'It's my year': Jaden Nixon is ready to lead OSU's running back room

Sesi Vailahi fumbled early into Oklahoma State’s first fall practice Wednesday, and Jaden Nixon quickly went to coach and console the true freshman running back.
As one of the more familiar names on an offense that will be relying heavily on newcomers, Nixon will have to assert himself as a leader.
“I’ve been trying to get out to that leadership position more, especially it being my third year and seeing that I’m one of the veterans in the room now,” the redshirt sophomore said. “It’s my year, pretty much. It’s our year too as a team, so I gotta get ready to lead this team as much as I can.”
Nixon said he’s more of an introvert, so the best way he can lead is by example in the weight room, on the practice field and on game days, and he’s committed to improving an OSU rushing attack that was underwhelming in 2022.
“We shouldn’t be excited about our run game last year. The stats and everything show how poor our run game was,” Nixon said. “We’re all just working together to make sure our run game is better this year because ultimately that helps open up everything, and if we can’t run the ball it’s going to be hard to play football.”
Oklahoma State having the sixth-most rushing yards in the Big 12 a season ago suggests it was an average running team. When in reality, it was the second-least efficient at running the ball in the conference – ahead of Iowa State.
In 2021, it was worse. OSU ran the ball 48 more times than second-most Baylor and 147 more times than third-most TCU. Yet, the Cowboys had the third fewest yards per carry. A similar statsheet is shown for 2020, when the Cowboys had the most attempts and the fourth fewest yards per carry.
In the past three years, there have been two truths: OSU loves running the ball, but is bad at running the ball.
What caused the Cowboys to be so ineffective at that? and worse, what caused them to be so stubborn despite knowing how bad they were at it last year?
From the Kansas State game on, the Cowboys rushed for 2.6 yards per carry. In the seven games prior, they were getting 4 yards per carry. That difference in efficiency is the same as the one between Kansas, the most efficient running team, and Oklahoma – the fifth most.
A potential through line? OSU lost consistent quarterback play when Spencer Sanders suffered an injury during the K-State game. After that, it had no confidence in the backups’ vertical-play abilities. Opponents knew this and were able to shut down the run.
This season, coach Mike Gundy expects a change.
“The commitment has to come from our staff and our concepts and schemes, and, in most cases, you get good at what you practice and things you make a priority to improve on,” Gundy said. “ I’ve asked our offensive staff to make it a point to improve the running game, and I’m fairly confident that’ll happen.”
As for the players, Nixon said there are no tempered expectations.
“We’re trying to average five yards per carry,” Nixon said. “Once we can get it done in practice, we can get it done in games. The guys are really willing to go out here and change how we run the ball.”