All the different pieces for Oklahoma playing in 2021 that weren’t there in 2020. You’ve got your injured guys coming back. The transfers coming in.

But COVID-19 brought a new wrinkle, the opt back in guys. The Sooners have a few of them, and running back Kennedy Brooks said Wednesday exactly why he chose to not play last season and why he has been itching to return to the field this year.

“Well, it was really just for me and my family's sakes,” Brooks said. “With COVID really high and everything, we chose the best just to sit out and for my health because we didn't really know anything about COVID, all the uncertainties, all the everything. So we felt that it was best for me just to sit out and just be safe.

“My decision to come back? I really love the game. I really love playing at OU. I just wanted to play with my boys one more time just to be able to come back and just see what I can do.”

Brooks was coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons for the Sooners in 2018 and 2019 and was expected to be a key piece to the 2020 team when he became the first prominent member of the team to decide to step away.

He rushed for 1,056 yards and 12 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman and added another 1,011 yards and six scores during his redshirt sophomore season.

Brooks said he understands more about COVID now and that it’s not a major concern as he enters this season. It’s just about getting back to work.

“Kennedy's my best friend. He's my roommate,” H-Back Jeremiah Hall said. “So it would only be right for me to tell you guys that he doesn't expect anything less of himself. If anything, he's picking up right back where he's started. Physically, he's still there. Mentally, he's still there. He might've been gone for a year but that doesn't mean he didn't work. He's ready and he expects to compete and put on a show.”

Brooks didn’t just sit around and do nothing. He said he approached last fall like an NFL offseason, doing all he could to train and stay in shape. And he approached it like he was on the team when it came to COVID, following the team-recommended protocols even though he wasn’t there.

As for the running back room, it’s a much different room now. Gone are guys like Rhamondre Stevenson (NFL Draft) and T.J. Pledger (transfer to Utah), but Brooks is ready to be back where he knows he belongs.

“It made me appreciate the game more,” Brooks said. “Just being out, being away, it definitely made me appreciate all the work that goes into it, all the time spent in practice, meetings and just building that chemistry with the teammates.

“For me, it's been going really well. I've been playing with a lot of those guys for a year. Just because I missed one doesn't mean anything but it's still going well. I'm still getting into the flow of things and I'm getting better every day.”

Brooks is positioning himself to be at the No. 1 spot, but even he said OU just reloaded at the position despite the losses. Adding someone like Eric Gray (transfer from Tennessee) and getting another year of experience for people like Seth McGowan, Marcus Major and Mikey Henderson, Brooks will have to earn every rep he gets.

“I think it was a good adjustment,” Brooks said. “We just reloaded. We have so many weapons and making us all better and compete and getting better every day.”