With less than two weeks to go before the kickoff to the 2021 Oklahoma football season, head coach Lincoln Riley has named the team’s No. 3 QB, and the name might surprise you. John Hoover, who covers the Sooners for Sports Illustrated, is reporting that Ralph Rucker, a preferred walk-on from Lucas, Texas, will start […]
Photo by George Walker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
According to Carey Murdock, running back Marcus Major has been ruled academically ineligible.
Happy Tuesday, friends and fans!
In some rather unfortunate news, Sooner Scoop’s Carey Murdock has reported that Oklahoma Sooners redshirt sophomore running back Marcus Major has been ruled academically ineligible for the 2021 college football season.
RB Marcus Major will not be eligible to play this season for the #Sooners sources tell our @CareyAMurdock. Sources telling us it is an academic issue.
Major, an Oklahoma City product out of Millwood HS, was expected to take on an increased role in OU’s backfield this fall, and was likely the third RB on the depth chart going into the 2021 campaign. Over the course of his first two seasons, he recorded 215 yards and three touchdowns on 45 total carries.
Of course, this goes down as yet another blow to Oklahoma’s running back depth. With Rhamondre Stevenson now playing for the New England Patriots and Seth McGowan’s offseason dismissal (along with hybrid H-back Mikey Henderson), it’s quickly becoming an area of concern as the season is less than two weeks away from kicking-off.
As it stands now, redshirt junior Kennedy Brooks and junior Tennessee transfer Eric Gray are the only Sooner RBs who have any amount of significant experience at the collegiate level. Outside of that, sophomore LSU transfer Tre Bradford logged a small amount of reps during his lone season in Baton Rouge, but that might have to change quickly with this latest development surrounding Major.
Now onto today’s Hot Links! Spencer Rattler finds himself on yet another awards watch list, Lincoln Riley talks about some interesting depth chart developments, CFB’s latest alliance is as lame as it sounds and more!
OU Links
This offseason, there are a number of Sooners who have garnered preseason All-American attention. Here’s a comprehensive rundown of all the reputable publications and organizations that have recognized the likes of Nik Bonitto, Gabe Brkic, Kennedy Brooks, Marvin Mims, Spencer Rattler, Jalen Redmond and Perrion Winfrey. Simply put, this team is LOADED.
On Tuesday, redshirt sophomore QB Spencer Rattler was named to the 2021 Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List — an annual honor that recognizes the nation’s top upperclassman quarterback. Heisman Trophy winner Jason White (2004) is the lone OU player to claim this coveted award in program history.
Lincoln Riley recently shed some light on the state of the QB depth chart going into the 2021 season. Apparently, there will be a surprise third stringer after Rattler and Caleb Williams in the form of walk-on true freshman Ralph Rucker. Also, Tanner Schafer seems to be going the Riley route in his QB journey, as he’ll apparently be serving as more of a student coach than he is as a player.
Also, it sounds like sixth-year senior Tanner Schafer, a former walk-on, is serving as more of a student coach than a player this season. Schafer is still on the roster.
Looks like sophomore WR Marvin Mims will continue his duties as Oklahoma’s top choice at punt returner. Also, Drake Stoops will see more reps there as well, while the kick return situation is still developing.
Riley says Marvin Mims is considered first-team punt returner. Stoops is backup, still looking at options.
Kickoff return, will look at different players for the spot. Graham, Bowman, Gray, M Williams, Farooq being considered.#Sooners
The NFL recently rated its top 100 active players, and three former Sooners have made this year’s cut. The Cleveland Browns’ Baker Mayfield is slated at No. 71, the San Francisco 49ers’ Trent Williams checks in at No. 42, and the Arizona Cardinals’ Kyler Murray has climbed up to No. 39. Boomer! Personally, I believe both Mark Andrews and Joe Mixon deserve some consideration for this list, but I digress.
It’s official. The Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC conferences have formed a future scheduling alliance across all sports. This is no doubt in direct response to the SEC’s recent acquisition of Oklahoma and Texas — unofficially making it the first super conference of the modern era. On the surface, it’s hard not to look at this as a desperate attempt at power relevancy, and in all reality, this does next-to-nothing to add real strength to any of the schedules involved. Also, IT’S NOT EVEN AN OFFICIAL ALLIANCE, JUST A HANDSHAKE DEAL.
After mostly good news leading up to the start of the 2021 season, the Oklahoma football team got some not-so-good news with just under two weeks before the season opener. Redshirt sophomore running back Marcus Major has been ruled ineligible for the fall semester. Sports Illustrated staff writer John Hoover, who first reported the story […]
Who would you list as the best Oklahoma football players to watch during the 2021 season, which will kick off for the Sooners 11 days from now.? Taking into account the entire college football landscape, how many of those Sooner players would fall into this season’s top 100? A team of experts assembled by ESPN […]
Add another layer of expectation on the broad shoulders of Oklahoma football quarterback Spencer Rattler. It probably stands to reason that the player most experts and oddsmakers believe is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy this season is also going to be a preseason First-Team All-America selection. That’s the way the Associated Press voters […]
With the Big 12 facing another major restructuring — or worse, extinction — it got us thinking about the big Oklahoma football moments and some of the milestones the Sooners achieved over the past 25 years. Oklahoma football got off to a rugged start in the very early years of the then nascent Big 12 […]
