Oklahoma Football: Kennedy Brooks could be nation’s best RB in 2021

It’s been over a year since Kennedy Brooks last suited up for Oklahoma football on game day.

After opting out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns, Brooks is back with the Sooners for his junior season and people seem to have forgotten just how good he was in 2018 and 2019.

In fact, when you look at most All-Big 12 projections for 2021, Brooks is somewhere on the third team, if listed at all. Guys like Breece Hall and Bijan Robinson and even Tennessee transfer Eric Gray are getting all the attention while Brooks is quietly working his way back.

Pro Football Focus did name him the third-best returning running back in the nation for 2021, but that just accounts for their own grades, and Brooks still seems to fly under the radar.

The Oklahoma football star has All-American potential

As a freshman in 2018, Brooks rushed for 1,056 yards and 12 touchdowns on an astounding 8.9 yards per carry. Those types of numbers are unheard of, but he made it look easy in that potent offense.

As a sophomore, he had 1,011 yards and six touchdowns on 6.5 yards per touch. Not as impressive as year one, but if your “down year” is averaging over six yards per carry with 1,000 total rushing yards, you’re doing something right.

While he hasn’t been much of a pass-catcher out of the backfield, he can still do it if need be. He has 20 career receptions for 136 yards.

Oklahoma brought in Eric Gray from Tennessee to bolster that backfield and he’ll do just that, but Brooks should be the unquestioned starter when the season starts, especially with Rhamondre Stevenson moving on to the NFL after a big 2020 season.

Brooks has over 2,000 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns with a yards per carry average of 7.5 in two years at Oklahoma yet no one is talking about him as one of the nation’s top backs.

Opting out of the 2020 season made people forget about Brooks, but he should be a top candidate for first-team All-Big 12 and even an All-American spot with the potential he has along with the experience and resume as one of the top rushers in the country.

It won’t be long before people remember just how good he is.