Can Caleb Hawkins Be The Next Great Cowboy Football Running Back?

The Pokes have a history of amazing running backs, and they're hoping they can add another this coming year.

RB Caleb Hawkins #24 at the first practice of spring football at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater, Monday, March 9, 2026. | DOUG HOKE/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The legacy of great Oklahoma State running backs is hoping to have an addition in 2026.

Cowboy football has a long legacy of running backs who have made their name as one of the best in the country. Most recently, you have Ollie Gordon II, who won the Doak Walker Award in 2023 for the best college running back in the country. 

The Cowboys’ running back legacy runs deep, as players such as Chuba Hubbard, Justice Hill and the most famous, Barry Sanders. Sanders is considered one of, if not the best, running backs in college football history, holding the record for the most single-season rushing yards with 2,628.

A season to the caliber of Sanders has never been seen again, and isn’t expected to be, but the Cowboys have a new running back from the portal that could be the next addition to the long line of impressive runners. 

Caleb Hawkins made his way to OSU from North Texas with coach Eric Morris, and the Cowboys are hoping he can produce at the same level he did last year. Hawkins had one of the best rushing seasons in the nation last year, headlined by 25 rushing touchdowns, which ranked him first in the nation. 

Hawkins was also top-five in rushing yards last season, racking up 1,434. He himself had more rushing yards than the entirety of the Cowboys’ roster last year, with OSU only rushing for 1,420. 

His rushing performance was one of the main reasons that North Texas had one of the best offenses in the nation last year. The Mean Green averaged 52.9 points per game and 512.4 yards of offense per game. 

Hawkins will also have a completely revamped offensive line to help replicate this performance this coming year, and hopefully surpass it. 

The future Cowboy has ties to Stillwater as he grew up in Oklahoma, only about an hour away from Oklahoma State. He will have the opportunity to join the long line of running backs that he saw growing up, who dominated college football. 

The Pokes are looking for a revamp as a whole to the 2026 season, as last year OSU only won one game, and hasn’t won a conference game since 2023. They will be looking for multiple transfer portal players to make an impact next year, and Hawkins could be one of the missing pieces to making the Cowboy offense one of the best in the country.