As Oklahoma started to get its influx of transfers in the winter, there was a common theme for three of them with the Tennessee trio.

Sooner fans had known about offensive tackle Wanya Morris and defensive back Keshawn Lawrence from their initial recruitment, but running back Eric Gray was an enigma.

OU and Gray never connected back when he was in high school, and there was some skepticism, at least initially, about Gray picking the Sooners four months ago.

Whatever critics there were have long been silenced, especially after a tremendous spring month of practices.

“He's not afraid. He's a physical back when he needs to be, but just technique-wise, I think we're gonna clean that up for him,” said running backs coach DeMarco Murray earlier in the spring. “He's been really good for our room, really good for our team and our offense specifically. But he's just a guy that with the demeanor that he had, very similar to mine, quiet guy. He's about his business.

“I love working with him. It's a privilege to come every day and work with him and make sure he's continuing to get better, continuing to compete. He's an extremely versatile guy and we plan to use him all over the place.”

The running back position isn’t made for a spring game environment, but Gray had easily one of the highlights of the afternoon on a 19-yard touchdown run. You saw the vision, saw the footwork and saw how dangerous he can be in the open field.

Gray’s first two years as a Vol were pretty good, but it seems obvious now that everybody is starting to wonder what’s gonna happen when you combine his skill set with Lincoln Riley’s offense and watch the fun follow.

“For defensive guys, he’s one that you lose space on him because if you don’t, he can get you with a few cuts in the open field,” safety Delarrin Turner-Yell said. “It’s kind of like he displayed with him being able to catch passes out of the backfield. He’s not only a guy who we can hand the ball off to. He’s a guy that can go out there and run routes.

“That can make our offense more explosive just because we have a high-powered offense, we have receivers who can catch balls all day long, but if you can incorporate a running back coming out of the backfield and being able to do that, that’s really a problem. That can only benefit us. Eric Gray is a tremendous player.”

Offseason workouts had Gray being praised and nothing changed during the spring. His presence, though, was only magnified even more with the dismissal of running back Seth McGowan two weeks ago.

Maybe once upon a time the question was if Gray was needed, now it could have been where were OU be had Gray not decided to become a Sooner?

It’s a question that, fortunately for OU fans, doesn’t have to be answered.

“This offense has been great. That’s kinda why I ultimately chose to come here,” Gray said. “Getting to learn this offense this spring has been an unbelievable opportunity. Going through Coach Riley’s – he’s an unbelievable coach as well as Coach DeMarco. He’s taught me a lot about being a running back. Just being able to be out there with my guys and this offense has been great.”

Gray said it was important to him to put forth the best possible first impression. There is no question he was able to do that. He wanted to show everybody that he belongs at a place like OU, and now it’s almost hard to envision the 2021 team without Gray playing a huge role.

All the offensive weapons OU was already going to have for 2021, but perhaps the most important addition to Riley’s arsenal is his transfer running back. There’s no question Gray is now being touted as one of the most important transfers in the country and a key component as to why OU is creeping up toward that No. 1 preseason ranking, according to a lot of different media outlets.

“Eric is just so explosive and has great balance, great vision and patience in them holes when he's hitting them,” quarterback Spencer Rattler said. “He's gonna add a whole 'nother versatile position to that running back group, as you guys saw today, with the couple big plays he had. He had a great spring and hopefully we all have a great summer and keep it rolling.”