Oklahoma Football: 4-Star Running Back Samaje Perine Commits to Sooners

Oklahoma football. Photo by Shawn S. Lealos

In 2013, the Oklahoma Sooners head into the season with names like Damien Williams, Brennan Clay and Roy Finch in the backfield. However, in 2014 the cupboards will be bare and a new star will need to step up and lay claim to becoming the heir to the long lineage of Oklahoma football running backs. That makes Samaje Perine, the new commitment from Pflugerville (Texas) Hendrickson, so important to the program.

Perine (5-11, 213) is a strong power back and comes to the Sooners as a 4-star recruit. The youngster actually chose Oklahoma over the Alabama Crimson Tide and TCU Horned Frogs, two other schools recruiting him. When asked why he chose Oklahoma football over defending national champion Alabama, he simply said he had a better chance at playing time in Norman.

“Alabama is a great school, but they just have so many backs right now and they’re going to have a lot of great backs when I graduate,” Perine said. “There wasn’t a need for me there.”

With Williams, Clay and Finch leaving, Oklahoma needs someone to be the next DeMarco Murray. Adrian Peterson. Quinton Griffin. Billy Sims. Steve Owens. In 2013, OU fans are praying that Damien Williams will be that man. In 2014, it might be Samaje Perine.

Perine tore his ACL and MCL in his sophomore year of high school. Much like Adrian Peterson in the NFL in 2012, Perine returned one year later and raced for 2,017 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior. If that is the first comparison to the greatness that is AD, Sooners’ faithful have to hope there will be more. With his knee completely healthy, he hopes for even bigger numbers as a senior.

After that, he comes to the Oklahoma football program and the Sooners hope he will become their next big thing.