Oklahoma football: Who is T.J. Pledger? You’ll soon find out
By Chip Rouse
Among the Oklahoma football newcomers you are going to start hearing much more about in very short order is freshman running back T.J. Pledger.
Related Story. Oklahoma's Air Raid boosted by bevy of booming running backs. light
Pledger, from Pacoimo, California, in the Los Angeles area, follows in the footsteps of a couple of other recent standout running backs from the state of California, Brennan Clay and Joe Mixon, who chose to come halfway across the country to play football for Oklahoma. He may be a couple of levels down on the depth chart among an especially talented group of Sooner running backs, but it’s almost a given he won’t stay there beyond this season.
Listed at 5 feet, 9 inches and 200 pounds, the Southern California native was a highly sought after recruit in the class of 2018. Besides the Sooners, such top schools as Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, Florida, Notre Dame, Michigan and Oregon were hot on Pledger’s recruiting trail as well.
Rivals.com ranked Pledger as the No. 70 player overall in the national 2018 class and the No. 5 running back.
More from OU Football
- Oklahoma football: ESPN, USA Today bowl projections after Week 3
- Oklahoma football: Sooner ‘D’ grading well, but real test begins with Big 12 play
- Two Oklahoma football players receive Big 12 weekly honors
- Oklahoma football: Sooners’ stock rising fast in ESPN prospective rankings
- Oklahoma football: Sooners leaving opponents in the dust early and often
The ESPN scouting report on the freshman Oklahoma running back says “he is explosive off the line and in transition and is a powerful, well-balanced runner who is difficult to bring down.” Pledger is also reported to be very good catching passes out of the backfield, which has been a trademark of OU running backs in head coach Lincoln Riley’s Air Raid offense.
Pledger was enrolled at OU in the spring semester, so he has a head start over many of the other Sooner newcomers at becoming acclimated and learning the Oklahoma system.
Pledger will wear jersey No. 22, the same number worn by some other pretty good Sooner running backs: Marcus Dupree, Roy Finch, David Overstreet, Joe Wylie and Quentin Griffin. Griffin sits sixth on the Oklahoma career rushing list with 3,938 yards and 44 rushing TDs in four OU seasons.
You may not know much about T.J. Pledger now, but wait just a little while longer. Believe me, it will be well worth the wait.