Early in fall camp, the Oklahoma Sooners running back group is in a much better spot, simply because it’s healthier. Last August, both Gavin Sawchuk and Jovantae Barnes were dealing with nagging offseason injuries, which kept them limited into the season.

As the Sooners prepare for 2024, the two four-star backs from the 2022 recruiting class appear to be healthy and ready to lead the way. But the running back position has better depth going into the season as well, with the development of Kalib Hicks and the additions of Sam Franklin, Taylor Tatum, and Xavier Robinson. Tatum was a summer arrival, but he’s already stood out with his teammates.

“I mean, he came in here day one ready to work,” Barnes said after practice via OU Insider. “You know, just sits in the meeting room. Make sure we don’t skip past anything… just making sure he understands everything. You can tell he’s a guy that’s ready to compete and ready to play.”

Every meeting and practice rep is critical for Tatum to get him up to speed after spending the spring on the diamond. The former five-star running back and No. 1 player at his position also stars in baseball. That he’s been able to make coaches and teammates take notice of his ability in just a few months speaks volumes to his talent.

“I thought he’s been really good,” Jackson Arnold said after Monday’s practice. “And I think Taylor adds a unique passing element to our game. Whether you can line up in empty or do whatever put him in the passing game. He’s very versatile. He’s definitely gonna be a good option for us this year, sort of along those lines.”

Though there may be a couple of veteran players in front of him on the depth chart, Tatum has the speed and athleticism to be a dynamic .weapon in the Sooners offense. Even if he’s not a featured back, Seth Littrell and DeMarco Murray will find ways to get him on the field whether on offense or on special teams.

The sky’s the limit for Tatum, and his Oklahoma career is on the runway, ready to take off.

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The Oklahoma State Cowboys are ramping up for the college football season. They’re in the middle of fall training camp as they look to have a quick start to the 2024 campaign. With as many returners as they have from the 2023 season — which saw the Cowboys make an appearance in the Big 12 title game — it should be quite easy.

One of the most crucial returners on the defensive side of the ball is safety Kendal Daniels. However, the strong defensive back will be seen in different roles this season after a strong offseason of putting on weight.

Daniels enters the new year at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds. The redshirt junior will continue to play in the middle safety position, but he’s been spending time working with the linebackers throughout camp.

Adding Daniels into the mix at linebacker in times he’s not playing his natural position adds flexibility to the defensive squad as they roll into the second season under Bryan Nardo’s leadership.

“He’s doing good,” Gundy said. “We’re moving Kendal around. He learned a lot of things last year. He’s one of the players I’m excited about watching this year.”

With great size, Daniels will build on an incredible 2023 campaign to anchor the Cowboys’ defense which hopes to improve plenty. They’re going to be backing up a special offense, led by superstar Ollie Gordon and a stout offensive line.

Defensively, other playmakers like Nick Martin, Collin Oliver and Cameron Epps are some names to keep an eye on when big, game-changing plays are being made.

With Oklahoma and Texas both off to the SEC, the Big 12 is wide open at the top, and the Cowboys should be able to compete for a title just one season after losing to Texas in the Big 12 title game.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — As national data shows the academic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, Oklahoma districts report stubborn challenges that worsened during the global crisis.

Leaders of local districts say students’ poor attendance and behavior have thrown up barriers to reaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels of academic achievement.

A national report shows the gap to pre-pandemic results widened during the 2023-24 school year, despite billions in public spending on recovery efforts.

Test scores from 7.7 million U.S. students in grades 3-8 show the average student would need the equivalent of 4.8 extra months of instruction to catch up in reading and 4.4 additional months in math, according to the report from NWEA, a testing company and research center.

NWEA administers standardized assessments called MAP to track students’ academic progress across the country, including in more than 100 Oklahoma school districts.

The fact that federal pandemic aid will soon end only exacerbates concerns, the NWEA report states. Oklahoma schools received more than $2 billion and must spend what’s left of it by Sept. 30.

“Instead of treating COVID recovery interventions as temporary crisis-mitigation tactics, we must make targeted academic supports, such as high-dosage tutoring and summer programming, a permanent part of our new normal,” the report’s authors, Karyn Lewis and Megan Kuhfeld, wrote.

The full results from Oklahoma state tests taken in the spring aren’t yet available. Last year, only 27% of Oklahoma students scored at a proficient level on state tests for reading, math and science.

In Lawton Public Schools, academic results haven’t recovered as quickly as the district wanted, Superintendent Kevin Hime said. The biggest barrier, he said, has been student absenteeism.

“We all know attendance is one of the things that’s lagged since the pandemic,” Hime said. “It’s been harder to get kids to come to school, believe it or not.”

Lawton has been working on “finding those hooks” that attract more students to school. 

“Makerspace” days when elementary children get to do hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering and math show strong attendance numbers, he said. Administrators even looked at the correlation between attendance rates and which meals are served in the cafeteria.

The district also saw increased interest in its summer programs this year, Hime said. Instead of calling the program “summer school,” Lawton rebranded it as a “summer camp” and added more enrichment activities.

Hime said he hopes better attendance, more parent engagement and “making sure we put in as many minutes of reading and math as we can” next school year will help close the gap to pre-pandemic achievement.

Bartlesville Public Schools is working to shrink that gap, too, but the district realized it would have to address student behavior issues to do it, Superintendent Chuck McCauley said.

Students are acting less mature than they did before the pandemic, especially among younger grades, he said. That’s why Bartlesville hired three more elementary school counselors — to address behavioral problems and child trauma.

The district plans to keep the extra counselors it hired, even after federal stimulus funds run out. McCauley said a 300-student increase in Bartlesville’s enrollment made it financially viable to retain the additional staff.

In Tulsa Public Schools, district leaders report decreases in student suspensions and improvements in attendance. The district introduced extra tutoring sessions this year and registered 6,500 students for its summer programs as it tries to propel academic performance upward.

Superintendent Ebony Johnson said attendance is a “difficult metric” to improve but a necessary one. About 45% of Tulsa students were chronically absent in 2023-24, meaning those students missed 10% or more of the school year, district leaders said at a June 27 meeting with the Oklahoma State Board of Education.

Johnson said that’s an improvement of 2.6% from the year before.

“We have seen a decrease in chronic absenteeism, but we’re not celebrating yet because that’s way too many students that are missing too much school,” Johnson said during the state board meeting.

The Tulsa district has leaned heavily on MAP tests from NWEA to help track student learning. Tulsa students took MAP assessments three times this school year, along with the spring state tests. 

The final spring MAP evaluation showed strong growth in reading among early elementary students, especially third graders, but results were more stagnant in upper elementary and middle school, district leaders have said.

However, students still improved throughout the school year, even if the upward trajectory wasn’t as steep in some grade levels as the district hoped, said Sean Berkstresser, Tulsa’s chief of strategy and innovation, during the state Board of Education meeting last month.

“Our students learned still, and we saw improvements,” Berkstresser said. “So, I want to make sure that’s known. You’ve seen what’s in front of us with a lot of these data points. There’s a lot more to do.”