Tag: Rodney Anderson

Which Sooners could have been on the cover of EA Sports NCAA football during its absence?

With EA Sports NCAA Football returning, which Oklahoma Sooners could have graced the cover during their hiatus since 2015.

EA Sports did what many thought was impossible by announcing it would bring back its college football video game series. After a hiatus that will have spanned at least 10 years come July, the newest version of the beloved game series will return sometime in the summer of 2024.

The last one to drop before the series ended came out in July 2013. NCAA 14 is one of the most iconic sports video games of all time because of the attachment many have to it. Its resale value has never been higher.

The reason for the original cancellation of the series? Name, image and likeness — a hot-button topic that eventually led to NIL being accepted into collegiate sports.

EA Sports couldn’t figure out how to compensate players because it wasn’t legal in that era of collegiate athletics. That hurdle has been cleared and the game looks headed for a summer release date.

Who gets the distinction of being the game’s cover athlete in its resurrection? It’s always a fun and exciting debate when new sports games come out. Former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson graced NCAA 14’s cover. Since the last game, college football has had iconic athletes that would’ve been perfect fits to be cover athletes.

Our friends at College Wire went through and named which players they thought would have been great fits as cover athletes for the years we didn’t have a game. We decided to do the same, but only with Oklahoma players for those years. Take a look below.

3 stars from the Oklahoma Sooners wire-to-wire domination of Tulsa

Oklahoma fired on all cylinders against Tulsa. Here are this week’s three stars from the Sooners 66-17 win.

The Oklahoma fan base asked for more explosive plays, and Jeff Lebby ensured his offense delivered on Saturday in Tulsa. Oklahoma’s passing offense put up 476 yards and threw for six touchdowns on the way to a 66-17 win.

Oklahoma never trailed and was in complete control throughout. The game was a stark difference from what the Sooners looked like against SMU, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Oklahoma took on the identity of a battering ram against the Mustangs. This week, the offense transformed into long-range combat specialists, opening the passing offense to attack in a variety of ways. It was a sight to behold and allowed Oklahoma to showcase the growth it has experienced in the expansive receiver room.

Defensively, the good times continued to roll as the Sooners held Tulsa under 300 yards of total offense and finished the game with five interceptions. The Sooners turned those five interceptions into 34 points. Overall, it was another complete effort from beginning to end, with complementary football played by Brent Venables’ Sooners.

A handful of players were worthy of recognition for their performance, but we felt these three needed to be highlighted the most.

Up Next: 3 Stars of the Game

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Oklahoma Sooners 20 highest rated running backs of all-time according to 247Sports

Oklahoma’s had their share of stars at the running back position and here are the top 20 commits of all time per 247Sports.

Norman, Okla. has been the home of some of the best college running backs over the last couple of decades. From Adrian Peterson to Kennedy Brooks, the Sooners have produced some fantastic running back seasons and that doesn’t look to be slowing down as OU looks to the future.

Jovantae Barnes made a splash in the 2022 spring game and there’s a lot of excitement about fellow 2022 running back, and summer enrollee, Gavin Sawchuk as well.

DeMarco Murray, a former five-star player, has become a fantastic recruiter for the Sooners, landing Barnes and Sawchuk and keeping them aboard despite the coaching change. In the last couple of weeks, he’s added a running back to the 2023 class in Kalib Hicks. While Dylan Edwards and Tre Wisner surprised everyone by going against the projections, the Sooners will add another running back in the next couple of months to continue to build the depth chart for the next few years.

As we look to the future, let’s take a look at the past with the Oklahoma Sooners’ top 20 running back recruits in the 247Sports database. Running backs like Seymore Shaw and Justin Johnson, who were originally Oklahoma commits but ended up playing elsewhere were not included. D.J. Wolfe, who was recruited as a running back but flipped to safety was included.

October was full of treats for Sooners recruiting: How Oklahoma won the month

On3 recruiting dubs Oklahoma winners in recruiting for the month of October.

While Halloween has passed for this year, the Sooners found themselves with a lot of treats as they enter the month of November. On the field, they made a switch at QB and their offense has seen a massive uptick.

Off the field, recruiting efforts of two years or more paid off in a big way as the Sooners landed two of the top 50 players in USA TODAY Sports’ High School Composite Player Rankings.

Gentry Williams and Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy both have ties to the Sooner state. Dindy is an Oklahoma legacy, the son of two former Sooners who then moved to Florida, where he’s spent the majority of his life. Williams is an in-state star from Tulsa, Oklahoma who grew up rooting for the Sooners. Both are major defensive additions for a Sooners team flipping the script on the narrative of how the Sooners play defense in Norman these days.

On3 recruiting put together a list of a few teams that won the month of October in recruiting and Oklahoma’s efforts landed them in the company of recruiting juggernauts like Alabama and Georgia.

Chad Simmons of On3 wrote this on Oklahoma:

Lincoln Riley wants to keep the best of the best at home and he did that with Gentry Williams. Schools like Arkansas, Florida and USC gave the four-star athlete something to compare the Sooners to, but he committed to the in-state school.

Williams wasn’t the only highly-touted defender to commit to the Sooners last month. Oklahoma went into Florida to land five-star defensive lineman Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy. The No. 3 player in the country chose Oklahoma over Texas A&M. Dindy’s parents graduated from Oklahoma. – Simmons

Both are massive headliners for a consensus Top 8 class across all recruiting services. With the way Oklahoma’s depth chart projects for the next year, it’s very likely both players see the field early as well.

On top of the pledges of Williams and Brownlow-Dindy, Oklahoma hosted Nicholas Anderson over the Halloween weekend. If the Anderson name raises your eyebrows, it’s because he’s the younger brother of former Sooners running back Rodney Anderson. The familiarity, the fact that Oklahoma had no commits at receiver all led to a perfect storm. Anderson joined the 2022 class on Nov. 1 but his Halloween visit proved more than enough to flip the former Oregon commit.

So taking into account Anderson’s visit and commitment, the Sooners seemingly landed three commits at three important positions in need of talent over the course of October. It was a month full of treats, king-size candy if you must. The Sooners head into November with a mountain of recruiting momentum and look poised to add more over the next few months.

Report: Oklahoma Sooners flip wide receiver with OU ties from the Oregon Ducks

The Oklahoma Sooners got a much-needed wide receiver addition to the 2022 recruiting class with the commitment of Nicholas Anderson.

This weekend wasn’t just good for Oklahoma on the field. We chronicled before the game, the Sooners would have some visitors in town for their matchup with Texas Tech. At the top of the list sat Nicholas Anderson. He was an Oregon commit and was in town to watch the Sooners play on an unofficial visit.

Whatever took place on this visit, had a profound impact on Anderson as he flipped his commitment from the Oregon Ducks to the Oklahoma Sooners.

It should be noted that Nicholas Anderson is no stranger to the Crimson and Cream. He’s the younger brother of former Sooners great Rodney Anderson. It may seem as though a visit in the game-day atmosphere once again was all Anderson needed to make his decision. He’s now the lone wide receiver committed for Oklahoma’s 2022 recruiting class and is a much-needed addition after Oklahoma lost three previous commits at the wide receiver position.

Anderson is tall at 6’3 and is long, lanky, and has track speed. He can fly and he’ll have to add weight but he’s considered one of the best route runners in the state of Texas for his class. This is a very solid pickup for Oklahoma at a position that needed depth in this class.

Anderson may be a project receiver but with his athletic gifts, he’s worth bringing in and seeing how he develops under outside wide receiver’s coach Dennis Simmons’ tutelage.

Nicholas Anderson’s Recruiting Profile

Rating

Stars Overall State Position
247 3 n/a 44 55
Rivals 3 n/a 65 63
ESPN 4 106 22 13
247 Composite 4 237 38 38

Vitals

Hometown Katy, TX
Projected Position WR
Height 6’3
Weight 195

Recruitment

  • Offered on November 1st, 2021
  • visit on October 30th, 2021

Offers

  • Oregon Ducks
  • Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  • Texas A&M Aggies
  • Auburn Tigers
  • USC Trojans
  • Tennessee Volunteers
  • Penn State Nittany Lions
  • Florida State Seminoles
  • Virginia Tech Hokies
  • Stanford Cardinal

Crystal Ball

Film

Nicholas Anderson film

Twitter

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Oklahoma’s running game on a roll, will carry the Sooners in Big 12 play

As much as the passing game steals the headlines (both good and bad), it’s Oklahoma’s running game that’s on a roll as Big 12 play begins.

The greatest trick Lincoln Riley ever played was convincing the world that he’s a pass-first play-caller.

Okay, that’s not exactly how the quote from the cult classic, The Usual Suspects goes, but it feels fitting.

The Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator turned head coach broke into the Power Five with the Sooners coordinating some high-flying passing attacks, and at the same time, made the run-game a priority. Every season under Lincoln Riley, the Sooners have run the ball more than they’ve thrown it. Sometimes 10-15 times more per game. Sure, they’ve had a lot of insurmountable leads, which lend to running the ball more, but even in the first half of games, the Sooners are trying to have balance.

Lincoln Riley might have made a name for himself by producing a group of quarterbacks with two Heisman Trophies, one finalist, two first overall NFL Draft picks, one top 50 pick, and three starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Still, he’s balanced it well, and at times, leaned on the running game.

Samaje Perine, Joe Mixon, Rodney Anderson, Trey Sermon, and Kennedy Brooks have all thrived in Lincoln Riley’s running game, and now Eric Gray is continuing that legacy.

As a team, the Oklahoma Sooners are averaging 5.6 yards per attempt on the ground and nearly 200 yards per game, according to College Football Reference. Their 10 rushing touchdowns are tied for 14th in the country, while their team rushing yards is 35th.

It wasn’t a clean first effort against Tulane, though Kennedy Brooks was as effective as he’s ever been. But over the last two games, Eric Gray has taken off. With a massive lift from the offensive line the last two games, the duo of Brooks and Gray has taken off in the run game.

The offensive line has been getting a strong push in the running game, opening holes for the Sooners’ lead rushers, and Brooks and Gray have made people miss, getting to the second level for big plays.

As the Oklahoma Sooners get set to take on West Virginia and preseason All-American defensive tackle Dante Stills, the run game will have to continue to carry them. Spencer Rattler hasn’t been sharp, and teams have focused on taking away the deep passing game. If teams force the Sooners into a more methodical offense, then Brooks and Gray and the offensive line will have to continue to be as effective as they’ve been the last couple of weeks.

The passing game gets all of the headlines in the modern era of college football, but the run game remains a priority for Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma Sooners. As Oklahoma gets set to defend their Big 12 title with their conference opener on Saturday, it’s the Sooners run game that will carry them to their seventh straight Big 12 championship.

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Much ado about something? A look at the Oklahoma running back position over the last few years

A look at how things have gone for OU’s running backs and a look at what there is to look forward to going forward.

Like life, college football personnel has its highs and lows. There are times where you’re able to recruit, develop and send players to the league at an astonishing rate. Conversely, there are times when you experience turbulence within a position group seemingly every year.

It may be on field production (or lack thereof) or off the field issues that just deplete your position group.

The Oklahoma Sooners over the last decade have seen both sides of the coin.

From recruiting guys like Samaje Perine, Joe Mixon, Rodney Anderson and watching them go to the NFL to having running backs transfer in and practice for less than 14 practices and then transfer back out in less than 2 months, OU has seen it all of late.

Let’s take a look at the Sooners running back issues and where they are headed going into the future.

Jay Boulware, former Sooners running back coach helped recruit the men mentioned previously in Perine, Mixon and Anderson. Much to the chagrin of the Sooners faithful, he will be remembered for his misses in recruiting in the state of Texas more than anything.

He was let go largely due to the lack of production and development of guys he brought in. In stepped DeMarco Murray.

Murray, a former Sooners running back who went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans took over after his first coaching stint at the University of Arizona.

Murray has suffered from some of the same issues Boulware dealt with. Failures to close on guys that were seemingly within reach (Camar Wheaton) or having to deal with suspensions/ineligible guys (Seth McGowan, Marcus Major, Mikey Henderson). The latest wave of running back problems has left OU with two scholarship running backs in a year where the Sooners are more equipped to win the national title than they’ve been since 2008.

How do they bounce back going forward to push this horrible string of mishaps and lack of depth behind them?

It starts with the 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes first and foremost. OU is at a big disadvantage with a week until the start of the 2021 season. There’s no real solution for this year outside of hoping walk on Jaden Knowles can be serviceable and eat some carries to spell Eric Gray and Kennedy Brooks.

That’s also contingent on Brooks and Gray remaining healthy. Things could get real desperate if one/both is injured at any point.

H-Back Jeremiah Hall will likely see carries this year too. Just maybe a receiver lower on the depth chart converts over or Micah Bowens (transfer QB from Penn State with some real mobility) steps up and becomes a RB.

Regardless, this year’s problems will have to be fixed in house.

2022 will see Raleek Brown, Gavin Sawchuk and possibly one more RB (high school recruit or grad transfer) come in to Oklahoma for next season. One of the duo of Gray and Brooks is almost a lock to leave for the NFL after this season with Brooks being the likely one. Gray could leave if he has the season that many anticipate and the Sooners win the national title.

In that scenario four running backs at minimum would need to find their way to OU next year assuming Marcus Major is eligible next year of course.

Four-star running back Jovantae Barnes out of Las Vegas, Nevada has a close relationship with RB coach Murray. Can Murray seal the deal and fight off Alabama and USC for the young man’s pledge?

In 2023, Treyaun Webb has gotten the ball rolling for running backs. Listed as the nation’s no. 3 RB on 247Sports, Webb is an excellent notch on the belt of Murray as long as he can keep him in the fold for the next two years. Guys like Richard Young and Reuben Owens are other names the Sooners are looking at for the class of 2023.

There’s no doubt some of the issues that OU has faced are completely out of the control of the guys in the program. But as we all know to be true, being proactive instead of reactive is the way to go.

Grinding on the recruiting trail and locking down these recruits will go a long way to providing stability in OU’s running back room and preventing such turnover and uncertainty heading into future seasons.

Former Oklahoma DE Amani Bledsoe signs with Cincinnati Bengals

Former Oklahoma DE Amani Bledsoe is back on an NFL roster after signing with the Cincinnati Bengals, the team announced on Monday. 

Former Oklahoma DE Amani Bledsoe is back on an NFL roster after signing with the Cincinnati Bengals, the team announced on Monday.

Bledsoe signed with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent out of college. He spent one full season on their practice squad before being waived on July 26.

Less than a month later, he’s back on an NFL roster, joining former Sooners Joe Mixon, Samaje Perine, Jermaine Gresham, Jordan Evans and Rodney Anderson in Cincinnati.

Bledsoe tallied 58 tackles, 8.5 TFL, 8 deflections and 4 sacks while at OU from 2016-18.

247Sports rated him as a four-star prospect out of high school. He was also the No. 8 strong-side defensive end in his class, and the No. 2 player out of Kansas.

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Bengals waive RB Rodney Anderson

The Cincinnati Bengals moved on from RB Rodney Anderson.

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The Cincinnati Bengals waived running back Rodney Anderson on Monday.

Cincinnati announced the move, citing a failed physical designation.

Anderson’s ability to stay on the roster was always going to come down to health. After collegiate injuries, he suffered another as a rookie last year after flashing serious potential in the preseason.

The move means a better shot at snaps for Trayveon Williams behind Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard, while Samaje Perine and Jacques Patrick presumably compete for the final roster spot.

This was another move on an eventful day for the Bengals, which included A.J. Green suffering a minor injury and Renell Wren needing a cart to leave the field.

In a corresponding move, the Bengals announced Bryce Sterk is done with testing and is now on the active roster at defensive end.

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Bengals make 3 roster moves, including Rodney Anderson to PUP

The Cincinnati Bengals made three roster moves recently.

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The Cincinnati Bengals announced a trio of roster moves recently, shifting a trio of players to certain lists as veterans report and training camp slowly gets going.

On the transaction wire, the Bengals sent guard Alex Redmond to the NFI list. Both running back Rodney Anderson and wide receiver Damion Willis shifted to the PUP.

The moves come in the wake of rookies Khalid Kareem and Markus Bailey going to the NFI as a formality after collegiate injuries. Rookie Kendall Futrell is also on the COVID-19 reserve list.

Anderson is arguably the biggest of the three new moves, as the promising running back has a good chance at breaking into the fold in some capacity if he can stay healthy.

More list changes are sure to come as players take physicals likely Friday and early next week. For now, here’s a look at the full roster the Bengals will take into camp:

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