Former Oklahoma running back Tawee Walker opened up about a “hectic” 2023 season and why he decided to transfer to Wisconsin this offseason.
Tawee Walker has Oklahoma as his last destination for his career. After two years away from the game, he was seeking to revive his playing career at Palomar College, and the Sooners became the first major programme to express interest in him.
But Walker had the tough choice to go for an opportunity elsewhere in 2023, following a “hectic” season in Oklahoma’s running back room. He signed up for the transfer portal in December, and shortly after Oklahoma concluded its season in the Alamo Bowl, he moved to Wisconsin.
In an almost 13-minute video that he uploaded to his YouTube account this week, Walker—who finished as OU’s second-leading rusher the previous season—spoke about his choice to better introduce himself to the Wisconsin fan base after his first spring with the Badgers.
“I had the distinct feeling that I was — not imprisoned, but I’m at a loss for words— compressed. I’m just not realising my full potential, I don’t even know,” Walker remarked. “It seems like they kind of utilised me as a guy who’s like, ‘Dang, nobody else is doing anything,’ or as a third-down back. Tawee will act, I’m sure of it. Permit me to insert Tawee. I just think that instead of just mixing people up and seeing who will do what, I should have been established as the person or we should have had a one and two for the entire year.”
Walker is right when he points out that Oklahoma’s offence rotated a number of backs out of the backfield early in the season in an attempt to develop a reliable rushing attack.
Following an offseason foot treatment, Jovantae Barnes—who finished 2022 as the second-leading rusher—had persistent problems.Early in the season, a hamstring injury hindered 2022 redshirtee Gavin Sawchuk, who went on to have a breakout performance in the Cheez-It Bowl at the end of that season.Walker, who started the season against Arkansas State and appeared to be Oklahoma’s most dependable option out of the backfield for long periods of the campaign, was given an early-season opportunity as a result.
Walker could grind out tough yards (and “run through trash,” as Brent Venables would frequently say), but he rarely saw the majority of carries, even when other running backs in the room were injured. This is in contrast to his 117-yard rushing effort against SMU in Week 2. He had zero carries against Tulsa the following week after his SMU effort, and he had a total of nine carries in Oklahoma’s opening two Big 12 games against Iowa State and Cincinnati.
In the Red River Rivalry game against Texas, Walker then led the team with 15 carries. Following an in-house suspension against UCF, heTawee Walker was the one bright spot for the Sooners in an awful Kansas loss. Over the remaining five games for the Sooners, Walker was only given 26 carries in total. Despite this, he finished the season with 513 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 5 yards per carry.
During that latter stretch of the season, Sawchuk, on the other hand, became the team’s go-to option. He ran for 744 yards and nine touchdowns on 6.2 yards per carry, surpassing 100 yards in each of the Sooners’ final five games. Deco Murray wanted to find a workhorse lead back throughout fall camp, but Oklahoma didn’t really decide on a go-to option at running back until Sawchuk’s rise.
“I feel like at practice I did what I was supposed to do, and no one was establishing the No. 1 spot at the beginning of the season, but I feel like I did my part when I got my chance,” Walker stated. “Gavin performed incredible things towards the end of the season. I can’t remember the specific game, but he earned it all. After that opening game, he had his chance, and by the end of the campaign, he had established himself. He accomplished amazing things. Nonetheless, I believe that nobody was truly firmly established in the top slot at the start of the season.
“I believe I ought to have confirmed that. Since I’m a true teammate first and foremost, I think that Gavin did what he had to do at the conclusion of the season, which he earned, but I think that the first half of the season should have seen more improvement since the running back room was just so busy. We were unaware of who was initiating each game.”
Walker continued, describing Oklahoma running back coach DeMarco Murray as a fantastic mentor and coach, and adding that his remarks were not intended as a jab at him, despite the fact that the two had “a couple issues” with each other during the season, which Walker would not go into further detail about.
Walker remarked, “It did nothing but make us stronger.” “I still adore him, and I have a good feeling he feels the same way about me. We no longer communicate due to restrictions and other issues, but after my time in college is up, I’ll probably speak with him once a week. I like that man. He wished for me to stay. I was reluctant to go. Simply put, it was the greatest circumstance for me to take care of my family, as well as the ideal circumstance for myself.”
Walker said he ultimately decided on Wisconsin because of the school’s reputation for producing successful running backs and because of the new offensive coordinator of the Badgers, Phil Longo. Longo’s offence at UNC in 2020 featured a formidable one-two punch at running back with Michael Carter and Jayvonte Williams, who both exceeded 1,000 yards rushing that season after coming close in 2019. Walker joined the portal after the regular season ended but stayed with OU through its bowl game.
Walker still cherishes his time with the Sooners, despite his departure from Oklahoma. He said that Oklahoma will always remain his first love and expressed his desire to visit the university during Wisconsin’s bye week this season (the Badgers are off on September 21, when the Sooners host Tennessee to open SEC play, and Nov. 9, when Oklahoma visits Missouri).
Walker declared, “I bet on myself for this entire journey.” “I simply know that I put myself in that scenario when I went to the University of Oklahoma, even though I had no idea what would actually happen. I couldn’t accomplish anything if I couldn’t. However, I now realise why I’m doing this. I’m taking this on because I know I’m capable of it. I knew I would survive that circumstance, which is why I put myself in it in the first place. It wasn’t an idle endeavour for me. I didn’t want to take the chance merely to play football; instead, I wanted the opportunity to care for my family and my son, and thus far, things have worked out for me. All I have to do is maintain my composure and keep moving forward.”
“I cherished every aspect about OU. I adore the supporters. one of the biggest fan bases in all of sports, not just college sports. I hope the fans feel the same way about me as I do—that is, that they love and miss me too.”
GET MORE NEWS HERE
Be the first to comment