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Fav commit's film so far: Erik McCarty RB; McAlester, OK, 6'2", 180

Phaeded

Sooner starter
Jun 5, 2001
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Whether at RB or on returns, the kid has an amazing ability to miraculously emerge from impossibly crowded scrums and take it to the house.

I'm assuming he'll be lining up at H-back for us - any thoughts on that (or am I pigeon-holing him into that role just because he is white - can he play RB at the next level?)?

Anyone get a chance to see him play last year?
 
There aren't many white RBs but that's what he's listed at. Someone else said McCaffrey, but I don't think McCarty has those kind of wheels, but he looks plenty fast to be an H-back. He shows soft hands in his highlights so I could see him being a versatile weapon out of the H-back spot. Out offense has always clicked best when we have a stud at that spot - Trey Millard, Dimitri Flowers, etc.

 
There aren't many white RBs but that's what he's listed at. Someone else said McCaffrey, but I don't think McCarty has those kind of wheels, but he looks plenty fast to be an H-back. He shows soft hands in his highlights so I could see him being a versatile weapon out of the H-back spot. Out offense has always clicked best when we have a stud at that spot - Trey Millard, Dimitri Flowers, etc.

IMO, since 1970, Joe Wylie was OU's last great white RB from 1970-72.
He also returned punts and kickoff, was a great receiver, could throw an occasional pass and punted. He had long strides and great speed.
From 1972 on, OU's RB recruiting was aimed at getting black athletes with great speed and the wishbone offense took on a whole new dimension from the days of the early Texas wishbone, which featured an all-white backfield.
I also thought that Grant Burget was another running back destined for greatness. An injury vs Baylor in the 1973 opener, suffered at the end of a 23 yard run on his 4th carry of the game, shelved him the rest of his junior year. Burget returned in 1974 and ran for 379 yards, 8 touchdowns, as he teamed with Washington and freshman Elvis Peacock on arguably OU's greatest team.
Burget's best friend was Joe Washington, who said he was as great a blocker as he was a RB.
OU started recruiting black athletes in 1956 with Prentice Gautt and Wallace Johnson from OKC. From that point on, OU started recruiting more black players through the 1960's, like Ed McQuarters, Eugene Ross, Ben Hart, Nehemiah Flowers, Granville Liggins, Santoi DuBose and Eddie Hinton. I credit Bud Wilkinson for opening the doors at OU for black players and getting teammates to accept them as equals.
As a child, I had a picture of my favorite player, Prentice Gautt, taped to my bedroom wall, and all I saw was a great Oklahoma player. Credit my parents for steering me away from the bigotry of that time.
My opinion is that the emergence of the black athlete in my lifetime has changed the landscape of sports and has also shown us the destructiveness and immorality of bigotry.... but bigotry will never end.... which it should have after WWII as far as I'm concerned.
 
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