Gophers lean on Oklahoma transfer Marcus Major as top back gets healthy

P.J. Fleck couldn’t help but stare at Oklahoma transfer Marcus Major at times during fall camp, surprised how much he looked like “a bigger version” of former Gophers All-America Mo Ibrahim.

Of course, it helped Major wears the same No. 24 jersey as the program’s all-time leading rusher.

Major isn’t the next Ibrahim, but he won the Gophers starting job last week with leading returning rusher Darius Taylor still recovering from a leg injury. Major rushed 20 times for 73 yards and a touchdown for his Gophers debut in the 19-17 season-opening loss against North Carolina.

Major’s injury-plagued career continued with shoulder surgery that kept him out of spring practice after transferring, but he exceeded Fleck’s expectations during the running back competition this fall.

“I just knew I had to come in and step up,” said Major, who started five games in five years with the Sooners.

In seven games last year, Major had 78 carries for 308 rushing yards and a touchdown. His previous career high in rushing attempts was 19 carries for 66 yards vs. Iowa State in 2023. One of his best career games came in a victory against Florida in the 2020 Cotton Bowl, when he rushed for 110 yards on nine carries.

“I think there’s a lot of things he’s going to be able to improve on,” Fleck said on his weekly radio show. “Being out there in Game 1, you could tell he just got his style back. You watch his starts and how he played at Oklahoma, you saw flashes of that.”

In the second quarter vs. UNC, Major rushed for 46 of his 73 first-half yards. His 5-yard TD run tied the game 7-7. And the Gophers took a 14-10 lead at halftime with his 19-yard run setting up the score.

“I started off kind of slow, just getting a feel of the game in the beginning of it, but we got into a rhythm,” Major said. “But we got a lot more to work on.”

After averaging 5.8 yards per carry in the second quarter, Major carried the ball only five more times in the second half and had zero yards to show for it.

The Gophers were outgained 147-78 on the ground against the Tar Heels. Quarterback Max Brosmer was second on the team with nine rushes but for minus-6 yards after being sacked five times. Junior Jordan Nubin was the only other Minnesota tailback to carry the ball, twice for 3 yards.

“We had a lot of mistakes that we know we can’t make,” Major said. “This doesn’t define who we are. We’re going to come back from this and be better.”

A former four-star recruit out of Oklahoma City in the 2019 class, Major attracted scholarship offers from programs such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan and Texas.

After missing time for academic reasons three years ago, Major had injuries pile up, from a shoulder to an ankle and even a broken hand. After playing in 10 games in 2020, Major never played in more than nine games in a season from 2021-23.

He finally returned healthy in the fall and surpassed fellow transfers Sieh Bangura from Ohio and Jaren Mangham from Michigan State, rising to No. 2 on the depth chart.

Taylor, who rushed for 799 yards in only six games as a freshman last season, is one of the Big Ten’s top rushers when healthy, but Fleck might not need to rely on him until the Sept. 21 league opener vs. Iowa.

Fleck said Taylor “looks great” in practice and seems “very, very close” to making his season debut, but the Gophers have enough depth to take their time. Don’t be surprised if Major gets more opportunities to showcase his version of No. 24 in maroon and gold.

“Everybody’s going to have to be ready for their turn and take advantage of it,” Fleck said. “Marcus is going to continue to get better. He’s definitely one of our difference-makers.”