Oklahoma Football: Seven Sooners Who Are Stars in Waiting to Watch for Come Fall
By Chip Rouse
Newcomer Marcelias Sutton May Bring Back Memories of Former Sooner Star Quentin Griffin
A new group of running backs was on display in the 2017 Oklahoma spring game and the best of the bunch – on that day, anyway – may have been junior college transfer Marcelias Sutton.
Sutton, rated by ESPN as the No. 2 running back in the country out of the junior-college ranks, may remind some Sooner fans of former OU running back Quentin Griffin because of his size (5-foot, 8-inches and 195 pounds), but the No. 7 on Sutton’s jersey will connote the memory of DeMarco Murray.
Last season, at Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pa., Sutton rushed for 907 yards and also caught 10 passes for another 53 yards. He was also used on kick returns.
An early enrollee at OU, Sutton participated in this year’s spring game. Despite nursing a foot injury, he carried the ball 10 times for 63 yards, including a six-yard touchdown run for the first score of the game.
Sooner offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley was impressed with Sutton’s performance. “He had to battle through some pain and soreness,” Riley said in his postgame comments after the spring game, “but there’s still explosiveness there. He’s one of those guys that could not work out for six months and he would still look like a Greek god.
“He’s unbelievable, a little bit of a freak of nature that way.”
Sutton says he feels good in the Oklahoma offense and feels like it is going to be a good year.