With one week left in the 2025 regular season, the Transfer Portal floodgates are about to open, even in Oklahoma with a College Football Playoff run likely around the corner.
Although he's a senior, it already sounds like running back Jovantae Barnes is going to redshirt and finish his career elsewhere. And more Sooners will also likely play somewhere else next season. Whether it's because of situation or just rotten luck in Norman, these are five players, specifically underclassmen, who probably won't be back at Oklahoma next year.
Most likely Sooners to transfer after the season
Michael Hawkins Jr. is a guy who will do anything to remain loyal, especially as an OU legacy with a brother also on the roster. However, Hawkins could be left with no choice unless he wants to possibly sacrifice the rest of his college football career.
The Sooners already squandered Hawkins' freshman season last year, and although he got to redshirt this season, the future still doesn't look promising for Hawkins in Oklahoma. It seems starter John Mateer will be back next season instead of heading to the NFL, and anything beyond that would be questionable for Hawkins with offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle adding Bowe Bentley from the 2026 class and the Sooners also regularly bringing in veterans from the portal when needed. However, Hawkins could immediately be a QB1 in 2026 at plenty of other places.
Logan Howland started six games at left tackle last season, but after appearing in only five games this season, it's clear former five-star recruit Michael Fasusi has taken over the left tackle spot. Fellow freshman Ryan Fodje is also the guy at right tackle.
Howland is good enough to start, but not over Fasusi or Fodje at OU, so if he wants a starting job next year, or even beyond that, he'll have to look elsewhere.
Zion Kearney continues be low on the pecking order in Oklahoma, and in today's college football, players don't stay there for long.
Injuries forced last season's batch of freshman wide receivers to step in quickly, but of the group, Kearney got the least amount of opportunity. Then this season, Kearney has just two receptions in limited playing time again as Arbuckle doesn't rotate many receivers. And things still don't look promising for Kearney next season with Isaiah Sategna III likely staying ahead of him on the depth chart.
Just like Jovantae Barnes, Taylor Tatum will be another causality of a crowded running back room that's loaded with young talent. Tatum has been banged up most of the season and has barely seen the field, but he flashed enough last year as a freshman that he would have plenty of options in the Transfer Portal where he could get a lot more carries.
After appearing in eight games as a freshman in 2022, Jake Taylor hasn't played in more than four since. Even if he's healthy in the future, which has been a big if, Taylor, like Howland, would be stuck behind the Sooners' young talent along the offensive line.