When a school's fifth leading rusher of all-time is returning, and your prospects were good even without him, you know the running back position should be loaded.

That is the case with TU in 2021, with Shamari Brooks returning after suffering an ACL knee injury the week before the season opener in 2020.

That injury opened the way for talented Texas A&M transfer Deneric Prince to start the first game at OSU, and Prince responded with a strong debut season for the Golden Hurricane.

Brooks, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound dynamo from Union, already has 2,700 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns for a 4.7 average after three years for Tulsa, including 1,046 yards and six touchdowns and a 4.6 average in 2019.

The hard-running Brooks, who can be as hard to tackle as a Mack truck, will be a welcome addition in 2021.

"Shamari is really focused on the recovery and is ahead of schedule," said TU coach Philip Montgomery of Brooks' knee rehab. "ACL's are usually a year long kind of recovery. He did Individual drills but nothing more than that in the spring.

"We can't wait to have Shamari back at full strength."

Prince was part of a three-headed monster attack for TU last season which featured himself, Corey Taylor, and T.K. Wilkerson. Taylor graduated and was a camp tryout for the Kansas City Chiefs after leading TU in rushing with 544 yards, and Wilkerson had to end his football career due to injury after rushing for 317 yards in 2020.

The 6-1, 214-pound Prince, a sophomore who rushed for 475 yards and four touchdowns for a 5.4 average last season in eight games, showed an explosive burst through the line. He was immediately eligible after transferring.

"Deneric got thrown in there first, right out of the box against Oklahoma State, and really hadn't played in a while and had a little bit of rust to him," Montgomery said. "He did a nice job because he didn't have spring ball - all we had was fall camp, and obviously with the injury to Shamari, and Corey was not at full strength, either."

"Deneric got thrown into the starting role, and I thought had a really good game."

Prince had 82 yards on 14 carries for a 5.9 average and showed from the start that he would be a force for TU, playing in eight of Tulsa's nine games.

"As the season went on, I thought Deneric got better and better and got a greater understanding of what we were trying to do, schematically, not only in the run game, but in the passing game, and his pass pro techniques and what he's responsible for," Montgomery explained.

"I think he's an every down type of back. He can catch the ball out of the backfield, he's explosive, he's strong. He did some really good things for us in the fall, but I thought he had an outstanding spring, and we're looking for him to continue to keep developing and growing and really have another exceptional year."

Christian Lovick is a quick, elusive runner who should have an expanded role this season. The 5-9. 188-pound redshirt freshman had nine carries in both 2020 and 2019, gaining 47 yards last season and 36 yards in 2019.

"Christian brings a lot of different things to the table. He's kind of a Shamari type in that he's difficult to tackle, he's got great vision," Montgomery said. "I really thought he had a great, productive spring.

"He's looked good representing what is going on across the board. He's got good hands coming out of the backfield, he's got the type of speed he can zip to the open field, he's going to be hard to catch, like Deneric, so I'm excited about Christian."

Anthony Watkins is a 6-foot, 200-pound redshirt freshman transfer from Missouri who saw limited action last season for TU, gaining 21 yards on seven carries.

"Anthony is a different style of runner," Montgomery said. "He's more of a slasher, really good in our zone scheme stuff. He's got good vision from that standpoint. He's got some really good moves, he's got elusive type speed, but he's a guy who can bang it in there as well."

Two additions to the backfield this season are graduate transfer Steven Anderson from Southern Mississippi and high school recruit Bill Jackson from Cardinal Ritter in St. Louis.

A quarterback in high school, the 6-3, 240-pound Anderson is a load, and his running style is not subtle - straight ahead and right through you. Anderson has rushed for 513 yards and nine touchdowns for a 3.7 average in his college career.