Super Bowl Sooners: Rams vs. Bengals
Bobby Evans
Los Angeles Rams / NFL
Bobby Evans, OL, Rams
- No. 71
- 6-4, 312
- Allen, TX
- At Oklahoma: 2015-18
Bobby Evans was a natural fit at Oklahoma. His dad, Bobby Joe Evans, was a 6-foot-9, 270-pound power forward under Billy Tubbs from 1996-98. His big brother was Bob Stoops linebacker Tay Evans. He committed to the Sooners in 2013 and signed as a member of the class of 2015 as a four-star prospect out of Allen, TX.
Evans redshirted the 2015 season, then became a three-year starter — two years protecting Baker Mayfield and one attached to Kyler Murray’s security detail. Evans was named honorable mention All-Big 12 in 2016, when he started the final 12 games at right tackle. He got honorable mention all-conference again in 2017, when he started all 14 games at right tackle. In 2018, Evans shifted to left tackle, started all 14 games and was named second-team All-Big 12 for an OU offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award as the best in the nation.
Evans was a third-round pick of the Rams in the 2019 NFL Draft (No. 97 overall). In three seasons, he’s played in 23 games with eight starts, including seven as a rookie. In addition to backing up multiple starters on the offensive line, he’s also been a reliable blocker on special teams.
Jordan Evans
Cincinnati Bengals / NFL
Jordan Evans, LB, Bengals
- No. 50
- 6-3, 242
- Norman
- At Oklahoma: 2015-18
Jordan Evans was also meant to be a Sooner. His dad, Scott Evans, was an oU defensive tackle who redshirted in 1986, quickly became a key player and in 1989 and 1990 was a two-year captain before becoming an eighth-round pick (No. 209 overall) in the 1991 NFL Draft.
At Norman North High School, Evans played all over the field, including special teams, where he returned four kickoffs and two punts for touchdowns. A three-star prospect, Evans committed to the Sooners in November 2012 and signed as a member of the 2013 class.
Evans totaled 286 tackles in his career, including 22 tackles for loss and 3.5 quarterback sacks. He had 12 tackles as a true freshman, then exploded for 93 stops as a sophomore. During his junior season, Evans battled injuries and collected 78 total tackles, and in 2016, he had 98 tackles, 9.5 TFLs and four interceptions — two of which went back for touchdowns. The athletic Evans finished his career with five interceptions, 16 passes defensed, three fumble recoveries and four fumbles forced. He also scored a touchdown in 2015 on a 41-yard fumble return.
Evans was a sixth-round pick of the 2017 NFL Draft (No. 193 overall) and has become a central figure on Bengals special teams. Before 2021, Evans missed just four games in his career and played all 16 games in both 2019 and 2020. He led the Bengals last year with 344 special teams snaps, and in just 61 defensive snaps recorded two sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery. In 60 career games, Evans has 126 career tackles, 3.5 sacks, seven passes defensed and two interceptions on defense to go with 17 special teams tackles.
Evans played in just five games in 2021 due to injury, and will miss the Super Bowl on injured reserve.
Joe Mixon
Kareem Elgazzar-Imagn Content Services, LLC
Joe Mixon, RB, Bengals
- No. 28
- 6-3, 220
- Oakley, CA
- At Oklahoma: 2014-16
Joe Mixon arrived at Oklahoma as a 5-star prospect from Freedom High School in the Bay Area. He was a U.S. Army All-American before committing to Bob Stoops and the Sooners, then spent a month as the most active recruiter in the class.
Mixon was suspended from all football activities as a true freshman after a video surveillance camera captured him punching a woman at a local restaurant. As a redshirt freshman sharing time with Bengals teammate Samaje Perine in 2015, Mixon rushed for 753 yards and seven touchdowns and caught 28 passes for 356 yards and four touchdowns.
In 2016, Mixon led the Sooners with 1,274 yards rushing to go with 10 touchdowns, and also caught 37 passes for 538 yards and five TDs. Mixon also had 494 yards on kickoff returns in 2016, allowing him to set OU’s single-season school record with 2,331 yards (194.3 per game). In his two-year career, Mixon averaged 6.8 yards per carry and compiled 2,921 yards from scrimmage.
Mixon was a second-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft (No. 48 overall) and has developed into one of the NFL’s top running backs. After rushing for 626 yards as a rookie, Mixon has surpassed 1,000 rushing yards in each season he was healthy: 1,168 yards in 2018, 1,137 yards in 2019, and 1,205 yards in 2021. In his five seasons, Mixon has 4,564 yards rushing and 33 touchdowns, plus 1,322 yards receiving to go with another eight TDs. He was voted this year to his first Pro Bowl.
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo
Los Angeles Rams / NFL
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, LB, Rams
- No. 45
- 6-2, 253
- Houston
- At Oklahoma: 2013-17
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo was one of the ultimate “tweeners” when he arrived at OU as a member of the 2013 class out of Houston’s Alief Taylor High School. At 6-foot-1 and 213 pounds, “Obo” had a linebacker’s build but a defensive end’s heart.
He didn’t excel in pass coverage, and too much weight would have slowed him down, so the Sooner coaches built him up and flexed him out as a standup pass rusher — and sent him after the quarterback.
He finished his OU career seventh in school history with 21 quarterback sacks, including an OU-linebacker record nine in 2016 and eight more in 2017. He also amassed 29.5 tackles for loss in those two seasons. Against Texas in 2017, he was Big 12 player of the week after posting five tackles, one sack, one fumble recovery and five QB hurries.
Okoronkwo earned first-team All-America honors in 2017, was Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year and a semifinalist for the Butkus, Bednarik and Lott awards.
He was picked in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft (No. 160 overall).
As a rookie in 2018, Okoronkwo battled injuries and didn’t play, but he played in 33 games over the next three seasons, including 13 this year. Backing up future Hall of Famer Von Miller, Okoronkwo delivered 13 tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles this season. During his four-year NFL career, Okoronkwo has 31 tackles and 4.5 sacks.
Samaje Perine
Cincinnati Bengals / NFL
Samaje Perine, RB, Bengals
- No. 34
- 5-11, 240
- Pflugerville, TX
- At Oklahoma: 2014-16
As a member of the same 2014 class as Joe Mixon, Perine was almost an afterthought to many who follow OU recruiting. Instead, he became the most prolific running back in school history and holder of the NCAA record for rushing yards in a game.
Perine committed to OU out of Pflugerville, TX, in March 2013, then signed with the Sooners 11 months later. No one expected him to get a ton of action as a true freshman, but when Mixon was suspended ahead of the 2014 season, Perine took over with 1,713 yards and 21 touchdowns. That total included an NCAA record 427 yards on 34 carries in a driving rain against Kansas. He followed that up with another 1,349 yards and 16 TDs during his sophomore year as he shared carries with Mixon. In 2016, Mixon’s role grew and Perine finished with 1,060 yards and 12 scores.
That pushed Perine’s career total past Billy Sims and atop the record books with 4,122 yards rushing to go with 49 touchdowns. Perine also caught 40 passes for 321 yards and two scores, and he turned pro after just three seasons.
Such success hasn’t followed Perine to the NFL. He was a fourth-round pick by Washington in the 2017 NFL Draft (No. 114 overall), and after just one full season was waived by the team in 2019. He was signed by the Bengals, then waived a month later before being re-signed to the Cincinnati practice squad. Miami signed him in December 2019, then waived him in April. The Bengals signed him again in 2020, then he signed a new free agent contract with the club in March.
Perine’s best season came in 2020, when he rushed for 301 yards and three touchdowns and averaged a career-best 4.8 yards per carry. This year, Perine ran for 246 yards and one TD on a 4.5-yard average.
In his five seasons with Washington, Miami and Cincinnati, Perine has rushed 306 times for 1,198 yards (3.9 per carry) and scored five touchdowns. He’s also caught 63 passes for 449 yards and two TDs — not including his game-turning 41-yard touchdown on a screen pass just before halftime of the Bengals’ dramatic comeback win at Kansas City.
