With just a few days left until the start of the Oklahoma football season, we are going position by position to give you a full rundown of what to expect from 2019.
We start our Oklahoma football position preview series with running backs.
Oklahoma football’s recent run of stellar running backs shows no sign of slowing down in 2019.
The Sooners return virtually all their major contributors from last year’s College Football Playoff run, plus add some new faces that should help keep everyone fresh going into 2019.
Kennedy Brooks is a preseason first-team all conference pick after rushing for a team-leading 1,056 yards last year. Even more impressively, he did it on just 119 carries for an average of 8.9 yards per rush. Yes, that’s for an entire season.
Brooks was the team’s biggest homerun threat out of the backfield last year, always a threat to take it the distance every time he touched the ball. The goal for 2019 is for Brooks to become a better at grinding for tough yards between the tackles to show NFL scouts he can be an every-down back at the next level.
If he can add a little more of a power element to his game he’s going to rise up NFL draft boards as a true sophomore.
Speaking of power, Trey Sermon has it in droves. The junior out of Georgia rushed for 947 yards last year and scored a team-leading 13 touchdowns. Sermon is known as the team’s closer, chewing up yards and clock in the fourth quarter and punishing already-tired defenses with his bruising style.
Entering his junior year, this could very well be the swan song for Sermon depending on how the season goes with the NFL possibly in his near future, but much like Brooks, he wants to round out his game a bit this season.
Sermon dropped a few pounds through the offseason workout program to add a touch more agility and elusiveness to his game, but still keep his trademark power. He should also be a bit better catching the ball out of the backfield, a skill he’s flashed from time to time during his OU tenure. He led all OU running backs last year with 12 receptions for 181 yards.
In addition to Brooks and Sermon the Sooners are expecting big contributions from T.J. Pledger. Pledger was a highly-coveted recruit from the 2018 class who had the luxary of redshirting last year to better learn the system and develop physically.
According to several camp reports, Pledger is now nipping at the heels of both Brooks and Sermon, ready to carve out some carries of his own in the offense. Look for Oklahoma to find new ways to get him involved, splitting the load and keeping all three guys fresh through the long grind of the season.
The Sooners also have Rhomondre Stevenson, a junior from the JUCO ranks. Stevenson was a late commitment to the Sooners’ class with three years to play two left.
At 235 pounds, he’s the biggest tailback on the Sooner roster, which would make him perfect for certain situations, but his skills go beyond just a niche player. Stevenson has the speed and agility to be a starter one day in the Sooners offense should circumstances allow. It will be interesting to see how Riley utilizes a guy like Stevenson knowing he could play four games and still keep his eligibility.
Another interesting case is Marcus Major, a highly-touted true freshman from the Oklahoma high school football ranks. Major comes to Oklahoma with lofty comparisons as former Sooner fullback J.D. Runnels likened him to the great Adrian Peterson in some areas.
Obviously there will never be another A.D., but if he can live up to the hype it might be hard to keep Major off the field this season.
One would think that either Stevenson or Major would probably take a redshirt with both Brooks and Pledger being draft-eligible after the end of the season, but the Sooners also have a loaded running back class coming in behind these guys, so who knows. Maybe all four guys get significant time on the field this year? They all certainly have the talent to do it.