Oklahoma RB Samaje Perine The Leading Heisman Candidate?
Oklahoma Sooners running back Samaje Perine is one of the best up-and-coming talents in all of college football, but just how good can he be?
Heisman good.
Perine was an absolute beast in 2014 as a true freshman for the Sooners. He racked up 1,713 yards on 263 attempts, averaging 6.5 yards per carry with 21 touchdowns. He also caught 15 passes, but has bigger upside to do more damage in the passing game as he continues to grow as a prospect.
The only issue with Perine as a prospect? He’s not eligible for the 2016 NFL Draft.
The Sooners have it made with Perine, a 5-foot-11, 237 pound back they took out of their biggest rival’s own backyard in Texas. Perine is undoubtedly the best featured back we’ve seen at Oklahoma since Adrian Peterson, even with studs like DeMarco Murray coming from that program and eventually leading the NFL in rushing yards.
Perine is just flat out good.
So good, in fact, that I’m projecting him as my early front-runner to win the Heisman Trophy. Of course, no awards are given at this time of year, so hopefully Perine doesn’t feed into the hype machine too much, since I’m sure he’s going to read this and want to prove me right…
Perine is not necessarily a ‘big play’ back like Reggie Bush was at USC, but he’s capable of gaining big chunks of yards and making anyone who stands in his way of gaining those yards pay.
And hurt.
I love his style, and I think Oklahoma has big potential to use him in their offense with an even broader role than last season. Statistically, the sky is the limit for this kid.
Oh, and by the way — he put up the greatest rushing performance we have ever seen from a college player, just one week after Melvin Gordon broke LaDainian Tomlinson’s seemingly unbreakable all-time single-game record.
Have a watch.