Oklahoma running back Jovantae Barnes appears injured at latest spring practice

It appears that one of the Oklahoma Sooners‘ key playmakers heading into the 2023 season sustained an injury during spring practice.

Sooner Scoop’s George Stoia reported Monday that Sooners’ sophomore running back Jovantae Barnes took the field at their latest spring practice with a boot on his right foot and using a scooter. Barnes was still wearing full pads in the picture, but likely did not participate in practice if his right foot is non-weight bearing.

Barnes is expected to be Oklahoma’s starting running back this upcoming season and was the team’s second-leading rusher last season behind Eric Gray. Barnes rushed for 519 yards on 116 carries for five touchdowns last season, averaging 4.5 yards per carry behind Gray.

#Sooners running back Jovantae Barnes in a boot and on a scooter at practice today. That’s no bueno. pic.twitter.com/hiKPQL8PRL

— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) April 3, 2023

And now that Gray has declared for the 2023 NFL Draft, the RB1 spot was Barnes’ for the taking.

Barnes was a four-star prospect out of Desert Pines high school in Las Vegas, where he was ranked the No. 113 overall prospect in the 2022 class and the No. 6 running back in the nation according to On3’s Industry Rankings.

Brent Venables describes the difference in development for transfers compared to freshmen

Spring ball is underway in Norman, as Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables enters his second season at the helm for the Sooners. Between incoming freshmen and transfer portal pick-ups, there are plenty of fresh faces gracing the fields at spring practice. And recently, Venables spoke about the difference in developing those freshmen compared to transfer student-athletes.

“There’s a maturity usually, it’s a little bit different just because they’re older and whether they’ve been scarred up, or they’ve played a lot, they’ve grown, they’ve matured,” Venables explained. “So their mindset a lot of times is different than maybe a freshman, so that can be an advantage.”

Oklahoma brought in 13 players from the transfer portal this offseason, all with varying levels of playing experience, but Venables wanted them all to have some static qualities that would be key in them integrating with the team.

“But gotta still at the same time find guys that are team guys, so we really feel good about the group of guys that we brought in from team-centered, leaders where they’re coming from, and then having the maturity to know how to go and compete every day, and that they believe inherently that you’re going to get what you earned,” Venables said.

Venables sounds high on his new transfer portal players, but still hasn’t lost sight of the importance of recruiting, developing, and eventually playing high school talent.

“Those are the biggest things, but again, what you love about a young player is that you have all this opportunity to develop them,” Venables said. “And guys are going to be there for three, four, five years, by that fourth and that fifth year, by the time that comes around there are guys that play at a really really high level consistently for you.”