Breaking down other Oklahoma players who entered the transfer portal

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel ate up the headlines with his decision to end the NCAA Transfer Portal, but he’s not the only Oklahoma players to be on the search for a new place to play. With a handful of Sooners in the portal, On3’s Andy Staples and Sooner Scoop’s George Stoia sat down to discuss.

All told, there aren’t a lot of surprises among the group of names already in the portal for Oklahoma, Stoia said. And he doesn’t suspect any of the entrants will be of concern to the Sooners staff, either.

“So again, it’s a lot of guys that have entered the portal for Oklahoma, I think some of them is processing in terms of trying to get guys room so they can go out and get different players in the portal. And they do feel really good about this portal class in terms of what they’re able to go get, talent-wise. And I do think that they also feel really good — they’ve got a really large recruiting class coming in, I think it’s up to 27, 28 different commits right now,  coming in for next year. So they really like the guys that they’re bringing in on the recruiting trail and they’re also going to be pretty active in the transfer portal,” Stoia said.

A position where Oklahoma took a pair of apparently big losses to the portal is running back, where Tawee Walker and Marcus Major both entered — as did true freshman Daylan Smothers. But the level of reinforcements on the way have the alarm bells silent regarding the running back room.

“It’s also Gavin Sawchuk’s show moving forward,” Stoia said. “That’s the reality. They ran him a lot more down the stretch and you also look at who they’re bringing in in their recruiting class, they’re bringing in the No. 1 running back in the country in Taylor Tatum, somebody that they believe can come in and help ’em day one. So that’s why you’re seeing guys like a Tawee Walker, a Marcus Major, even Daylan Smothers, a true freshman, three running backs go in the portal for Oklahoma. They feel really good about the young guys that they’re bringing in and also the guys that are returning in Gavin Sawchuk and Javontae Barnes, so I think that that’s part of it.”

There were a few other notable names that Stoia and Staples discussed, mainly offensive lineman Savion Byrd and safety Key Lawrence. In both instances, Stoia said, a younger player — or players, in the case of Lawrence — ended up beating them out in 2023 and look to keep ahold of their spots on the depth chart in 2024.

“You mentioned Key Lawrence at safety. Was a starter for part of the year and then ends up getting benched in the Bedlam Game and didn’t really see the field the rest of the year. And you talk about Billy Bowman possibly coming back, somebody that they think can be an All-American safety next year, you’ve got Peyton Bowen, the five-star freshman that played a lot this season. So they feel really good about their depth there,” Stoia said.