KANSAS STATEMENT
Rhamondre Stevenson leaves no doubt who is Sooners' RB1
NORMAN — Rhamondre Stevenson didn' t have to lift his shirt to make another statement Saturday.
In OU's 62-9 drubbing of Kansas, the running back showed with clarity that he's not only t he Sooners' best running back but all of t he sudden he's inviting comparisons to some of the great OU running backs of the Lincoln Riley era.
Stevenson battered the Jayhawks in a variety of ways, being hard to pickup and hard to bring down for any defenders, much less Kansas' struggling group.
Stevenson wasn't Samaje
Peri ne against the Jay hawk sin 2014— of course no player in college football history could measure up to that 427yard performance — but with his 104- yard, twotouchdown performance plus four receptions for 60 yards, it was Perine who drew Riley's comparison.
“Very similar build ,” Riley said. “Kind of a low, stocky, low center of gravity, very difficult to tackle and wrap up, and then has some big-play ability to go with that.”
In the two games since he returned from a six-game suspension that began at the end of last year, Stevenson has 1 91 yards and five touchdowns on the ground plus six receptions.
He also showed va luable blocking skills in the second quarter, picking up a blitzing defender — who had jumped offsides — and clearing him out of Spencer Rattler's way so he could find Austin Stogner downfield f or a 22- yard reception.
“He can do it all,” Rattler said .“He's never losing yards. He' s a positive runner.”
Then Rattler added another critical piece.
“It makes my job a lot easier,” Rattler said.
Though T.J. Pledger had a pair of solid games in the lead-up to Stevenson' s return, the So one rs' running game has been different the last two weeks.
To be sure, they haven' t been facing the 1985 Chicago Bears or the 2011 Alabama squad, but Stevenson's running style figures tobe valuable in Bedlam two weeks from now and in whatever bowl the Sooners wind up making.
Part of the reason for OU' s two-game losing streak early in the season was their inability to move the ball on the ground and shorten games.
Now, OU's offense has that element and Rattler doesn't have to do it all.
“When you get a guy that's tough to tackle and has some breakaway and catches the ball pretty good an disable to jump cut right and left, great feet, it's a good combination ,” Riley said .“And I think, too, his experience has shown.
“You can tell he' s played some ball and has improved and has a good understanding of what we're doing.”
Stevenson is averaging 8.02 yards per carry in his Sooners career after leading the country — among players with 50 or more carries—with an 8.0 yards- per- carry average last season.
At 6-feet-0, 246 pounds, Stevenson is strong enough to break plenty of tackles, while also keeping enough speed and elusiveness to be difficult to get to in the first place.
“I really pride myself in t hat,” Stevenson said of not being brought down by the first defender to reach him.
“I' ve been( like that) since high school and JC, and( So one rs running backs coach) De Marco Murray instilling that in me. You have to make the first person miss, whether you break the tackle or juke and make them miss. You can never let the first person tackle you.”