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Oklahoma Sooners' offensive star finally healthy, snatches starting job from teammate in loss to Ole Miss

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By AJ Schulte | Last updated Oct 25, 2025 8:11 PM ET

The running back room for the Oklahoma Sooners has been a confusing roller coaster to monitor all season long. The addition of Jaydn Ott was a complete flop, the snaps and rotation of players situationally was mind-boggling, and promising players from 2024 were nowhere to be found for much of the season.

Tory Blaylock flashed serious potential as a true freshman, but the rest of the room left much to be desired. Blaylock would make freshman mistakes, and the Sooners truly could not turn to any other back in the room.

Now, however, a new playmaker has emerged, and it's the same one who saved Oklahoma's season last year: Xavier Robinson. After back-to-back strong performances as a runner, it feels like Robinson has the full trust of the coaching staff, and has become the Sooners' de-facto RB1.

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Xavier Robinson is a full-time starter

Despite Blaylock commanding most of the touches in the room, Robinson has gotten more and more involved in the offense the last two weeks, and Oklahoma turned the keys over to him early on against Ole Miss. Blaylock had just six carries for 10 yards, while Robinson touted the ball nine times for 109 and a pair of touchdowns.

Last week, Oklahoma Sooners' offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle revealed that Robinson was finally healthy and practicing at a high level, which explains his puzzling lack of usage to start the season. Now fully healthy and ready, Robinson is proving to be the key to solving Oklahoma's run game woes once again after being a true breakout star last season as a true freshman.

Despite his marginal workload to start the season, Robinson is already second on the Sooners in rushing yards with 217, and his three rushing touchdowns are only behind Blaylock and John Mateer, and might not be for much longer. Robinson is getting more and more involved, and it's paying off for the Sooners in a big way. They need to take pressure and touches off of Mateer, and Robinson turning into a bellcow back for Oklahoma would be a massive step forward for this offense.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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