Jovantae Barnes credits DeMarco Murray for decision to not transfer
Jovantae Barnes never considered transferring from OU.
Barnes, entering his third season at Oklahoma, has had a rollercoaster of a career. He was a standout in his freshman year, rushing for over 500 yards and five touchdowns. That led to lofty expectations as a sophomore. But after suffering a foot injury the spring of 2023, Barnes was never the same last season, failing to rush for 200 yards and only scoring one touchdown.
Many thought Barnes would transfer this offseason. Instead, he stayed, largely because of his position coach DeMarco Murray.
“There’s no doubt this is the place I wanted to be,” Barnes said Monday. “I’ve loved OU ever since I was in high school, ever since DeMarco was recruiting me so there was not one thought in my mind that I was going anywhere. This is the place I wanted to be. I loved this place. I know DeMarco, since day one, he believed in me. He let me know in high school that I’m going to come in here and he was going to be on me and he was going to make sure I’m working. So just getting that phone call and he’s going to be on my butt and making sure I was going to come back, that was the No. 1 thing.”
The phone call Barnes is referring to is one that came shortly after the Alamo Bowl. Murray called Barnes to make sure he wasn’t considering leaving Norman. For Barnes, Murray has been his biggest advocate and a large reason why he’s still at OU.
“I was on myself a lot because I’m a competitor,” Barnes said. “I wanted to be in, but I’m going to support my teammates and not being able to go in there and not do what I want to do. When I do go in, I’m not feeling it. He made sure to check up on me. He had a rough time in college with injuries. And he made sure to tell me to keep on and keep God on my side.”
For Oklahoma, Barnes’ struggles last season and his decision to stay at OU, have been used as an example to younger players. Coach Brent Venables spoke to the team last week about Barnes’ tough journey and had Barnes speak at the same team meeting.
“He kind of brought me up during the team meeting and you know — I had a pretty good freshman year. Not so good sophomore year,” Barnes said. “So he wanted me to go up just pretty much tell the youngins’ and tell everybody that just came in my journey since I’ve been here. I kind of just opened up a lot more of what was going on my sophomore year, how I felt personally, what I did to kind of just help and get through it. Just fight through it. It was pretty good to get up there and let the new guys and let the youngins’ know that even though you have obstacles you got to get through it. So that was probably the most important thing that I did.”
Now, Barnes hopes to prove that he can return to his former self. Venables said Saturday that Barnes looks as good as ever. He’s splitting first-team reps with Gavin Sawchuk and appears to be on track for a big role this season.
And he’s confident he can be even better than he was two years ago.
“I’m hoping to look better than I did my freshman year,” Barnes said. “So obviously I’m excited to just get back and feel good and feel the groove of everything. But I’m just trying to go day-by-day and get better.”
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