Samaje Perine. True freshman. Running back. And what a hell of a pick up by Oklahoma in recruiting. The four star athlete made his presence felt in the West Virginia game this past weekend. Shredding the West Virginia defense on 34 carries, 242 yards, and 4 touchdowns. A performance reminiscent of Adrian Peterson.
The guy is a freakin’ tank. And filled in for the absence of Keith Ford nicely. So nicely in fact, I am saying Perine deserves a promotion. The depth chart currently has Ford, Ross, and Perine in that order. Perine, after Saturday’s performance, deserves to be at the number two slot. The reason I say that, is the overall performance of Ross, is the weakest of the three headed monster thus far in the season. Not just against the Mountaineers.
Ross, played an exceptional game himself, don’t get me wrong. He ran back a kick off return 100 yards for a touchdown that was the beginning of the end for West Virginia. However as a running back and receiver, he was a minimal asset. Eight carries, 56 yards on the ground. Also, three receptions for only 19 yards. Which using proper math, Ross averaged 7 yards a carry on the ground. So why not more carries? Prior to his last two runs, Ross essentially went no where the other six attempts. This isn’t the first time this season.
The week before against Tennessee, Ross only averaged 1.2 yards per carry on 5 carries. A game that Perine and Ford both were more effective runners. Ross was on pace for a lower average per carry for a second straight game. Unfortunately, it was the Tennessee game that Oklahoma lost Ford for 2-3 weeks. However, that injury, gave birth to Optimus Perine.
The Oklahoman’s Jason Kersey even commented on twitter, noting a trend involving Alex Ross:
Later in the game:
No first downs for the Sooners when Ross was the featured back. With Perine, they were moving down the field at will, most of the time. Yes, I realize this is just one game, but you look at the season thus far, the argument is made emphatically. Ross should be relegated to special teams, and be a change of pace back at the number 3 spot.
Play to his strengths. Ross is an exceptional return man. We have seen him go the distance, twice so far this season. With Sterling Shepard coming up gimpy near the end of the game, and Duran Neal continuing to drop passes, perhaps Ross should take over Shepard’s duties as a punt returner.
If the Oklahoma offense is going to protect Knight from injury, by decreasing his rushing attempts, then I say they should do the same with Shepard. KJ Young is coming on as a reciever, but as far as being the more experienced player, Neal has not made the plays at times. Not only the clutch plays, but easy ones as well.
We continued to see that issue in the West Virginia game. Hopefully with the bye week, Neal can get that problem locked down. He has a chance to be a great receiver. Though, given that drops are still an issue, and, the importance of the Knight-Shepard connection, use Ross as a punt return man to protect Shepard.
It also sets up nicely next season, if Joe Mixon plays for Oklahoma. You’ll have four running backs. Ford, Perine, Ross, and Mixon. You turn Ross into a kick return specialist, that ends the debate on how you will utilize Mixon, in a situation with four running backs. If Mixon is as good as advertised. Having a good spring, winning a job in the rotation, and comes onto the field and plays well, there’s no reason Oklahoma CAN’T play to the strength of Ross.
Samaje Perine, had the 4th best outing as a freshman in Sooners history. The Sooners need to play to the strengths of its running back corps to continue to be successful. As of week five, Perine is clearly the best number two option.