How does OU football's running back room look? Jovantae Barnes is 'back to normal'

NORMAN — Jovantae Barnes’ 2023 season was a roller coaster.

For most of the season, so was OU’s running backs room, which remained a mystery throughout. In their first seven games, the Sooners started four different running backs before finding something special in Gavin Sawchuk, who rushed for over 100 yards in each of the last five games.

The biggest question was where is Barnes and what happened? Following Oklahoma’s practice Monday, Barnes opened up about his foot surgery and the setbacks he battled all season.

“It was just a lot to do with my foot surgery and just the timing,” Barnes said. “Me trying to rush it and making sure I can be back for the season and be out here for the coaches so they depend on me. So I just wasn't ready and there'd be some times I'd be like, ‘OK, I feel good at practice. I feel good this week.’ And I’d go back out there and I just wouldn't be able to burst.”

Ahead of the 2023 season, Barnes and Sawchuk were expected to start for OU following their performances in the 2022 Cheez-It Bowl. Barnes said what the position group went through last season brought the group closer.

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After rushing for 140 yards and a touchdown on just 37 carries in seven games, he is excited to get back on the field and show the world what he’s capable of.

“It feels amazing man,” Barnes said. “It's truly a blessing. I couldn't be more happy to be out here with my boys and be working. So I'm excited and just trying to get better every day. … It’s going great. I feel back to normal, I feel back (to being) explosive. So I’ve just been working on that during the offseason and making sure I’m just keeping my head up and just getting close with my teammates. Making sure I call my family everyday so they give me some motivation.”

Barnes struggled mentally at times while enduring the injury and the continued setbacks.

He said he didn’t feel like himself and relied on his teammates and family to get him through. Following the season, Barnes stayed in the training room, rehabbing his foot and working to get back on the field.

“It was very frustrating,” Barnes said. “But at the same time, I know God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. So at the same time, I just had to take that as a mental error and make sure I could just be happy for my boys and make sure I was happy for (Gavin Sawchuk), (Tawee Walker) and everybody in the room. They were doing a good job.”

Barnes said running backs coach DeMarco Murray was instrumental in helping him return from his injury. Murray reportedly decided to stay with the Sooners after being offered a three-year contract to turn down Ohio State last week.

Some expected Barnes to be a candidate to enter the transfer portal during the offseason. But he had unfinished business with the coach he committed to.

“I don't really know too much about it or like what was truly happening,” Barnes said of Murray’s reported decision. “But I'm just happy he’s here and I'm just happy he's my coach. That’s the reason I came here. I just love the way he coaches and I know he works on every detail and he does his job well.”

Oklahoma’s running backs room will seemingly be more of a consistent group next season. Murray knows what he has in Barnes and Sawchuk and added UT-Martin transfer Samuel Franklin and former four-star recruit Taylor Tatum.

For Barnes, backed by his close knit friends and family, he’s just excited to put his injury-riddled 2023 behind him and get back to where he was when he was healthy.

“The biggest thing was just my coaches and my teammates,” Barnes said. “I know DeMarco, he had a lot of injuries in his past so he just made sure I just kept my head up. Just making sure I knew that everything's gonna be OK. … (There were) just a lot of guys just making sure I was OK, my family as well. So they helped me a lot and made me keep my head up.”

Here’s a look at where OU’s running backs room stands during spring practice:

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Season rewind

With Gavin Sawchuk and Barnes not completely healthy to start the season, OU’s ground game was a bit slow to get going as well.

The Sooners averaged less than 158 rushing yards per game during the first five games of the season. But over their last eight, the Sooners averaged nearly more than 197 per game.

The biggest surprise in the group was walk-on Tawee Walker, who ran for 117 yards in an early win over SMU and then 146 in the loss at Kansas.

He finished with 513 yards and seven touchdowns.

Sawchuk was a big piece of the Sooners’ late surge, as he finished as OU’s leading scorer with 744 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.

Sawchuk finished the season with five consecutive games of 100 yards or more on the ground.

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Roster management

Who’s in: Sam Franklin, Xavier Robinson, Taylor Tatum

Who’s out: Marcus Major, Daylan Smothers, Tawee Walker

The take

While Barnes had the more impressive start to his career, Sawchuk certainly looks like he’ll be the Sooners’ top running back to start the season.

His speed and ability to break through contact make him a versatile weapon in the backfield.

Barnes will have plenty of chances to expand his role, though, as he looks to build off a solid freshman season before the struggles to get on the field last year.

The wildcards to the rotation could be Taylor Tatum and Sam Franklin. Tatum isn’t with the team during the spring as he finishes high school — including starring in baseball as well — but figures to have a chance to quickly carve out at least occasional carries.

Franklin rushed for 1,386 yards and 11 touchdowns last season as a redshirt sophomore at Tennessee-Martin.

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Depth chart

The starter

• Gavin Sawchuk, So., 5-11, 195

The reserves

• Jovantae Barnes, Jr., 6-0, 207

• Taylor Tatum, Fr., 5-11, 205

• Sam Franklin, RJr., 5-10, 200

• Kalib Hicks, RFr., 5-11, 216

• Xavier Robinson, Fr., 6-0, 228

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football: Jovantae Barnes 'back to normal' after injuries doom 2023