performances, and what the future holds for the position.

More: 2023 Review: Sooners Quarterbacks exceed expectations.

Early execution among the three offensive keys to a Sooners win vs. SMU

Offensive keys to the game when the Oklahoma Sooners take on the SMU Mustangs.

Oklahoma enters Saturday’s matchup with SMU on a four-game winning streak against the Dallas-based institution. The last time these two schools played each other was 1995. Things have changed drastically in both programs since, and it’ll be interesting to see how things shake out on the field come Saturday evening in Norman.

Oklahoma’s offense put on a clinic against Arkansas State and will carry it into this game. Here’s the skinny on this game: expecting Oklahoma to put up another 73 points is highly irrational.

That doesn’t mean Oklahoma shouldn’t be able to score in the 40-point range, but from a pure talent perspective, SMU’s defense is better.

The Mustangs are full of veteran players, and that veteran leadership is precisely why they are one of the favorites to win the American Athletic Conference.

They will be unphased, with 15 seniors starting on both sides of the ball. Many have played at more prominent institutions and seen teams of Oklahoma’s size and talent before making their way to Dallas.

For this offense to uphold its end of the bargain, it’ll likely need to do what we highlighted in our three keys for this week.

Up Next: 3 Keys on Offense vs. SMU

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Report Card: Sooners breeze through Arkansas State with big-time performances

The Oklahoma Sooners were fantastic in their win over Arkansas State, but how did they grade in this week’s Report Card?

Saturday allowed us to see team 129 in Oklahoma’s illustrious football history for the first time this season. This team entered the day with cautious optimism, but a cloud of last season’s disappointment still hungover over the program. Year two of Brent Venables’s tenure needed to start off with a bang, and his team did just that as they dismantled the Arkansas State Red Wolves 73-0.

The Sooners are on another level regarding raw talent than the Arkansas State Red Wolves. That is abundantly clear, but Oklahoma had to show it could dominate an inferior opponent. They also needed to showcase the improvements in recruiting and among their returning players.

Saturday was a fun, stress-free showcase of domination. Now that the first game is behind us, it’s time to dive deeper and hand out our first grades of the year in this week’s report card.

Oklahoma Sooners have the weapons to be great on offense

Though the Sooners lost a lot of talent to the NFL draft, there’s still the talent for the offense to be dynamic in 2023.

The Oklahoma Sooners are in the midst of a minor retooling on the offensive side of the football. They’re working to replace three starters along the offensive line, their top two pass catchers ([autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag] and [autotag]Brayden Willis[/autotag]), and their leading rusher ([autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag]).

[autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag] led the Oklahoma Sooners in receiving yards each of his three seasons in Norman.

Despite all of the turnover, the Oklahoma Sooners are still an incredibly talented offense.

Replacing [autotag]Anton Harrison[/autotag] at left tackle is [autotag]Walter Rouse[/autotag]. Rouse started 38 games at Stanford, a program known for producing good to great rushing attacks. That should play well in a [autotag]Jeff Lebby [/autotag]offense that wants to run the rock and run it a lot.

At right tackle [autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag] is replacing one-year starter Wanya Morris. There may not be a player in Oklahoma’s starting lineup that has as high a ceiling as Guyton. Jared Verse, a future top 10 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, called Guyton the best tackle he’d faced. Though he doesn’t have a ton of experience, the expectations are high for the incredibly athletic offensive tackle.

[autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag] slides over to right guard to replace Chris Murray, and at the moment, it looks like [autotag]Savion Byrd[/autotag] is the frontrunner at left guard. Byrd has just one collegiate start under his belt but was good in the Sooners matchup with Florida State. Byrd helped the Sooners have a fantastic day on the ground against the Seminoles.

Oklahoma is hoping for a similar breakout from [autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag] that Willis experienced a year ago. In a thin tight end room, Stogner has to have a big season. He has the athletic prowess to be a game-changer in the passing game. His only question is his health. If Stogner can stay healthy for an entire season, there’s a chance he surpasses Willis’ receiving totals from a year ago.

Wide receiver still has some questions. Namely, who will start on the outside opposite [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag]? [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag] will likely start in the slot in three or more wide receiver sets. Then it comes down to a host of wide receiver talents that are vying for that No. 2 spot. There are a lot of really good options, like [autotag]Brenen Thompso[/autotag]n, [autotag]Andrel Anthon[/autotag]y, [autotag]LV Bunkley-Shelton[/autotag], [autotag]Gavin Freeman[/autotag], [autotag]Jaquaize Pettaway[/autotag], [autotag]Jayden Gibson[/autotag], and [autotag]Nic Anderson[/autotag]. There’s a good chance the Sooners roll two deep at each wide receiver spot in games to keep everyone fresh in the Sooners’ uptempo offense.

But they have a good amount of depth to work with.

Speaking of depth, there’s no position on the offensive side of the ball as deep as the Sooners running back room. Led by [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] and [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag], the Sooners are loaded with talented runners. In addition to the sophomore running backs, the coaching staff is high on [autotag]Marcus Major[/autotag] and [autotag]Tawee Walker[/autotag] and the roles they’ll be able to play this year. Throw in true freshmen [autotag]Kalib Hicks[/autotag] and [autotag]Daylan Smothers[/autotag], and the Sooners have six guys they feel can help them run the football.

Featuring guys like Farooq and Barnes provide a physical dynamic that should allow Oklahoma to pick up dirty yards after contact and after the catch.

In addition to becoming a more physical team, the Sooners emphasized adding speed this offseason. Freeman and Sawchuk return and Oklahoma also added Smothers, Thompson, and Pettaway to their ranks. That’s a group of guys that are threats to score from any spot on the field any time they touch the ball because of speed.

At quarterback, the Sooners have an experienced veteran who threw for more than 3,100 yards and 25 touchdowns in Dillon Gabriel last season. 2022 was his first at the Power Five level and he was good. Now, he needs to take a step to improve the Sooners fortunes on third and fourth down and in the red zone.

The Sooners lost a lot of talent to the draft this offseason, but that doesn’t mean their devoid of talent. It’s a deep offensive roster that can help the Sooners be even better than they were in 2022.

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‘We’ve got a lot more talent’: DeMarco Murray on this year’s running back room

Eric Gray had a great year last season but running back’s coach Demarco Murray thinks this room is even better than it was a year ago.

One of the strongest position groups at the [autotag]University of Oklahoma[/autotag] is the running back room. It’s a young group but one filled with talent.

[autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] and [autotag]Marcus Major[/autotag] played quite a bit last season. [autotag]Gavin Sawchuck[/autotag] played really well in the Cheez-It Bowl, which has a great many people excited about what he could do in an expanded role.

Freshman [autotag]Kalib Hicks[/autotag] had one of the best offseason of any freshman [autotag]DeMarco Murray [/autotag]has seen. [autotag]Tawee Walker[/autotag] is consistently being mentioned as the hardest person to tackle for the defense. [autotag]Daylan Smothers[/autotag] was brought up as the best pass-catching back when Murray’s discussed his running back group.

This room has many different players that complement each other well. That should also help take a lot of the pressure off an unproven receiving room. Jeff Lebby wants to run the football. Having a deep stable of backs will give the offensive coordinator even more incentive to pound the rock.

While it will be a running back by committee, Murray said the Sooners hope to have one guy take over and be that “bell cow” back.

“You want to have a guy you can count on day in and day out just like I did with Eric,” Murray said at OU football media day. “Then obviously have some guys to spell him. I think at this point in our room, we’ve got a lot more talent than we did a year ago just overall.”

If you’ve followed Jeff Lebby’s career, you know how much he wants to run the football. For a team that finished 10th nationally in rushing a year ago, to know this room is deeper and more talented should be a scary sight for other teams.

It also should help them finish games better than they did in 2022. Something that should bring a smile to Sooner fans’ faces.

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Oklahoma Sooners running backs are the team’s strength heading into 2023

This might be an overreaction to the bowl game, but the Sooners’ run game could be even better this year.

While the offense for the Sooners was inconsistent in 2022, the run game was really good. Led by a breakout season from Eric Gray, the Sooners finished 10th in the nation with 219.4 rushing yards per game.

Gray ran for 1,366 yards and finished 18th in the nation in rushing yards, while averaging 6.4 yards per carry on 214 attempts. Gray is no longer with the Sooners. He was taken in the fifth round of the NFL draft by the New York Giants.

This might be an overreaction to the bowl game, but the Sooners’ run game could be even better this year.

The Sooners return Jovantae Barnes, who ran for 519 yards and five touchdowns as a true freshman. They also return Gavin Sawchuk, who had 15 carries for 100 yards in their bowl game against a very good Florida State team.

Those two complement each other well. Barnes is more of a physical runner, whereas Sawchuk brings plenty of speed. They are similar to a Trey Sermon and Rodney Anderson backfield. The key for them is going to be the passing game.

After the flashes we saw from Barnes and the Cheez-It bowl performance from Sawchuk, the running back position could very well could be the strength of the team.

When Jeff Lebby’s offense is rolling, it runs on everyone. While Eric Gray had a great season last year, the running back depth wasn’t great after Marcus Major was injured. Barnes stepped up and performed well when thrust into a significant role in his first season at the collegiate level.

This year you have Major back, but the running back depth is much better: Barnes, Sawchuk, Tawee Walker, Oregon transfer Emeka Megwa and true freshmen Kalib Hicks and Daylan Smothers.

While Eric Gray had a great season that he turned into a job with the Giants, Barnes and Sawchuk have higher ceilings. Gray had a hard time breaking away from the defense. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Oklahoma’s lead runners heading into 2023.

With question marks in the wide receiver room and competition still taking place along the offensive line, this running back room has to be the best part of the team, especially early in the season.

In Year 2 in Jeff Lebby’s system for Barnes and Sawchuk, there’s a chance the Sooners’ running game could be even better.

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Projecting Oklahoma’s offensive depth chart before summer practice

Summer offensive depth chart projection for the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners.

Oklahoma has started summer preparation for the upcoming season. Currently, the players are getting in their strength and conditioning work. There have been no padded practices, and there will not be any for a while, but that will not stop us from trying to figure out what Oklahoma’s starting offense and defense will look like when the Sooners take the field on Sept. 2 against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

Offensively, the Sooners starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel returned to help quarterback an offense that was 13th nationally in total offense last season. Much was made about Gabriel’s performance but a team finishing in the top 20 in total offense is probably doing many things right. Blaming the quarterback for a 6-7 season seems a bit excessive. In the one game Gabriel didn’t play, Oklahoma scored zero points in its biggest game of the season versus Texas.

Outside of that, Oklahoma underwent departures to the NFL by their starting right and left tackles, Wanya Morris and Anton Harrison, respectively. The latter was selected in the first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Marvin Mims went in the second round to the Denver Broncos. Starting running back Eric Gray was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Giants. Starting tight end Brayden Willis is a San Francisco 49er after being drafted in the seventh round.

Oklahoma will have holes to fill. We took our best shot at projecting an offensive depth chart while considering transfer portal acquisitions, recruiting, general roster maturation and turnover from last year’s team.

‘DeMarco is really excited about him’: Kalib Hicks standing out in first spring with the Sooners

True freshman Kalib Hicks performing well in his first spring with the Oklahoma Sooners.

The running back position at the University of Oklahoma has had a number of productive runners over the course of its history. As the Oklahoma Sooners work through spring ball, they’re looking for the guy that’ll take the reigns as the next starting running back. Someone they can rely on in every situation.

Though most figure the lead roles will go to [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] and [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag], true freshman [autotag]Kalib Hicks[/autotag] is having a strong start to his Sooners career.

“Hicks has done really well,” Brent Venables said after Wednesday’s practice. “He catches the ball well, he’s fearless, runs behind his pads does a great job in blitz protection… He plays fast and plays with really good instincts and good pace to him behind the line, and I know DeMarco (Murray) is really excited about him.”

Hicks amassed 3,228 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns, averaging 7 yards per carry on 455 rushing attempts in high school. He’s a fluid and physical runner that displays a lot of patience before hitting the hole.

With Jovantae Barnes recovering from surgery, Hicks has the opportunity to carve out a role on the depth chart this spring. In last year’s spring game, Barnes carried the ball a ton. With Barnes likely to be out, this could be Hicks’ time to shine at Oklahoma’s 2023 spring game on April 22.

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DeMarco Murray looking for a running back Sooners ‘can rely on every single day’

The Oklahoma Sooners have a talented group of runners, but who will emerge to be Oklahoma’s lead back in 2023?

The Oklahoma Sooners are in a familiar position at running back. They’re looking to find the guy that will replace last season’s leading rusher.

Two years ago, they were working to replace [autotag]Rhamondre Stevenson[/autotag]. Last spring, they were again looking for their lead running back after the departure of [autotag]Kennedy Brooks[/autotag].

They found answers each offseason. So there should be no concern. However, the question remains, who will be Oklahoma’s lead running back in 2023?

“I’m looking for a starter. That’s why we’re able to have the depth that we have here,” [autotag]DeMarco Murray[/autotag] said after Tuesday’s practice.

The Oklahoma Sooners have a depth chart as deep as it has been during Murray’s time in Norman. Though young, it’s four deep with blue-chip running backs [autotag]Marcus Major[/autotag], [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag], [autotag]Gavin Sawchuck[/autotag], and [autotag]Daylan Smothers[/autotag]. Three-star runner [autotag]Kalib Hicks[/autotag] was probably one of the more underrated additions of the 2023 signing class after an incredible career at Denton Ryan.

The Sooners have talented running backs to work with. Barnes and Sawchuk entered the spring as the backs at the front of the line. The two had memorable Cheez-It Bowl performances, each rushing for over the 100-yard mark in the three-point loss to Florida State.

“Just speaking on those two guys (Barnes and Sawchuk), they’ve always had a terrific mindset,” Murray said about his returning running backs. “They’ve always had a great working habit. We’re fortunate to have them here. But we have to continue to learn and continue to grow and get stronger and get faster in all areas. I’m pleased with where they are now.”

With Major, Barnes, and Sawchuk, the Sooners have guys with some significant experience. It’s not in the same vein as Kennedy Brooks, who entered the 2021 season already with a pair of 1,000-yard seasons under his belt. At the same time, they have the experience they can build upon as Oklahoma looks for their next lead running back.

But what is Murray looking for at the running back position?

“Just a guy that you know can rely on every single day. A guy like Eric Gray, who was kind of our comfort blanket,” Murray shared on Tuesday. “No matter what happened out there, no matter what the situation was, two-minute, short-yardage, situation football, he was going to be there. He was going to get it done.”

The Sooners will deploy multiple running backs in Jeff Lebby’s up-tempo offense. Still, Oklahoma needs to find the guy they can role out there in every situation.

Gone are Eric Gray’s 246 touches. He’s going to make an NFL team happy as an incredible value selection in the middle rounds of the draft. So who will step up to replace that workload?

Barnes looks like the favorite to do so, but don’t count out the rest of the running back room as well. They’re a talented bunch that will be vying for snaps this spring and into fall camp.

“We’ve got a great group of backs who are competing for playing time and competing for that top spot. It’s been great to see and sit back and watch. They’ve got the right mindset, an extremely talented room but a close room. So for us, man, we’re as close as hell, but at the end of the day, we also compete when we step out on the field.”

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