Report: Oklahoma Running Back Gavin Sawchuk Entering Transfer Portal

The spring portal window opened April 16 and closed Friday, although there is a grace period of two business days to allow schools to process the requests. Players who didn't enter by the deadline can still transfer but won't be eligible to play this fall. Graduate students can transfer any time and are immediately eligible.

Sawchuk, a senior from Littleton, CO, came to Oklahoma as a consensus 4-star prospect and the No. 1 prospect from Colorado. ESPN ranked him the No. 60 overall player in the Class of 2022, while 247Sports and Rivals both had him in the top 200.

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As a true freshman, Sawchuk played sparingly, rushing 105 yards and a touchdown in two games.

Sawchuk broke out as a redshirt freshman, running for a team-high 744 yards on 120 carries. The tailback averaged 6.2 yards per carry and rushed for nine touchdowns as he exceeded 100 yards in each of his last five games.

In 2024, Sawchuk’s numbers went down sharply, as he missed four games with an injury and never regained the same explosion from the year before. Still, he ran for 128 yards and one touchdown.

The addition last week of graduate transfer running back Jaydn Ott from Cal almost certainly would have impacted Sawchuk's playing time in 2025 and likely helped facilitate his departure. Ott rushed for 1,318 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2023, and comes to OU with 2,597 career rushing yards with 24 touchdowns, and also has 736 yards on 95 pass receptions with six TDs.

Not long ago, Sawchuk expressed excitement about the Sooners’ running back room.

“It’s been impressive to see what we’re able to put together,” Sawchuk said after practice on April 9. “Making a lot of explosive plays. Making plays happen. Just having that competitive environment in that room of guys that are bonding at the same time. It’s been great.”

As Sawchuk and Franklin depart, DeMarco Murray’s running back room is left with Ott, senior Jovantae Barnes, sophomore Taylor Tatum, sophomore Xavier Robinson and freshmen Tory Blaylock and Gabe Sawchuk, Sawchuk's little brother. 

Gavin Sawchuk is the eighth Sooner to enter the portal during the post-spring window along with Franklin, defensive backs Peter Schuh and Mykel Patterson-McDonald, tight end Davon Mitchell, cornerback Jocelyn Malaska, defensive tackle David Stone, center Josh Aisosa and quarterback Cole Gonzales. Stone, though, announced last Sunday that he has withdrawn his name from the portal.

While Sawchuk had just the one big statistical season in Crimson and Cream, his impact was felt far beyond the football field.

Ahead of the 2024 season, Sawchuk was named to the watch list for the Danny Wuerffel Trophy, which recognizes community service and athletic achievement. During the season, he was identified as one of 11 FBS players named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and was named a Wuerffrel Award semifinalist. After the season, he was named to the SEC Football Community Service Team.

Sawchuk donated his time and efforts during summer vacation, spring break and bye weeks to help not only the Norman and Oklahoma City communities, but also communities around the world, from Hawaii to South Africa.

He traveled with a group of Sooners for a service trip to Hawaii to help with cleanup efforts and supply deliveries after the Maui and Lahaina wildfires. In addition to cleaning up baseball fields and unloading three semi-trailers of supplies, food and clothing, he also volunteered at the Honolulu Boys and Girls Club and served at Citizens Church mentoring children who’d lost their homes.

In 2023, Sawchuk traveled to South Africa to assist communities in Cape Town and Johannesburg, working with foster and adoptive children while also performing vital clean-up services in multiple communities.

In 2022, he helped deliver meals to more than 50 hungry families with Meals and Wheels and helped build a playhouse for a single-mom family through Habitat for Humanity, among other charitable efforts.

Due to a conference rule, players who enter the transfer portal from an SEC school during the spring window will not be immediately eligible to play for another school in the SEC this fall.