How New Oklahoma State Running Back Commit Jaden Nixon ‘Ended a Dynasty’

New Oklahoma State running back commit Jaden Nixon ended a Texas high school football mini-dynasty.

That’s how the story goes anyway. During the 2019 Texas high school football playoffs, Nixon’s Lone Star Rangers went up against Jerry Jones’ (grandson’s) Highland Park Scots.

Highland Park was the back-to-back-to-back state champs (shouts to Fred McGriff), but Lone Star — behind Nixon, all-world receiver (and 2020 OU commit) Marvin Mims and (2022 OSU offer) Garrett Rangel — downed them on Nixon’s seventh (and most important) carry. Here it is.

Wow!

Jaden Nixon scores the game-winning TD as Frisco Lone beats Highland Park in OT.

There will be a new state champ in 5A-I as Highland Park’s run of three-straight championships ends. @SportsDayHS pic.twitter.com/PL6t7EVqLr

— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) November 30, 2019

It was quite a moment and also quite a game.

If Frisco Lone Star was going to make a regional final, knock out the three-time defending state champions, and beat a team that’s been so unbeatable for the second time this season, it had to be more than Marvin Mims. “We wanted to make them beat us with somebody besides Mims,” said Highland Park head coach Randy Allen.

The plan worked. And it still led to the end of Highland Park’s dynasty. [Dallas Morning News]

One of the big reasons was Nixon, whose junior-year per-carry numbers last year were astonishing, even in Mims’ shadow. He helped Lone Star win its next game in the regional finals before falling in the state semifinals to Denton Ryan.

Nixon finished the season with 821 rushing yards, averaged 9.1 yards per carry and caught 18 passes for 262 yards and two scores for a 14-1 Lone Star team that reached the state semifinals. [Dallas Morning News]

As for that monstrous last 18-yard run for the win against Highland Park in one of the most exciting Texas high school games of 2019, Nixon said he started thinking about the dagger early on.

“At first I was like, ‘Thank you line. This is what we needed. We never had this, but we got it,'” said Nixon after the game. “I was like, ‘I have to make this guy miss or break this tackle, do whatever I need to do to get in the end zone to finish this game so we can go party.’ I’m just grateful for my team allowing this to happen.”

Nixon seems to be the perfect fit for OSU’s Cowboy culture. I listened to this interview of him by Marshall Levenson over at Pokes Report, and he comes off as the prototypical Gundy recruit.

Whether he’ll be good or not remains to be seen, but he does bring a little excitement to the running back room for the Pokes. Can’t-miss prospect? No, but it’s not difficult to see him developing into a contributor during his time in Stillwater. Nixon told Levenson he models his game after, well, maybe the three best college running backs of all time — Reggie Bush, Adrian Peterson and Barry Sanders.

“I try to base my game off of Reggie Bush,” said Nixon. “I wish I could have seen him play. Watching his highlights, he was amazing. [Barry] was definitely something different.”

There’s nothing like a recruit saying he wishes he was old enough to have been able to see Reggie Bush play to make you feel old.

While Nixon might not be the most exciting RB grab of Gundy’s career, I’m intrigued to watch his career develop. I jab Gundy for his myriad phrases, but the one that sticks most often (and that I think applies to Nixon) is that he loves the game. That matters more than we probably give it credit for, and as his senior career unfolds in Frisco and he heads to Stillwater, I think he could turn out to be a good one for OSU.