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Could Oklahoma Land Three Running Backs in the 2024 Recruiting Class?

With one tailback committed in the '24 class and two more favored to choose the Sooners, it's been rare that OU brought in three in the same class.

Randall Sweet

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On Tuesday night, DeMarco Murray and company earned their first running back pledge of the 2024 recruiting cycle, bolstering what already had the makings of a talented skill position group. 

OU, however, is not going to pump the brakes on running back recruiting now that Xavier Robinson is committed to Oklahoma. Even with the 6-foot-2, 220 pound ball carrier on board, Murray is looking to add to the backfield in the Sooners' 2024 class. 

Duncanville (TX) speedster Caden Durham and Longview (TX) running back Taylor Tatum, who is ranked the nation's top tailback, remain uncommitted, but OU is widely believed to be heavily in the mix for both. 

After his commitment, Robinson was asked what it would be like to bring Tatum and Durham into OU's 2024 class.

"That would be exciting," Robinson told reporters. "Having a lot of top running backs all at one school. Being able to share the rock, especially with guys that's not selfish with it and have high character that's really mature about the game. I think that would be really exciting and it can go really really far."

Various recruiting websites have placed predictions that Durham and Tatum will end up at Oklahoma, with Tatum receiving an overwhelming amount of projections favoring the Sooners.

After the ChampU BBQ a few weekends ago, OU was believed to be the leader in the clubhouse for Durham, but the running back seems to have shifted back to uncertainty after a visit to LSU. For months, many close to the situation have said that Durham's recruitment will be a battle between the Sooners and the Tigers, and that scenario is certainly playing out. 

Listed at 5-foot-9 and 195 pounds, Durham excels in track and field, running a personal best 10.49 in the 100 meter dash last season. A 4-star recruit, the Panthers' standout is rated the No. 63 player and No. 7 running back in the nation according to Rivals.

Durham is a native of the Oklahoma City Metro who grew up with fellow OU targets Mykel Patterson-McDonald and David Stone before moving to Texas prior to his sophomore year of high school. Before moving south of the Red River, the dual-sport star attended Southmoore High School.

"I'm from Oklahoma," Durham told Dave Campbell's Texas Football. "It is nice. It is hometown for one. DeMarco Murray, the way he coaches, I like it. They have a running back that produces every year."

This familiarity with the Sooners will certainly help Murray and company in Durham's recruitment, especially if OU is able to land Stone or Patterson-McDonald.  

In recent weeks, Durham's Twitter has been difficult to decipher, but after Robinson committed to Oklahoma on Tuesday night, Durham responded positively. 

While the Sooners still have work to do to land Durham, it seems that OU is in a good spot with the speedy tailback at the moment.

Similarly, Tatum is believed to have been an Oklahoma lean since his trip to Norman for the ChampU BBQ. Prior to that weekend, the Sooners were in a battle with Michigan and USC, but after Tatum cancelled his visit to Michigan it appeared that it was a two-team race for the country's No. 1 running back. 

What has reportedly set OU apart for Tatum is the team's history of success with dual-sport athletes. The Longview, TX, native is also a talented baseball player and met with Skip Johnson and company during his time on campus. 

After speaking with both the baseball and football coaching staff, Tatum seems to have Oklahoma firmly in the lead, as a flood of projections has come from On3, 247Sports and Rivals, all predicting Tatum to commit to the Sooners. 

If the projections that Tatum and Durham will both end up in Norman are correct, then OU would have three running back commits in the 2024 class. While taking two running backs in one class is fairly standard in college football, it could be considered very unusual for a team to bring in three scholarship ball carrier in the same cycle. 

Although the Sooners have occasionally signed two running backs in the same class — most recently last year with Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk — Oklahoma hasn't landed three running backs in one class since 2017, when the team signed Trey Sermon and Kennedy Brooks out of high school and Marcelias Sutton from Lackawanna Community College (Sutton was labeled athlete by recruiting media). In 2012, OU signed David Smith and Alex Ross out of high school and Damien Williams from junior college. OU's 2003 class included three high school running backs: Tashard Choice, Jacob Gutierrez and Courtney Tennial.

If the Sooners' are able to land Robinson, Durham and Tatum, it likely would give OU the most talented running back group of any school in the 2024 class.

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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