The Oklahoma football team, which is generally fairly deep in the running back department, will start the 2020 season with just one experienced player at that position.
Jalen Hurts and Trey Sermon are both gone and senior Rhamondre Stevenson is expected to miss the first five games with a suspension. That leaves second-team All-Big 12 selection Kennedy Brooks as the only returning back who has seen extensive playing time.
Junior T.J. Pledger missed the first part of last season with an injury and was used sparingly the rest of the season because Sermon, Kennedy and Stevenson were ahead of his on the depth chart.
Brooks and Pledger are expected to carry the bulk of the load the first half of the coming season, and Stevenson will be available the second half.
After that, there will be competition for the No. 4 running back spot, primarily between redshirt freshman Marcus Major and true freshman Seth McGowan. And with Stevenson out to start the season, the opportunity is there to see some playing time early, and who knows after that.
Major was a four-star recruit out of nearby Oklahoma City and a member of the Sooners 2019 class. He was rated as the 17th best running back in the country coming out of high school. He missed the majority of his freshman season because of an injury, but did play in three games, gaining 28 yards on 10 carries.
J.D. Runnels, a former Oklahoma player, owns a gym in Choctaw, Oklahoma, and got to see Major workout in person. “Thirteen minutes into the workout, I was floored,” Runnels told Jason Kersey of The Athletic in an interview. “This kid is special. Out of this world.”
After watching him workout with a 40-yard dash, the shuttle and the three-cone drill, Runnels recalled for Kersey telling Major, “Man, you’re the closest thing I’ve seen to Adrian Peterson.”
That illustrates the enormous potential that the young running back from Ok City has. And Runnels should know, he blocked for Peterson out of the fullback position on the 2004 and 2005 Sooner teams.
Major wears the jersey number 24. He will have some big names to live up to who have worn that number for Oklahoma in the past, including Rodney Anderson and Brennan Clay of recent note, as well as the great Joe Washington.
Barring further injury, Sooner fans should start to see some of that high potential from Major this season.