Texas Football: Impact of OU RB Kennedy Brooks opting out of 2020 season

The biggest Big 12 foe of the Texas football program just opted out of the 2020 season, in Oklahoma’s rising junior RB Kennedy Brooks.

With the 2020 college football season almost upon us, the volatility that will be trying to make things work this fall is about to begin. The Texas football program is in one of the three Power Five conferences that is pushing forward to play some form of an altered 2020 season schedule in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Big 12, ACC, and SEC, are the three Power Five conferences that look to make the 2020 season work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite losing games against teams from the Big Ten and PAC-12. As it stands now, it looks like the PAC-12 and Big Ten will attempt to move their season back to the spring semester. But that will be a difficult logistical challenge to say the absolute least.

However, we are sure to see individual players pitch their opinions and take action on what is planned to occur during the 2020 college football season. Just like other professional sports leagues in North America that are pushing forward with altered seasons this year, college football is going to have its fair share of controversy and player opt-outs.

The first major opt-out to occur for any high-profile football player in the Big 12 came from the Longhorns rival north of the Red River, the Oklahoma Sooners. The rising junior star running back and 5-foot-11 and 215 pound Kennedy Brooks reportedly (The Athletic) will opt-out of the 2020 season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This means that Oklahoma already has a sizable gap to fill at a key skill position, and that the first domino fell in what could be a number of player opt-outs for the 2020 season. Brooks is the first Sooners player to opt-out of the 2020 season, but one of a growing list of players to do so out of the Big 12. He’s just the biggest star in the Big 12 to do so, as of the evening of Aug. 16.

Texas does have two players that have already opted out of the 2020 season. That list of two includes senior running back Daniel Young and senior defensive end Marqez Bimage.

Other notable players from around the Big 12 that have opted out thus far includes West Virginia safety Kerry Martin and Kansas State safety Jonathon Alexander. You can view a list of all of the FBS player opt-outs for the 2020 season, thanks to Athlon Sports here.

What Oklahoma is losing from Brooks opting out of the 2020 season is more than 2,000 career rushing yards from two years as the starting running back, 18 rushing touchdowns, and an average of a whopping 7.5 yards per carry.

Last season, Brooks was once again one of the more efficient rushers in the Big 12, averaged 6.5 yards per carry while amassing north of 1,000 rushing yards and six scores on the ground. But it was his true freshman campaign where Brooks really stood out. He nearly averaged nine yards per carry back in 2018, while amassing more than 1,000 rushing yards and a dozen rushing scores.

Oklahoma has sustained a pretty significant amount of losses at running back this offseason. They will now be without two of their three leading rushers at the running back position from last season. Trey Sermon entered the NCAA Transfer Portal earlier this offseason, and landed with the Ohio State Buckeyes. But Sermon won’t get to play in the 2020 season either, at least as planned, since the Big Ten cancelled.

Now the most productive returning running backs for Oklahoma are rising senior Rhamondre Stevenson and redshirt junior T.J. Pledger. Oklahoma is going to have to get creative now to find the same amount of depth they had in the backfield the last few years. They are already dealing with the loss of yet another Heisman contender behind center in the departed Jalen Hurts.

Expect this opt-out to at least cause a chain reaction of a few more players out of the three Power Five conferences that are still planning on playing some form of a 2020 season. Texas is supposed to open up their season at home on Sep. 12 against the UTEP Miners. Meanwhile, Oklahoma is supposed to open up their season on the same day at home against FCS Missouri State.