Spring Football Preview #10: Running Backs

Spring football for Oklahoma State begins on Monday, March 9 and will finish on Saturday, April 18. Prior to the start of the spring, Pokes Report will preview each position group. This preview is on the running backs.

STILLWATER -- Most of the people close around the Oklahoma State football program felt that wide receiver Tylan Wallace was going to come back for the 2020 season. Wallace, with the knee injury and the proliferation of top receiver talent coming out for the NFL Draft, left him kind of stuck. I don't think Wallace thought of it that way. I thing he wanted to come back and when running back Chuba Hubbard made his decision to come back then it was "game on." The Cowboys have a chance for a special season with all of the talent, offense, defense, offensive line, all of it returning. 

Now, to maximize that talent you have to develop even more play makers to back those guys up and create greater options. The running back position is of great concern. Fans were beside themselves that a top running back prospect was not signed in the recent recruiting class. What most didn't understand was that when Hubbard announced he was coming back that became a non issue. 

Oklahoma State has plenty of running back talent and during the winter conditioning it appears they all worked on putting themselves in the best physical condition to maximize the position. 

Hubbard had a clean up surgery in the off season to correct an issue he dealt with during the season. He will get no contact reps in the spring, but there was never going to be a need to test him in the spring. He had 309 carries last season for 2,094-yards. 

What Hubbard did was drop a few pounds down 207-pounds to 201. I think he wanted to try to pick up a step and it will help as he is expected to be more involved in catching the football next season as well as running it. 

L.D. Brown has all the speed you need, but at times struggled with running tough between the tackles. Brown, not only helped lead his competition day team to a championship, but he jumped from 191-pounds to 200. That extra muscle on his frame is noticeable. 

You don't have to look hard for the muscles on Dezmon Jackson as he is 5-11, 217-pounds and looks like a mini tank running the football. The red-shirt junior caught just one pass last season against Baylor for nine-yards and had no carries, but I promise he will be productive.

"Dezmon is the guy that makes me work," Hubbard told me last spring at the end of practices. "He is talented and he will be good. I know that, I can tell that."

That's good enough for me. That trio should have the position handled, but for depth there is plenty more. Last year's freshman Deondrick Glass out of Katy, Texas and a four-star prospect had a productive red-shirt season and the 5-11, 215-pound Glass is getting closer to being ready to back up some of his promises during recruiting. 

Then there are a pair of walk-ons that are quite capable of playing. Micah Cooper, the former NEO A&M running back showed that last season playing some running back and on a lot of special teams. Mbari Snoddy was one of the best backs in the state as a senior in high school at Edmond Santa Fe. The 5-9, 188 pound Snoddy is a speedster. 

There is a newcomer to the position that I am curious about too. Darius Salters is a 5-8, 179-pound transfer from Cedar Valley College. Cedar Valley doesn't offer football, but it turns out that Salters started his college clock at Southern Nazerine in the 2017 season. He is a red-shirt junior for next season. 

Honestly, Hubbard, Brown, and Jackson may sound like a law firm, but what they are is the answer to a huge year at the running back position for the Cowboys.