Samaje Perine’s keys to avoiding sophomore slump with Oklahoma Sooners
By Sixto Ortiz
Nov 15, 2014; Lubbock, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners running back Samaje Perine (32) rushes against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the first half at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Can Oklahoma running back Samaje Perine avoid the dreaded sophomore slump and build off his record-breaking campaign as a freshman?
One of the few highlights from OU’s 2014 season was the emergence of Samaje Perine. At the beginning of the 2014 campaign, Sooner Nation was far more preoccupied with Joe Mixon’s shaky status; after all, Mixon was the crown jewel of the 2014 class. Samaje Perine pretty much flew under the radar.
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Well, it didn’t take long for Mr. Perine to make some noise: the freshman phenom not only rushed for 1,713 yards and scored twenty-one touchdowns, he also broke the NCAA record for rushing yards in a single game (a record that, coincidentally, Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon had broken just the prior week!).
Perine exploded on the national scene with a 242-yard, four-touchdown performance against West Virginia and cemented his place in Sooner lore with the 427 yard, five-touchdown record-breaking romp against hapless Kansas.
As OU picks up the pieces from 2014 and readies itself for the 2015 season, one of the many questions among the Sooner faithful is whether Samaje Perine can build on 2014’s success and elevate his game to even greater heights.
As with all attempts at predicting anything related to the college game, there are reasonable arguments justifying why Perine will eclipse 2014’s success, as well as arguments why Perine might take a step back.
Next: The reasons he won't have a sophomore slump