Oklahoma Running Backs in the NFL currently active are Rhamondre Stevenson, Samaje Pernie, Kennedy Brooks, Eric Gray, and Joe Mixon.
Oklahoma shares a long history with NFL in contributing a number of exceptional players who played college football with the team. Coming up to the 78th annual League Draft, at least one of the Sooners has made their way to get picked in the draft.
Except in 1962 and 1965, when none of the players were picked, from all other years total of 410 athletes placed themselves in the NFL Draft. They stand as the fourth most selection of college team in the League among others.
Out of the 76 years of active involvement in the draft, the year of 1988 was the biggest year for them. Thirteen players of the team were selected in the draft.
Oklahoma Sooners are also the only team to have consecutive years of No.1 overall draft picks in 2018 and 2019 at the quarterback position.
Five of the 48 players selected in the first-round draft are on the list of No. 1 picks overall. The football team has also provided remarkable running backs to NFL. Let’s learn about some of them below:
NFL Running Backs From Oklahoma
NFL Running Backs from Oklahoma play for the Jets, Patriots, Bengals, Eagles, and Broncos. Out of six who are active, one is a free agent.
Among them, Eric Gray is the most recent selection who was picked in the fifth round of the 2023 with 172nd overall pick by the New York Jets.
Eric Gray
Eric Gray was born on November 4, 1999, and played his college football at Tennessee and later transferred to Oklahoma. Gray went to attend Lausanne Collegiate School for his schooling.
In his Sophomore year, he rushed for 2251 yards and got 38 touchdowns. Eric was titled Tennessee Gatorade Football Player of the Year for rushing 3151 yards and 45 TDs as a junior.
Gray spent most of his college football days with Tennessee and later announced his entrance to the transfer portal in 2021. The RB was picked by the Jets in the 2023 NFL Draft and holds the third position in their depth chart.
Rhamondre Stevenson
Rhamondre Stevenson played his first two seasons of college football for Cerritos College and then got himself transferred to Oklahoma where he rushed for 515 yards and 64 touchdowns in 2019.
He was suspended as he failed the drug test for Marijuana just before the 2019 Peach Bowl. When he returned in 2020, he was given MVP of the 2020 Cotton Bowl Title for his 186 yards rush and one touchdown on 18 carries.
Stevenson was selected in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots as the 120th overall pick. On May 19, 2021, he signed a rookie contract of four years with the team.
Rhamondre led the running back position for the Patriots only in week 9 of the season and completed the 2021 season by rushing 606 yards and gaining five touchdowns from 12 total games.
The RB started his 2022 season as the backup for Damien Harris. He gained his most professional career yards during this season where he rushed for 1040 yards and five touchdowns. He also got 69 catches, the most on the team.
Joe Mixon
Joe Mixon was born on July 24, 1996, and attended Freedom High School. Mixon joined the University of Oklahoma and remained there from 2014 to 2016.
During his college football career, he was suspended from playing the 2014 season. Marking his comeback to the field in 2015, he ended up rushing 753 yards and getting 4 touchdowns that season.
In 2016, he made 1274 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. Mixon completed his collegiate football rushing for 2027 yards and 9 touchdowns in total of the two seasons.
Joe was picked in the second round as the 48th overall selection by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2017 NFL Draft. He signed a $5.45 million four-year contract with the team.
Mixon concluded his rookie season rushing for 626 yards, 30 receptions, and 4 touchdowns. 2018 season brought him 1168 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. In 2019, Joe was able to rush for 1137 yards and get five touchdowns and 35 receptions.
He rushed for 428 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2020, 1205 yards and 13 touchdowns, career highest in 2021, and 814 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2022.
Kennedy Brooks
Kennedy Brooks went to Mansfield High School for his high school studies and received Landry Award as a junior. He went to the University of Oklahoma to play his college football but missed his first season because of a shoulder injury.
Brooks made his comeback in 2018 ony and rushed for 1056 yards with 12 touchdowns. In the 2019 season, 1011 rushing yards with 6 touchdowns was his achievement.
During 2023, he rushed for his career-high yards, 1253 rushing yards with 13 touchdowns. In total during his college football, he had 3320 rushing yards with 31 touchdowns.
Brooks was signed by Philadelphia Eagles on January 19, 2023, as a reserve/future.
Samaje Perine
Samaje Perine joined the University of Oklahoma in 2014 and played for 3 seasons up to 2016. He had total of 4122 rushing yards and 49 touchdowns in his college football career.
Perine’s professional career has not been as promising as that of college football. Samaje only rushed for 1592 yards and had 7 touchdowns in his 6 years career.
He recently signed a two-year contract with the Denver Broncos in March 2023.
Adrian Peterson
Adrian Peterson had multiple awards during his college days where he rushed for 4041 yards and 41 touchdowns in total.
Throughout his professional career, Peterson had 14918 rushing yards and 120 touchdowns and has received over 14 NFL awards.
Peterson is currently a free-agent running back.
Oklahoma Players In The NFL
University of Oklahoma has also provided many other players to various positions in NFL including Marquise Brown (WR), Kyler Murray (QB), Mark Andrews (TE), Orlando Jr. Brown (OT), and so on.
Below is the table with players’ name and their position in the NFL at present days:
| Player’s Name | Position |
| Marquise Brown | WR |
| Marquis Hayes | OG |
| Kyler Murray | QB |
| Mark Andrews | TE |
| Jordan Phillips | DT |
| Jalen Redmond | DE |
| Orlando Jr. Brown | OT |
| Cody Ford | RT |
| Ogbo Okoronkwo | DE |
| Isaiah Thomas | DE |
| Perrion Winfrey | DT |
| Michael II Woods | WR |
| Neville Gallimore | DT |
| CeeDee Lamb | WR |
| Nik Bonitto | OLB |
| Marvin Jr. Mims | WR |
| Ben Powers | OG |
| Delarrin Turren-Yell | S |
| Anton Harrison | RT |
| Blake Bell | TE |
| Creed Humphrey | C |
| Wanya Morris | OT |
| James Winchester | LS |
| C.J. Jr. Coldon | CB |
| Sterling Shephard | WR |
| Jalen Hurts | QB |
| Lane Johnson | OT |
| Tyrese Robinson | OG |
| Tre Norwood | S |
| Tre Brown | CB |
| Trent Williams | OT |
| Brayden Willis | TE |
| Baker Mayfield | QB |
| Chris Murray | OG/OC |
| Tress Way | PT |
On the list above, Oklahoma players in the Bengals are Joe Mixon (RB), Cody Ford (OT/OG), and (OT) Orlando Jr. Brown.
Among them, Brown and Mixon are in the first position in the depth chart of the Cincinnati Bengals and Ford is in the 3rd position.
Oklahoma players in Saints in the past were Kenny Stills (2013), Jamal Brown (2005), Lydell Car (1988), Louis Oubre (1981), Reggie Mathis (1979), and more.
The New Orlean Saints don’t have any active Oklahoma players at present and didn’t draft a single player in 2023 as well. There are no players from the university since 2013 who made it to the Saints’ depth chart.
Oklahoma Players in the Bears from the past are Juaquin Iglesias (WR) in 2009, J.D. Runnels and Dusty Dvoracek in 2006, Mark Bradley (2005), Tommie Harris (2004), etc.
There are no active players on the team since 2009 and haven’t drafted any from Oklahoma in 2023.
Great Oklahoma Running Back
The great Oklahoma running backs of all time are Adrian Peterson (2004-2006), Billy Sims (1975-1979), and Joe Washington (1972-1975).
Let’s look at the top 10 Oklahoma running backs in history in the list below:
- Adrian Peterson (2004-2006)
- Billy Sims (1975-1979)
- Joe Washington (1972-1975)
- Billy Vessels (1949-1952)
- Greg Pruitt (1969-1972)
- Steve Owens (1966-1969)
- Samaje Perine (2014-2016)
- DeMarco Murray (2006-2010)
- Quentin Griffin (1999-2002)
- De’Mond Parker (1995-1998)
Adrian Peterson possessed exceptional talent as a running back and was born to play the position. Peterson rushed for 1341 yards during his rookie years. In 2012 he was awarded NFL MVP as he rushed for 2097 yards that season.
He was titled First-Team All-Pro four times and Second-team three times. Peterson also has the NFL rushing name in 2008, 2012, and 2015.
Billy Sims played for Oklahoma Sooners from 1975 to 1979. During his college football, he was titled an All-American two times and also won the Heisman Trophy in 1978.
Sims rushed for 3820 yards and 48 touchdowns throughout his collegiate career in football and had an average of 38.5.
Joe Washington associated with the University of Oklahoma in 1972 and played till 1975. In his career with the university, Washington rushed for 4071 yards and led team two to win the national championship twice; in 1974 and 1975.
During that time he was named All-American twice and ended up being third in the Heisman Trophy.
Billy Vessels played his college football with the Sooners from 1949 to 1952. He also won the Heisman Trophy in 1952.