John Shinn
PASADENA, Calif. — Adrian Peterson came to Oklahoma with a nickname already in place.
“All Day.”
During his childhood, friends and family came up with the secondary name because that’s how long the youngster could run and play with no apparent loss of energy.
Now in his sophomore season, the Sooners appear willing to allow the running back to live up to the moniker all over again.
Through two games, the Heisman Trophy contender has already carried the ball 54 times.
When his four receptions are counted, he has touched the ball on 43 percent of the Sooners’ offensive snaps.
OU coach Bob Stoops doesn’t believe it’s a problem. In fact, he thinks Peterson can handle the ball even more.
“Each game will depend,” Stoops said. “Whatever he’s able to handle. He’s a special player and he’s strong guy. As long as he’s able to hold up we’ll give it to him even more.”
But how long can Peterson hold up?
Peterson carried the ball 32 times against Tulsa and turned those carries into 220 much-needed yards. He also found the end zone three times.
It continued a trend that began last season. Peterson has averaged 26.2 carries during his 15-game career and has logged 30 or more carries in five of those games.
Offensive lineman Davin Joseph helped open holes for Peterson last season and is doing it again this year. He doesn’t believe there’s a breaking point when it comes to giving Peterson the ball.
“Once you get him rolling, you only need about two or three plays and you know you’re going to get a big game,” Joseph said. “That’s how he runs. Once you get him rolling like that, it’s pretty hard to stop him.”
That’s been especially true following halftime. At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, Peterson has an ability to wear down defenses as the game goes along. Defenders appear to tire while he seems to get stronger. Peterson’s performance against Tulsa featured 180 second-half rushing yards.
The Golden Hurricane quit spinning. Peterson spun out of Tulsa defenders’ grasp.
UCLA coach Karl Dorrell believes the punishment Peterson doles out to be the young Sooner’s most dangerous attribute.
“He’s one of those players that’s just a gamebreaker,” Dorrell said. “He can wear down a defense by how hard and physical he runs.”
When Peterson arrived at OU last season, he became the no-longer-missing ingredient for an offense that revolved around a productive field-stretching passing game. Peterson gave the Sooner offense a balance that was hard to prepare for in the first place and almost impossible to contain in the second.
However, OU’s struggled to throw the ball this season. And Peterson knows he can’t do it all.
“I feel like we’re going to have to establish some form of passing game,” he said. “We just can’t run it on everybody.”
The Sooners abandoned the passing game against Tulsa and didn’t even attempt a pass in the second half. The coaching staff said that was the result of equal parts wanting to get the running game going and then sticking with what works.
Offensive coordinator Chuck Long knows his team can’t be successful unless some sort of passing game emerges.
“Do we want to run the ball that many times and not throw it? No,” Long said. “We know in future we have to strive for better balance.”
That might lighten Peterson’s load without lessening it. Whatever happens, the Sooners aren’t about to quit giving him the ball.
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
