Can Oklahoma State football preserve depth at running back behind Ollie Gordon?

OKSTATE1 · Aug 20, 2023

Can Oklahoma State football preserve depth at running back behind Ollie Gordon?

Scott Wright
The Oklahoman

STILLWATER — Jaden Nixon stood on the sideline early in Oklahoma State’s 21-20 win at Boise State two years ago, relishing the moment of his first college football road trip.

He marveled at Boise’s blue turf. He soaked in the atmosphere of what he still says is the loudest stadium he’s ever been in that doesn’t have Boone Pickens’ name on it.

And he fought off his bubbling nerves.

Nixon was a true freshman that season, and the plan was to redshirt him. But he was on the trip for a reason.

LD Brown, the Cowboys’ starting running back at the time, had aggravated an injury after a few early carries. Dezmon Jackson had already been ruled out for the game. That left Nixon as the third-team running back behind Jaylen Warren, who was just beginning his breakout season, and second-year back Dominic Richardson.

Three games into the season and OSU’s incredible running back depth was already dwindling.

Jump back to present day, and Nixon can speak with authority on the value of depth at his position.

Elijah Collins

“We gotta have depth, because you never know what could happen,” Nixon said. “In that game at Boise, we were struggling with our depth right there. If something else had happened, I could’ve been that guy, and that was my freshman year.

“As much as we push each other out here in practice, we gotta take care of each other. And the defensive guys know that as well. They know they gotta be physical with us, but still take care of us.”

That’s the trick for OSU coach Mike Gundy this preseason, because while he has a trio of running backs, any of which has the talent to be the starter — Ollie Gordon, Elijah Collins and Nixon — the game-ready depth ends there.

Behind them are true freshmen and walk-ons.

So Gundy and his staff are dancing along the fine line of preparing the running backs for game action with full-contact work in practice, but also trying to protect them from injury.

Both Nixon and Collins, the Michigan State transfer, have missed time with minor injuries in the last two weeks.

“Unfortunately, that’s one position where guys get hurt,” Gundy said. “They take direct hits from all different angles. Very difficult position to play. So you would like to go into the season with four of them. If you go into the season with three and the fourth guy learning on the run, it’s OK. But that’s the one position you always concern yourself with from a depth standpoint.”

True freshman Sesi Vailahi, who signed in February and arrived on campus in June, has shown early promise, but he’ll be the guy learning on the run this season.

Ollie Gordon

“In my opinion, the difficult side of evaluating and getting running backs ready is they really have to run full speed and get hits in order for you to know where you’re at,” Gundy said. “We don’t do as much of that in practice as we did years ago.

“Now, we don’t take as many direct hits in practice.”

The top three backs have valuable game experience behind them. Gordon played significantly as a true freshman last season, serving as the every-down back in the season finale against West Virginia.

Nixon has been a rotational guy each of the last two seasons and has shown his value as a receiver out of the backfield. And Collins has been a regularly used back throughout his career at Michigan State.

But, having gone to full pads in practice less than two weeks ago, the backs are slowly getting back into the feeling of physicality that the position requires.

“Running backs get hit every play, whether you’re blocking, running — you just get hit for no reason,” Gordon said. “When we get back in pads, we can get really downhill.

“Our defense always goes 100 miles an hour. But they do a good job of keeping us protected. They’ll thud up with us, but they’ll hold us up. The team takes care of each other.”