All Sooners

Starting Oklahoma OL Enters Transfer Portal

One of the Sooners' early-season starters along the offensive line announced on Monday afternoon that he has entered the transfer portal.

Randall Sweet

Starting Oklahoma OL Enters Transfer Portal
Starting Oklahoma OL Enters Transfer Portal /
In this story:

On Monday afternoon, Oklahoma redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Savion Byrd announced his entrance into the transfer portal.

A big-time recruit coming out of Duncanville, TX, Byrd was the Sooners starter at left guard early in the 2023 season. After a handful of lackluster performances, Byrd was eventually replaced by true freshman Cayden Green, who finished the year as OU's starting left guard.

Byrd played in eight games this season with four starts, according to Pro Football Focus, and recorded 181 total snaps while grading out at 61.7, per PFF.

2023-24 Oklahoma Player Tracker

Byrd was rated the No. 4 interior offensive lineman and No. 64 overall player in the 2021 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports. After redshirting as a true freshman, Byrd made his first collegiate start for the Sooners against Florida State in last year's Cheez-It Bowl. 

The 6-foot-5, 296-pound guard is the third Oklahoma offensive lineman to enter the transfer portal in this cycle, joining Nate Anderson and Marcus Hicks. Dillon Gabriel, Tawee Walker, Jason Llewellyn, Reggie Grimes and DJ Graham have also entered the portal recently.

With Byrd and Anderson now leaving Norman, the Sooners will need to add depth to their offensive line group in the transfer portal. With fellow offensive guards Caleb Shaffer and McKade Mettauer out of eligibility after this season, Bill Bedenbaugh and company will be looking to replace multiple starters and depth players.

Published
Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

Home/Football