Thursdays with Mora: Rhamondre Stevenson

Regardless of comparisons, power, elusiveness and versatility are a good combination to have for running backs in today's NFL

It’s hard to compare an NFL Draft ingenue to a future Pro Football Hall of Famer. But some comparisons are just too obvious to ignore.

For Jim Mora Jr., one of the best comps for Oklahoma’s Rhamondre Stevenson is Beast Mode himself, Marshawn Lynch.

“He might be able to do some of those things,” Mora told SI Sooners. “They’re built kind of similar.”

Rhamondre Stevenson :: Ty Russell / OU Athletics

Mora was coaching the Seattle Seahawks — including the 2009 season as head coach — during Lynch's first three NFL seasons with Buffalo. He didn't get to coach Lynch, but he always admired Lynch's punishing, relentless running style that produced 10,435 rushing yards and 85 touchdowns.

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Lynch was 5-foot-11 and his listed weight was 215, although he played heavier. Stevenson is 6-0 and at last Friday’s OU Pro Day checked in at 230 pounds, though he certainly played heavier in his two seasons at Oklahoma.

“Not many people want to tackle a 6-foot, 250-pound man that’s running downhill at them,” Mora said.

Rhamondre Stevenson :: Tory Kukowski / OU Athletics

Other than their barrel-chested stature and oppressive running style, there’s another comparison between Lynch and Stevenson that is vastly underrated: their ability to catch the football.

In his 13 NFL seasons, Lynch caught 287 passes (1.9 per game) for 2,214 yards and nine touchdowns. In his two seasons in Norman, Lynch caught 28 passes (1.5 per game) for 298 yards. Stevenson put on an impressive show when scouts asked to see his receiving skills at pro day.

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“When you’re talking about 6-foot, 246, 250, whatever he ends up being,” Mora said, “the ability to turn your shoulders, turn your hips, get your head around and get your hands in position and make catches out of the backfield at that size, that is a tremendous advantage. Because now you can get some matchups on cornerbacks, you can get some matchups on smaller safeties, you can get him in open field against linebackers that maybe aren’t as athletic.”

Stevenson came to OU from Cerritos College in California. He played two years there, but his juco coach told SI Sooners Stevenson was content to wait his turn behind older players. As a sophomore, he ran for more than 2,000 yards and was a junior college All-American.

It was the same story at OU: he arrived as a third-stringer behind returning starters Kennedy Brooks and Trey Sermon. But when Sermon fell out of favor and then got hurt, Stevenson’s star rose. He finished with 515 yards and six touchdowns but averaged 8.0 yards per carry. He missed the Peach Bowl in 2019 because of a failed drug test, then sat out five games in 2020 serving an NCAA suspension related to the test.

When Stevenson returned to the field on Halloween night at Texas Tech, he began a campaign of punishing Big 12 defenses over the next six games: 111 rushing yards per game, 6.6 yards per carry, seven total touchdowns, another 211 yards receiving — he was a man on a mission.

Rhamondre Stevenson :: Ty Russell / OU Athletics

Mora’s evaluation of the Las Vegas native is that Stevenson doesn’t have breakaway speed, but he does have surprising elusiveness.

“He doesn’t have great lateral quickness at the line of scrimmage,” Mora said, “but when he gets in the open field, you know, if I’m a defensive back, and I’m coming up trying to tackle this guy, I’m saying, ‘Wait a minute. Is he gonna run over me? Is he gonna try and make me miss?’ All of a sudden I’m on my heels and I’m not in position to make a play on him.”

Mora thinks the NFL’s current trend of using multiple running backs who can do multiple things fits Stevenson’s skill set nicely. It’s been suggested Stevenson might be a fullback or H-back type, even though he’s only ever carried the football.

“You can say H-back, fullback running back, whatever it is,” Mora said, “he’s gonna go to a place where the offensive coordinator’s gonna say, ‘This is his skill set. He can run the ball out of the backfield, he can catch it out of the backfield, we can move him around.’ I doin’t know if he’s a power blocker up inside. I don’t think he’s had to do that yet. They’re gonna have to find that out.

“I don’t think he’s ever gonna be the featured guy just because he lacks that top-end speed, but because of his versatility, because of his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield — we’ll see if he can lead block, we’ll see if he can pass protect, because those are important features as well — but if he demonstrates the ability to do all things, whether he’s a feature back or not, he’s a valued back. He’s somebody you want on your team. He gives you a tremendous amount of options as an offensive coordinator.

“I think he’ll have a long and productive career.”