2020 Oklahoma Depth Chart: H-Back
Every Friday going into Big 12 Media Days on July 20-21, SI Sooners will break down one Oklahoma position group. Today: H-Back.
Lincoln Riley can be sneaky.
He comes at defenses with all-conference running backs and first-round receivers and Heisman quarterbacks — and then, boom, a sucker punch from a tight end or a fullback.
It’s the catch-all, do-all, interchangeable position of H-Back, and it is simply a weapon for which defensive coordinators can not account.
Oklahoma had breakout performances from three players there in 2019: Jeremiah Hall had 16 receptions for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Brayden Willis had 11 catches for 168 yards and three TDs. And Austin Stogner, as a true freshman, had seven catches for 66 yards and two TD grabs — both in the comeback victory at Baylor.
Between the three of them, that’s 34 receptions for 403 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s All-Big 12-type production out of the position if it’s one player.
But that’s where Riley’s guile comes in. One play, he lines up Hall in the backfield as a true fullback and Stogner attached as a true tight end and runs power. The next play, he brings in Willis split wide and shifts Hall to flexed wingback and sends out four receivers. The next play he’ll line up Hall in the slot and Willis in the backfield and target them in a physical mismatch.
That’s how Hall caught three passes for 25 yards and a TD against Houston last year, and ended up catching at least one pass in every game. It’s also how Willis snuck free on catches of 25, 22, 24 and 20 yards in a six-game stretch.
And, to be clear, although one might look more like a traditional fullback and another might look more like a traditional tight end, they are all H-Backs and they are truly interchangeable.
“A little bit more depth and a little bit more competition than we’ve had here in the past,” Riley said last season.
Jeremiah Hall celebrates a touchdown.
OU Athletics
Hall’s reception against Texas Tech on fourth-and-11 — a largely forgotten play in a 55-16 home win — was as athletic a play as a Sooner fullback has had in the last 10 years, outside of maybe Trey Millard hurdling through the Texas secondary and Dimitri Flowers carving up Ohio State.
Hall caught Jalen Hurts’ check-down, then juked his first defender to create space. Right when it seemed a Tech defender would take him down from behind, Hall turned a 360 at full speed and picked up 23 yards.
“That was cool to see a young guy to make such an important play in a big moment,” Riley said.
Brayden Willis stretches for a TD against TCU.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Willis’ 20-yard TD catch against TCU — the Sooners’ second score in building a quick 21-point lead — was far more important and probably more athletic. Willis caught a pass from Hurts on the sideline near the end zone and appeared to be tackled out of bounds, but he somehow stayed in bounds, stretched over the defender and reached the ball backwards across the goal line. It was big because OU had to hold on to win that game 28-24.
Of the group, Stogner (who scored his first career touchdown against West Virginia as he recovered a punt in the end zone that was blocked by Willis) has the more traditional tight end frame — he’s 6-6, 251, and could easily play at 265 someday — and his performance in the red zone last year in Waco could portend more opportunities for him down the line.
With first-round pick CeeDee Lamb sidelined that game with an undisclosed injury, Stogner stepped up and took on a bigger role in the passing game after the Sooners fell behind 28-3, catching a 5-yard TD in the second quarter and a 3-yard score in the third.
Willis also scored against Baylor, a 2-yard TD that tied the game with 5:25 to play, as the vaunted Bear defense struggled to keep track of the variety of targets Riley kept sending at them.
“The key word you said is mismatches,” Hall said in 2019. “That is the definition. … The versatility. I’m not actively looking for the credit. I will take it when it comes, but I came here to be versatile.”
Hall explained last fall that playing the H-Back position at Oklahoma connotes not just versatility but toughness and pride. J.D. Runnels was a fullback. Jermaine Gresham was a tight end. Those two excelled in their roles — but would have made excellent H-Backs, too.
“It’s the culture set before me,” Hall said. “The toughness, the athleticism, the ability to do it all.”
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