Oklahoma football: Top-10 RB pledges to Sooners for 2022
By Chip Rouse
Ring one up — a big one — for Oklahoma football assistant coach DeMarco Murray.
Four-star 2022 running back Javontae Barnes from Las Vegas, Nevada, committed to the Sooners on Sunday. Barnes announced his decision on Sunday while participating in the Under Armour High School All-America Game being played in Orlando, Florida.
Barnes actually quietly signed with the Sooners last month during the early signing period but wanted to hold the official announcement until the Under Armour All-America game. The 6-foot, 200-pound running back has been heavily recruited by Murray and OU, and Barnes admittedly had built a strong relationship with the former Sooner and NFL star, who just completed his second season on the Oklahoma staff.
The Sooners won out over USC and Florida State, which were the finalists in the battle for Barnes’ recruitment. Lincoln Riley actually visited Barnes and his family after accepting the coaching job at USC and did his best in trying to persuade the running back ranked No. 4 at his position by Rivals and No. 10 by 247Sports to stay close to home and come to USC. But at the end of the day, it was the relationship with OU’s Murray and the fact that Murray was remaining on staff at OU that won out.
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“He’s (Murray) been hard on me ever since Lincoln left,” Barnes told Adam Gorney, Rivals national recruiting director, “and he’s letting it be known he loves Lincoln, it’s all respect, but at the end of the day they (Oklahoma) were great before him (and will be after him).”
Barnes is a power runner and will fit well with another OU 2022 blue-chip running back recruit Gavin Sawchuk, who possesses great speed. Getting Barnes in the fold comes at an excellent time for the Sooners with the announcement following OU’s Alamo Bowl win this week that Kennedy Brooks is declaring for the NFL Draft.
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The Oklahoma running back room for next season appears to be in great shape, with the return of Eric Gray and Marcus Major and with two incoming top-10 running-back prospects.
The Sooners now have 17 commitments for 2022 and are in strong position to land a top-10 class for new head coach Brent Venables. The Oklahoma 2022 class is currently ranked No. 10 by 247Sports and 11th by Rivals.
After a handful of decommitments following the announcement that Riley was leaving, Sooner fans should feel very good about where things stand now, given all the uncertainty and disruption in the difficult week between Riley’s departure and the hiring of Venables.