Brent Venables Says Oklahoma RB Tawee Walker Will Return This Week vs. Kansas

NORMAN — As expected, Tawee Walker is back.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables announced Tuesday during his weekly press conference that Walker is back in the lineup after a brief suspension last Saturday.

The Sooners were without Walker’s services in last week’s 31-29 victory over UCF after serving what Venables called “an in-house suspension” but said he anticipates Walker being back this week.

"I do," he said.

It was reported by OU Insider that Walker had gotten into a disagreement with a member of the OU coaching staff.

Waited for Brent Venables to address this before sharing the full details, but he has now acknowledged that Walker was serving an “in-house suspension” today.

I’m told that suspension arose after a dispute with a member of the staff at practice this past week. https://t.co/uyzni8WSQv
— Parker Thune (@ParkerThune) October 21, 2023

Walker is expected to be in the lineup when No. 6-ranked OU (7-0) plays at Kansas this week, an 11 a.m. start in Lawrence.

The 5-foot-9, 216-pound Walker, a walk-on junior college transfer who joined the team prior to the 2022 season from Palomar College in California, has been a pleasant surprise for the OU offense this season.

Walker is the only Sooner running back with a 100-yard rushing game this season (117 against SMU). Quarterback Dillon Gabriel rushed for 113 yards against Texas.

Meanwhile, the rest of the OU running back corps has struggled to gain a foothold.

Senior Marcus Major ran for 82 yards last week to lead the squad and now leads the Sooners with 308 yards on the ground, but he’s averaging only 3.9 yards per carry.

Walker is second on the team with 239 yards rushing and leads the squad at 4.5 yards per carry with four touchdowns.

Sophomore Jovantae Barnes hasn’t played yet in Big 12 Conference play and could still take a redshirt since he’s only appeared in three games. Barnes, who ran for more than 500 yards and five touchdowns as a true freshman last year, has 122 yards on the ground this season and is averaging 4.5 yards per attempt.

Redshirt freshman Gavin Sawchuk is now up to 108 rushing yards on the season after what could be his breakout performance last week against UCF: 10 carries for 62 yards, including a near-game-sealing 30-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

“Obviously, DeMarco (Murray) is CEO of his position,” Venables said. “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.

“… We need those guys in that room to be playing like they’re capable of playing, and in all phases and all the different areas around them. That should be a position of strength for us.”

The Sooners’ two freshman running backs appear to be on the path to a redshirt season. Daylan Smothers has played in two games and has nine carries for 36 yards, and Kalib Hicks has played in one game and has three carries for 14 yards.

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