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Oklahoma OL announces he'll return in '21

Marquis Hayes says he's not ready for his college journey to be over

John E. Hoover

After Saturday’s run of bad news of players transferring, leaving for the NFL and choosing other schools, Oklahoma got a boost on Sunday.

Junior guard Marquis Hayes announced on Twitter that he was returning for his senior year in 2021.

“I’m not ready for this journey to be over,” Hayes wrote on his Twitter account. “After many long conversations and PRAYERS, I’ve decide to RETURN to Oklahoma for my senior season.”

“Although my dream is to play at the highest level in the NFL,” Hayes wrote, “we have unfinished business at Oklahoma on the football field.”Hayes is a 6-foot-5, 249-pound fourth-year junior from Maryland Heights, MO.

He redshirted in 2017, then played as a reserver in 2018 before stepping not the starting lineup and playing 13 games in 2019.

Hayes started all 10 games at right guard in 2020 and allowed just two sacks on 386 pass protections, according to Pro Football Focus. He also earned first-team Academic All-Big 12 honors.

Hayes’ return helps an offensive line that was planning to have to replace Creed Humphrey (who announce last week he was turning pro) but wasn’t planning on needing to replace right tackle Adrian Ealy (who announced Saturday he too was NFL-bound).

OU coach Lincoln Riley and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh now await official word from left guard Tyrese Robinson, also a fourth-year junior.

The Sooners can bring back left tackle Erik Swenson, too. He’s a senior but can take advantage of the NCAA’s COVID eligibility waiver for 2020 and come back next season if he wants.

OU also has a handful of other key contributors back in 2021, including left tackle Anton Harrison, backup guard Andrew Raym, UCLA transfer Chris Murray and guard/tackle Brey Walker. It’s also expected that Stacey Wilkins, who opted out of his redshirt freshman season, will return. Wilkins was projected to be in the mix for a starting job in 2020 before tanking the season off.

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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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