Oklahoma football: 5 breakout players to watch in 2020
These five Oklahoma football players could break out in 2020.
Sure, Oklahoma football has not won a College Football Playoff game under the watch of head coach Lincoln Riley. However, they have been good enough to win the Big 12 and make it to the final four in each of the three years that the head coach has been at the helm. Now that another quarterback is gone, though, it’s time for Riley to try and get over the hump.
That starts with finding a new answer at quarterback and Riley has great candidates for that. Beyond that, though, the Sooners must replace some critical contributors from last year’s team, including their leading receiver and their best defensive player.
What all of this means, especially with the way Oklahoma has recruited, is that there are opportunities for several Sooners to have breakout seasons in 2020. In particular, these five guys could show up big this year.
Oklahoma football breakout candidate No. 5: Rhamondre Stevenson, RB
There’s no question that Kennedy Brooks is going to be the top running back for the Sooners in the 2020 season. That was clear last season, which is a big reason why Trey Sermon made the choice to transfer out of the program — it was clear that he had fallen out of favor. Not only had Brooks surpassed him the pecking order but so too had Rhamondre Stevenson.
Oklahoma’s rushing attack, however, was not traditional. Yes, quarterbacks have the freedom to take off frequently in Riley’s offense. But Jalen Hurts led the team in carries by a wide margin, toting the ball 233 times while Brooks was second on the team with 155. Stevenson then was third on the team with 64 carries, taking those touches for 515 yards and six touchdowns.
Again, Brooks is going to be the featured back. But Stevenson showed last year that he has big-play ability as he racked up eight yards per carry. That’s not going to be something that Riley is going to shy away from using in-tandem with Brooks. More importantly, though, he could see his carries drastically increase.
In 2018, Kyler Murray had almost 100 fewer carries than what Hurts did last season. A safe bet would be to say that Rattler, a player more akin to Murray as a thrower than Hurts, will simply pass more in this offense. That will open up more carries for the backs and that means more work for Stevenson. Should that happen, he’s shown enough ability to break off big chunks of yardage that he should be kept an eye on.