The No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners take on the Kansas Jayhawks in a key Big 12 battle. Last week, the Sooners were without leading rusher Tawee Walker, which was a surprise since he was not listed on the injury report.
Why did Walker miss Week 8, and will he play today against Kansas?
Tawee Walker Expected to Play Against Kansas
One of the surprise 2024 NFL Draft candidates at RB thus far in the 2023 season is Walker. The 5’9″, 215-pound junior quickly took the starting job in Norman, Okla., and initially looked unstoppable. However, injuries and a suspension allowed him to split carries with Marcus Major.
Walker unexpectedly missed Week 8 against UCF after leading the team in carries against Texas. Sooners head coach Brent Venables shed light on why he didn’t warm up pre-game or dress, noting that he served an in-house suspension after getting into a verbal dispute with a coaching staff member. However, Walker is expected to play against Kansas with the suspension now in the rearview mirror.
Walker, a walk-on junior college transfer who joined the team before the 2022 season from Palomar College in California, has been a pleasant surprise for the Sooners. But his role moving forward is not guaranteed, per Venables.
“Obviously, DeMarco [Murray, Oklahoma’s RB coach,] is CEO of his position,” Venables said in his weekly press conference. “Ultimately, all the responsibility is mine. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a head coach tell me who I can start and who I can’t as long as they’re in good standing. That’s the position coach. That’s why you pay ‘em, to make those decisions.”
Walker is the only Oklahoma running back to have rushed for over 100 yards this season, with his highest being 117 yards against SMU. Meanwhile, quarterback Dillon Gabriel also had an impressive 113 rushing yards against Texas.
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Jovantae Barnes, a sophomore, has yet to play in any Big 12 Conference matches and still has the option to take a redshirt, as he has only played in three games so far. Barnes was a true freshman last year when he ran for over 500 yards and scored five touchdowns. This season, he has rushed for 122 yards with an average of 4.5 yards per attempt.
Despite carrying the ball only 18 times for 62 yards in 2022, Walker had 161 yards and two touchdowns through the first two games of the season. That includes his 21-carry, 117-yard performance against SMU in Week 2. But he tallied only nine carries and two receptions in the next two games before the team’s showdown against Texas.
Walker has the opportunity to stand out in the Big 12 as there’s not an obvious set of stars at his position across the conference. Major led the Sooners with 308 rushing yards but has only averaged 3.9 yards per carry despite his 82-yard performance last week.
Walker is a powerful inside runner who plays to his size. He’s excelled on the inside zone runs where he doesn’t have to make sharp lateral cuts but rather plant his foot and get upfield, especially when running off tackle.
He doesn’t have the physical profile of being a higher-round pick. But that doesn’t mean he won’t find a role at the next level as someone who can contribute as a pass catcher and be solid on short-yardage situations while taking advantage of lighter boxes, especially when playing next to a dual-threat quarterback.
