Jovantae Barnes injury update: Brent Venables shares latest on Oklahoma RB for CFP

The Oklahoma Sooners have seen their running back room depleted by injuries this season. That includes the early season injury to Jovantae Barnes, which forced him to miss the majority of the season.

Late in the season, it appeared that Barnes was improving, but given that he had only played in four games, he would want to utilize his redshirt and not lose the year of eligibility. Going into the College Football Playoff, no games played are going to count against eligibility moving forward. That’s opened up the potential, as Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables explained, for him to return during the CFP.

“Yeah,” Brent Venables said. “Potentially with that. We’ll see how that goes.”

The last time Jovantae Barnes was able to see the field was against Auburn on September 20th. He suffered what has been an undisclosed injury. Throughout his injury recovery and even talks about redshirting, Barnes has been in “good standing” with the team.

In the four games he did play, Barnes rushed for 45 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown. He also had a reception for 16 yards. This is his fourth college season and in his most productive season, he rushed for 577 yards and nine touchdowns.

Injuries have become an increasing issue for Oklahoma, particularly at the running back position. So, getting time off between the regular season and CFP has been vital to getting the team back to full strength.

“But it’s beneficial for the whole team just to get a little healthier. It’s that time of year for everybody in college football,” Venables said. “Where everybody can benefit from a little less time on their feet and a little more time in the walkthroughs, and meetings, and not practicing as well.”

Oklahoma last played a game on November 29th. That’s going to give the Sooners about three weeks off between games while their opponent, Alabama, will have had two. Using that time to get healthy is going to go a long way for both sides.

“So, it comes at a great, great time for us,” Venables said. “I expect to have a little fresher football team going into this game.”

Oklahoma is set to host its first round CFP game in Norman. It’s the first time the Sooners will ever play host to a Playoff game. Coming into town is a familiar foe, Alabama. Earlier this season, the Sooners beat the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. Now, they’ll look to add another win here. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EST on Friday, December 19th.