STILLWATER – One of the main questions surrounding the Oklahoma State offense as we get closer to the start of the 2021 season involves the running back room. It’s not so much a question of talent, as it is where the touches are going to go based on the immense depth.
John Wozniak returns three backs from last season, starter LD Brown, Dezmon Jackson and Dominic Richardson, the latter two received heavy doses of carries later in the season. They then brought in Utah State transfer Jaylen Warren, who’s earned snaps throughout the spring, summer and into fall camp.
One guy who’s looking for a breakout season is redshirt senior Dezmon Jackson. The first couple of years on campus for Dez were adjustment years; trying to get used to the bigger sizes and speeds, as well as the physicality of everything.
Dez burst onto the scene for the Pokes last season against Texas Tech as he carried the ball 36 times for 235 yards and three touchdowns. His performance was only the fourth time a Cowboy player rushed for at least 230 yards against a Big 12 opponent since 2000.
Dez said he didn’t really get comfortable in his role until towards the end of last season, so I’d expect some of the confidence of the Tech game to really shine through in 2021.
“He’s a little bit of a slasher,” said coach Gundy of Dez Jackson. “You don’t want to go out on a limb too much, but for his performance in the games that he played in [last year], he probably played as good as anybody in the country for the amount of reps he got in the games; his production. I’m somewhat hesitant and don’t say this a lot, but he actually plays better in games than he practices. He practices hard, but in games he slashes and seems to be more productive than he actually is in live settings in practice, which is kind of the important part of what we do. Now, there’s very few young men that I’ve come across in my career that were actually able to do that. But there is a big role for him on our team with what he brings to the table and when we put in him games last year and asked him to be successful, he was very successful.”
Coach Gundy’s right, there aren’t many guys out there who perform better in a game than they do in practice. It’s kind of a rare trait considering guys who don’t practice well, or don’t like to practice typically don’t see the field during a game.
“Actually, I’ve always referred myself as not really a practice guy; I don’t know why, but when I’m at practice it don’t really click to me, but when I get on the field [in a game], it’s easy. I think it’s just my adrenaline going knowing it’s game day, playing with my teammates, playing in front of fans and just doing something I love.”
Not only was that evident against Tech, but it was the following week against TCU as well as he rushed for 118 yards and one touchdown on 29 carries.
It’ll be interesting to see how the running backs room shakes out during fall camp, but I’d fully expect to see a healthy dose of the agile slasher out of El Dorado, AR throughout the 2021 season.
