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Oklahoma football: Sooner RB ruled ineligible for 2021 season

By Chip Rouse

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 31: Running back Marcus Major #24 of the Oklahoma Sooners gestures before the college football game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 31, 2020 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - OCTOBER 31: Running back Marcus Major #24 of the Oklahoma Sooners gestures before the college football game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jones AT&T Stadium on October 31, 2020 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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After mostly good news leading up to the start of the 2021 season, the Oklahoma football team got some not-so-good news with just under two weeks before the season opener.

Redshirt sophomore running back Marcus Major has been ruled ineligible for the fall semester.

Sports Illustrated staff writer John Hoover, who first reported the story on SI.com, cites sources who have told him that Major’s eligibility issues have to do with classwork from summer classes.

Major didn’t play much is first two seasons at Oklahoma, but he had a very impressive showing in the Sooners’ bowl victory over Florida last season, and head coach Lincoln Riley and running backs coach DeMarco Murray were excited that 2021 could be a big year for the former four-star recruit from nearby Oklahoma City.

“He made huge leaps individually last year throughout practice,” Murray told Hoover last week during the final week of preseason training camp. “In the last six or seven weeks of the season, he was probably practicing better than anyone.”

Major carried the ball 35 times in the 2020 season and gained 187 yards, including 110 yards and a 46-yard touchdown run in the Cotton Bowl win over Florida.

Murray was feeling good about OU’s running back situation entering the 2021 season after losing three running backs from last year’s squad, including leading rusher Rhamondre Stevenson, who is now with New England in the NFL.

OU picked up a couple of talented RBs from the transfer portal (Eric Gray from Tennessee and Tre Bradford from LSU), and Kennedy Brooks is returning this season after opting out in 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns. The Sooners were also counting on a breakout season from Major, which won’t happen now.

Replacing Major on the depth chart likely will be one of two walk-ons: junior Jaden Knowles or sophomore Todd Hudson. Hudson had 38 yards on three carries in the OU spring game this year, while Knowles rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown in the same number of carries.

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