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Senior DL No Longer on Oklahoma Roster

Marcus Hicks, who changed positions twice during his OU career, is the Sooners' only unexpected personnel change this preseason.
John E. Hoover|
Senior DL No Longer on Oklahoma Roster
Senior DL No Longer on Oklahoma Roster

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma opens 2023 training camp missing just one player the Sooners had been expecting to be on the roster this college football season.

Marcus Hicks, a senior defensive lineman from Wichita, is not on OU’s official preseason roster.

Hicks did not reply to messages earlier in the week, but it is believed he simply declined the opportunity to play this season.

Following spring practice, Hicks graduated from OU in May and served a micro-internship at OU Health.

Hicks, a 6-foot-6, 302-pound fifth-year senior, came to OU as a 4-star defensive end out of Wichita Northwest High School but switched positions twice during his career with the Sooners.

Hicks redshirted in 2019 and didn’t play, then missed the 2020 season due to injury. He switched to offensive line and played one game in 2021, then in 2022 played in two games.

He switched back to defensive line for this year's spring practice.

“We're going to give him an opportunity,” Venables said in March. “He was recruited as a jumbo guy who could go either/or. He really wanted an opportunity to show what he can do on the defensive line. Hopefully we can keep him healthy and give him a chance. He's been banged up a lot. Hopefully he can have a healthy spring and strengthen us on the defensive line.”

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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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