Week 1 immediately cleared up Oklahoma’s running back pecking order

New Oklahoma running backs coach Deland McCullough is clearly a man of his word.

McCullough admitted back before fall camp that Colorado State transfer Lloyd Avant had surprisingly taken over as the Sooners' RB1. McCullough praised Avant for rarely making mistakes, and after continuing to impress throughout fall camp, Avant was indeed the first running back out there to start things off when OU hammered UTEP 51-0 in its season opener.

Still, many wondered whether, even if Avant was technically RB1, Xavier Robinson would still get the lead back carries. Talented freshman Jonathan Hatton Jr. would also get his first real chance to impress. There's also Tory Blaylock, who has been dealing with a hamstring issue, but led the Sooners with 480 rushing yards last season as a freshman. Ben McCreary and Andy Bass also combined for eight carries in Week 1.

The blowout likely wasn't how McCullough will distribute carries throughout the season, especially against Michigan on Saturday, but he did show his cards enough to reveal who he trusts the most and the Sooners' backfield pecking order, at least until someone emerges and demands more touches.

Deland McCullough makes early statement on Sooners' RB hierarchy

Blaylock was inactive Week 1, but OU head coach Brent Venables said during his weekly coach's show on Monday that, "Hopefully, Tory has a good week this week, and we could travel him and get him going here against Michigan.” Not exactly promising for Saturday, but there's still clearly hope Blaylock will eventually contribute after what he showed last year.

Incarnate Word transfer McCreary was actually second on the team against the Miners with 40 rushing yards on six carries, but it was in garbage time against UTEP backups. Andy Bass also touched the ball twice, but went backward for -8 yards. Don't expect either of those two to keep swiping carries unless it's another blowout.

Blaylock will eventually get his turn to show where he belongs in this hierarchy, but for now, he's clearly above McCreary and Bass once healthy, but he still needs to show McCullough more to surpass any of the other three.

Fans have been excited to see what freshman Hatton can do since arriving on campus already at 6-feet and well over 200 pounds. Friday night left us just wanting more.

Hatton carried the ball only three times and turned those opportunities into 21 yards thanks to an explosive 21-yard run. Even that small sample size confirmed two things. First, Hatton is as explosive as we hoped and has the talent to be a stellar back. But as a freshman, it's clear he also still has more to prove to McCullough before getting more opportunity.

Don't expect Hatton to suddenly take over the backfield as RB1. He still has more dues to pay.

The answer is no, Robinson isn't actually RB1 after being listed as a co-starter with Avant on OU's initial depth chart. There's always the scenario where the Sooners just wanted to limit Robinson's chances of getting hurt, but he got less than half as many carries as Avant, with seven for 30 yards while averaging 4.3 an attempt.

It wasn't pretty at times for Robinson, though, which is why it's more likely he's lower on the depth chart than just being saved for Week 2. Watch No. 21 here:

247Sports' Brody Lusk also pointed out that McCullough values average yards after contact and prefers that number to be at least three. Robinson was under three yards at 2.43, which was also the lowest of the four running backs who got more than two carries. That shows Robinson isn't doing his offensive line any favors or making the most of his touches.

Robinson is clearly behind Avant, and he may also eventually get surpassed by Hatton or a healthy Blaylock if he doesn't switch gears soon.

It's not a Week 1 overreaction to say Avant is clearly the Sooners' RB1, which no one expected when he committed to OU out of the transfer portal from Colorado State. Avant led the Sooners with 15 carries for 79 yards while averaging 5.3 yards per attempt. He was also responsible for OU's first points of 2026 with a one-yard run.

No matter where he came from or what his original expectations were, Avant has earned his starting role as the leader of OU's backfield.

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