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Another Oklahoma Offensive Lineman Enters the Transfer Portal

The Sooners need bodies for their bowl game against Arizona, but are now down yet another backup across the front five.
John E. Hoover|
Another Oklahoma Offensive Lineman Enters the Transfer Portal
Another Oklahoma Offensive Lineman Enters the Transfer Portal

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma’s offensive line depth for the Alamo Bowl has just gotten even dicier.

Aaryn Parks, a career reserve who played well in last year’s Cheez-It Bowl and might have provided some solid backup snaps when the Sooners play Arizona on Dec. 28, has reportedly entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Parks, a fourth-year junior from Seat Park, MD, played in three games as a reserve this season but after the Sooners lost four potential starters up front for the Alamo Bowl — center Andrew Raym and right tackle Tyler Guyton opted out for the NFL Draft, and left guards Savion Byrd and Cayden Green both entered the transfer portal — he figured to have a larger role against the Wildcats. Backup Nate Anderson also hit the portal.

That was never a guarantee, of course, as Parks has been in the portal already once.

He entered the portal in late June — after the window to be immediately eligible for 2023 had closed — and then withdrew his name some 48 hours later, proclaiming, “I’M BACKKKKKKK.”

OL Aaryn Parks Exits Transfer Portal, Returns to Oklahoma

Parks found himself thrust into action in Orlando against Florida State last year to end Brent Venables’ first season after Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line underwent similar upheaval. Both starting tackles (Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris) had opted out for the draft, and emergency starter Jacob Sexton was injured in pregame warmups, opening the door for Parks to play — and play well against FSU All-American edge rusher Jared Verse.

Now Parks, who didn’t play at all in his first two seasons in Norman, will again seek greener pastures elsewhere.

2023-24 Oklahoma Player Tracker

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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