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Oklahoma Tight End Enters Transfer Portal

Sooners senior Hayden Bray provided valuable practice reps after switching from defensive line last year, and now he'll seek to take his talents elsewhere.

John E. Hoover

Hayden Bray
Hayden Bray / John E. Hoover

The NCAA Transfer Portal opened its spring period on Tuesday morning, and one Oklahoma player hopes his versatility leads him to a new home.

Hayden Bray, a walk-on defensive lineman who converted last year to play tight end, announced Tuesday morning that he is entering the portal.

“I would like to thank Sooner Nation for their love and support,” Bray wrote on Twitter/X. “I also would like to thank Coach (Brent) Venables, Coach (Joe Jon) Finley, and Coach (Jerry) Schmidt for their life changing wisdom. That being said, I am entering the Transfer Portal as a Grad Transfer with 2-3 years of eligibility remaining.”

A member of the recruiting class of 2021 and a senior at OU, Bray came to Norman out of Westlake High School in Austin as a 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive end. He had one FBS offer from Air Force Academy as well as a handful of FCS offers, but chose to walk on at OU instead.

Bray was never able to move into the rotation at defensive line, so in 2023, when the Sooners were short of bodies at tight end, he switched to the other side of the football and provided valuable practice reps. 

For More

Here's how Oklahoma is Working Through Major Depth Issues at Tight End

Finley has replenished the tight end room this season with transfers Jake Roberts and Bauer Sharp and 4-star recruit Davon Mitchell.

The Sooners play their annual spring game on Saturday at Owen Field.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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