Oklahoma football: Ranking the Top-7 Sooner RBs of all-time

KANSAS CITY, MO - DECEMBER 4: Adrian Peterson #28 of the University of Oklahoma Sooners carries the ball against the University of Colorado Buffaloes in the Big 12 Championship game on December 4, 2004 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Oklahoma defeated Colorado 42-3 to win the Big XII Championship. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

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No. 2 — Billy Sims

Billy Sims was the third Heisman Trophy winner to wear the Crimson and Cream. Sims rushed for 100 yards 20 different times in his sensational Sooner career. After a medical redshirt in 1976, Sims came into the 1977 season with a purpose. The fast and elusive jaw-dropping tailback set the Big Eight record with 1,762 yards in 1978. It took a few years for Billy Simms to find his routs, but the 1978 Heisman season was one for the record books.

The funny thing is, Sims never intended to play at Oklahoma. Head Coach Barry Switzer had to persuade him to leave the State of Texas.

“So I go to Oklahoma,” Sims said. “and OU had just won the national championship in ’74. And they had allowed Texas players on the team. I didn’t realize they had all these Texas guys on the team. Of course, coach Switzer saw that and took advantage of me.”

Sims would be selected No. 1 overall in the 1980 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. He was named Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1980, then would be named All-Pro in 1981. A career-ending injury in 1984 shortened Sims professional career, but what a career No. 20 had in Norman.

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