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Joseph Randle is on his way to becoming No. 9 Oklahoma State's running back of the future, with a nod to the team's past.
Randle was 1 yard shy of becoming the first Cowboys player ever with at least 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in the same game. He had 121 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and also caught nine passes for 99 yards in Oklahoma State's 37-14 win Thursday night against Arizona.
Randle grew up in Wichita, Kan., playing youth football on a field named after hometown hero Barry Sanders, the 1988 Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma State. Even though Sanders finished his college career three years before Randle was born, he knows there's a connection.
''You have to know the history of him if you're going to play at his football field,'' Randle said.
Randle started playing football at age 3, and he spent plenty of Saturdays playing on Barry Sanders Field before following him to Stillwater. Kendall Hunter - the Cowboys' All-American running back from last season - evoked comparisons to Sanders with his jitterbug style, but Randle is making a name for himself with a different skill set.
He was the team's top receiver behind Biletnikoff Award winner Justin Blackmon in the win against Arizona, ducking out of the backfield to catch a 63-yard pass against an all-out blitz to set up a fourth-quarter touchdown. He averaged 8.1 yards on 15 carries and 11 yards per catch.
It was Randle's second straight 100-yard rushing performance, after the sophomore had a career-high 129 yards in the opener against Louisiana-Lafayette. Oklahoma State is averaging 630 yards per game through two contests.
''We've got playmakers everywhere. We have a lot of athletes on this team that can make plays,'' Randle said. ''Sometimes, it might be somebody else getting the numbers. ... But the ball can go anywhere, and we've got a lot of people who can make plays.''
Randle's performance had coach Mike Gundy making comparisons to another Pro Football Hall of Famer.
''I'm not saying he's Marshall Faulk, so nobody quote me on that. I'm just saying he does some of the same things that he can do,'' Gundy said. ''We can move him around and he has good hands. He's smart, he understands protections and things like that.''
Randle was frequently an underneath option for quarterback Brandon Weeden.
''We have a lot of concepts in our offense where we get him out, we line him up when we go empty (backfield), we do stuff out of the backfield and he's just so smooth,'' Weeden said. ''He's just got great hands and got a great feel with the ball in his hands, and what he does after the catch is really impressive. He adds so many dimensions to our offense.''
Gundy said Oklahoma State probably hasn't had such a receiving threat in the backfield since Sanders and Thurman Thomas were on campus in the 1980s. He considered Dantrell Savage a good receiver in recent years, but the Cowboys' offense wasn't geared toward throwing to a running back at that time.
With what Randle can do, it only makes sense for new offensive coordinator Todd Monken to take full advantage of his ability to play from the backfield or the slot, and even read an opposing defense's pass coverage.
''There's a lot of things Joe can do, and we've got to be careful not to abuse him, how many times he touches the ball,'' Monken said. ''He fits what we do really, really well.''
