How is This Going to Work? Four Running Backs?

STILLWATER – Count me in as curious. I’ve been covering Oklahoma State football a long time and I remember when Terry Miller was around that the speedy big back from Colorado Springs got most of the carries. Thurman Thomas was the “bell cow” in 1987 on the way to the Sun Bowl and for Thurman on the way to being the first pick in the second round to the Buffalo Bills. There was a guy named Barry Sanders on that team, and OU head coach Barry Switzer even warned his defense, “Don’t hurt Thurman because you don’t want to have to stop that other guy (Sanders).”

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Thurman Thomas kept Barry Sanders on the bench and went into the Ring of Honor first.

The next year Sanders was the guy and was so good in winning the Heisman Trophy that he donated the fourth quarter most games to his backup Gerald Hudson. Dantrell Savage, Kendall Hunter, Joseph Randle, Justice Hill, and Chuba Hubbard have all been featured running backs at Oklahoma State. I do remember Mike Gundy as offensive coordinator featuring Tatum Bell, Vernand Morency, and Seymore Shaw in a season. It worked.

But now Gundy is saying this.

“We’re using all four running backs,” Gundy said just last week. “We plan on using all four running backs.”

The four are super senior speedster LD Brown, powerful Dezmon Jackson, young and talented sophomore Dominic Richardson, and Utah State transfer Jaylen Warren. All are talented, all a little bit different in style, and all proven on the college football field in past performances to be productive, highly productive. Last season Brown had multiple 100-yard games, Jackson went for 235-yards and three touchdowns against Texas Tech, and Dominic Richardson went for169-yards and three touchdowns at Baylor. Warren coming in from Utah State has three 100-yard plus games in his career with the Aggies.

"We want to be efficient just running the football and we want to crease a couple here and there,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn said at the start of fall camp. “Our explosive runs were higher two years ago than they were last year. So, that's something that we've got to address. The tailback room is deep, so we'll be fresh, and the offensive line room is deep. So, if we have an injury, we're not shuffling guys around.”

Dunn is a wide receivers coach by trade, a coach that loves the ball in the air and his receivers maneuvering to make the play on the defensive back. However, since becoming the offensive coordinator in the spring of 2020 he has been consistent on wanting to nurture and foster a strong rushing attack. He has been at Oklahoma State since the 2011 Big 12 Championship season and he is well aware of how potent the Cowboys offense has been when it is balanced.

“I think we've simplified the run game, it's better for them. And I'm looking forward to it,” Dunn added. “I think we're in a really good position to run the ball downhill with people and then try and open up the passing game."

Okay, my curiosity is not about the blend offensively, I keep going back to how can you keep a solid running game and the participants happy with four running backs and just one football. Maybe a total of about 40-45 carries a game on average. You have to remember the starting quarterback is Spencer Sanders and while they don’t plan on a lot of called quarterback runs, he’ll carry three-to-five times a game I would think.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Brown had over 100-yards in s showdown with WVU and their running back Leddie Brown.

You start with LD Brown, the DeSoto, Texas “super senior” is a speedster that has added weight and strength throughout his career. He is the incumbent with the most experience. Brown says he likes being the leader.

"I really do. I feel like the guys, that they know me for stuff. You can get that sense of they watch how you do stuff and they try to mimic you,” Brown said during fall camp. “And then also, when you talk they listen. So, it's a good thing, it's a good feeling to have. It's a role I want to take. Guys are unselfish in the room, so they make my job easy."

Brown is encouraging with the other backs, but you know he wants 20 carries a game. He’s a senior. Dezmon Jackson is back and he is a big, powerful back at 5-11, 220-pounds.

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Jackson on TD run vs. Texas Tech.

"He’s a little bit of a slasher,” Gundy said of the former Hutchinson Community College running back in Jackson. “You don’t want to go out on a limb too much, but for his performance in the games that he played in, he probably played as good as anybody in the country for the amount of reps he got in games with his production. I’m somewhat hesitant and don’t say this a lot, but he actually plays better in games than he practices.”

Jackson agreed somewhat with Gundy, and part of that could have been some boredom as Jackson bided his time last season before injuries got him his big opportunity starting against Texas Tech.

“I picked up on a lot of things and added to my arsenal,” Jackson said of practice. “I'm always going to be ready. It's a game I love. I knew when I went the juco route that I was going to have to get another gear because it takes a whole different type of mindset. When I was coming here, I was always going to be ready."

Jerry Larson - Associated Press

Richardson ran over, around, and through the Baylor defense,

He was ready and later in the season so was Richardson, the original signee of TCU out of Oklahoma City Bishop McGuinness, Richardson switched and has never looked back. He got his first extended playing time at Kansas and then exploded with the start at Baylor. This year you can tell he is even better than his breakthrough as a freshman.

“You know he's a year into it. I mean, he's like most freshman, trying to find his way through and we played him in some games last year toward the end of the season, he played really well, but he went through August, September, October and I think it was November,” Gundy said of the workup to the Baylor game. “So, he was three more months into it. And just the reps they get out here helps them develop.” 

Finally, there is Warren and the only reason he is last in this sequence is by arrival time. Warren showed in the spring he could be first when the season opener for 2021 with Missouri State comes along Sept. 4. He’s taken at least as many first team snaps in fall camp as any of the backs, Warren and Brown likely the most.

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Warren remembered for his hurdle in the spring game.

"Fantastic, great transfer, love him to death,” Brown said of Warren. “(He) brings a toughness to us; gets downhill, you know with his runs, there's not a lot of chopping his feet in the backfield. He takes that thing (and) hits it downhill. He is good at protection and is a great team guy. So he's rounded out that room, really well."

A perfect situation with four back, really six as freshman Jaden Nixon is showing he is very talented and capable and Zach Middleton has found a place as is the best fifth-team back in college football and could play for a lot of people. That dude is tough.

We’ll keep it as the four mentioned above. I still wonder … How will this work? You know the old philosophy that a back gets better with more carries. I believe in that.  It turns out, so does Mike Gundy.

”I’m excited about rotating these guys in,” Gundy said and then added. “I know it gets brought up, ‘Well, what if one of them gets a hot hand?’ Well, yeah, if somebody gets a hot hand, they’re going to roll until they get tired. We’re not going to take somebody out that’s just rolling. But, we should be able to keep guys fresh and healthy.”

Okay, I feel a lot better now because I think there will be some rolling going on this fall. I’m just not sure, who. It could be all four.