The season-long suspension of Oklahoma Sooners freshman 5-star running back Joe Mixon seems to be a very big loss, especially when you take into account the fact that Oklahoma has to replace its top three backs and fullback Trey Millard from last year.
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And while it certainly does make the Sooners thinner, the team is still so loaded at the position that it shouldn’t matter, barring injury.
Sophomore Keith Ford is a 4-star running back who was going to be the starter going into the year anyway, and this suspension simply confirms that. Remember, in very limited action last year as a freshman, he rushed for 134 yards on only 23 carries, good enough for a 5.8 yards per carry average. Ford is incredibly fast with a 4.37 40 time and at 5’11” 195 pounds he’s more than capable of doing anything Mixon could have done. In fact, he’s more likely to break away big plays than anybody else on the unit.

Stormin in Norman
Along with Ford, sophomore Alex Ross is in the mix as well. Ross didn’t play last year, but that was only because the position was so deep. This year look for him to play a lot more. In fact, it’s worth noting that while everybody was competing, many felt in the Spring Ross had earned the starting spot. He’s a cut and run back at 6’1″ with lots of speed, but he is very shifty and agile as well, so he should be able to be nearly as productive, or possibly more productive than Ford. There’s no reason to suggest that Mixon is better than either.
The Sooners also brought in 4-star freshman Samaje Perine to provide more depth in the running game. Perine could play immediately because while the other running backs provide a unique blend of size and speed, Perine is the power back to complement them at 5’11” 243 pounds. Even Mixon wouldn’t have been able to do that. Whomever starts between Ross and Ford, Perine is the perfect back to play with them.

With the First Pick
With only those three guys, and all of them expected to contribute, it would appear that Oklahoma is very thin at running back and will have to address its lack of depth. But the final piece of this running game is quarterback Trevor Knight. Knight is used a lot in the running game as well after 63 runs last year, and he should carry the ball even more this year. That will take carries and reps away from the running backs to help keep them fresh and minimize the chances of injury. Of course, more running plays for Knight means more of a chance for him to get injured as well.
But he hasn’t gotten hurt yet, so Oklahoma fans simply need to keep their fingers crossed. Heck, when you have a team you think can make the college football playoff, you have to keep your fingers crossed that everything goes right anyway. Luckily for Oklahoma, if Knight goes down, freshmen Cody Thomas and Justice Hansen have the potential to be decent quarterbacks, so at least depth exists there.