Oklahoma running back Samaje Perine will undergo ankle surgery on Monday, according to a Facebook post by his mother Gloria Perine.
“Please continue to pray for my baby boy,” the post said, via the Tulsa World. “He’ll have surgery on Monday to repair some torn ligaments in his left ankle … God is still in charge.”
Perine suffered what seemed to be a bad ankle injury in the first half of last week’s Orange Bowl loss to Clemson, only to come back and injure the ankle again.
He closed the season rushing 226 times for 1,349 yards and 16 touchdowns -- and that included five games in which he toted the rock less than 20 times and gained less than 70 yards. The sophomore came along slowly to offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley‘s new attack, carrying for 33 yards in the opener against Akron, grinding out 78 yards on 23 attempts at Tennessee, and bottoming out with 10 carries for 36 yards in the loss to Texas.
But Perine came along strong in the second half of the season: 201 yards and four touchdowns against Texas Tech, 166 yards and two scores at Baylor, 188 yards versus TCU, and 131 yards and two more scores at Oklahoma State.
Perine finished the Orange Bowl with 15 carries for 58 yards and one touchdown.
It is not presently known how long Perine will be shelved after surgery, but head coach Bob Stoops has already eliminated him from contact during spring practice. “Oh yeah. It’ll be much like last spring,” Stoops said last week. “He won’t be in there getting in scrimmages, I tell you that, or tackled to the ground. That’s not happening.”