Oklahoma Football: Top 3 prospects for 2021 NFL Draft

Oklahoma football have an impressive recent history of sending running back talent to the NFL. In 2017 both Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine were drafted to the NFL. DeMarco Murray and Rodney Anderson have also been selected from the Sooners since the turn of the decade.

Kennedy Brooks will be the next name to add to the list of Oklahoma football running backs in the NFL.

Brooks exploded on to the scene for the Sooners as a freshman in 2018. He racked up an impressive 1,056 rushing yards at a mind-boggling 8.9 yards per carry whilst contributing 12 rushing touchdowns.

Although his production in 2019 wasn’t as electrifying as his freshman season, Brooks still rushed for 1,011 yards and six touchdowns, averaging a reduced but still sensational 6.5 yards per carry. He also had four games where he rushed for over 100 yards, included in the Red river Rivalry game against Texas where he averaged 10.5 yards per carry.

Brooks’ 7.5 yards per carry career average leads all Oklahoma football running backs, including 2012 NFL MVP Adrian Peterson.

There are improvements to be made for Brooks to be successful in the NFL, notably with his performance in the passing game, where he has only seen 20 receptions in his two years with the Sooners. With an estimated mid-4.50 40-yard dash time, Brooks won’t blow you away with his long speed either.

However, what he does well is use his exceptional contact balance to ensure that he makes yardage after contact, ranking first in yards after the contact when running outside the tackles as per Pro Football Focus.

With Trey Sermon transferring to Ohio State, and Rhamondre Stevenson likely to miss game time through suspension, Brooks will have every opportunity to put himself in the NFL shop window as the feature back for the Sooners in 2020.