Barry James Sanders (born April 10, 1994) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

. He played college football for the

Stanford Cardinal football The Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference's North Division. The team is known as the Stanford Cardinal, Cardinal, adopted pri ...

team from 2012 to 2015 and the

Oklahoma State Cowboys football The Oklahoma State Cowboys football program represents Oklahoma State University–Stillwater in college football. The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Cowboys are ...

team in 2016. He is the son of former NFL running back

Barry Sanders Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), from 1989 to 1998 for the Detroit Lions. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and ...

Early life

Sanders, the son of Hall of Fame running back

and Aletha House, is often erroneously referred to as "Barry Sanders Jr.;" the elder Sanders has a different middle name. He graduated from Heritage Hall High School in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. As a freshman in 2008, Sanders ran for 742 yards and twelve touchdowns while helping Heritage Hall to the 2008 Oklahoma 2A state title, and he was the only sophomore on the 2009 ''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is the daily newspaper for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. Tulsa World Media Company is part of Lee Enterprises. The new owners announced in January 202 ...

'' all-state team.

College career

Stanford

On January 5, 2012, during the

U.S. Army All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl is a high school football all-star game, held annually at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Typically played in January, the All-American Bowl is played between all-star teams representing the eastern and western United S ...

, Sanders announced that he had committed to playing football for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, even though he was still unsure if he would be admitted. According to ESPN, he was rated the 6th-best high school running back in the country. He was indeed admitted to Stanford, and he did join the Cardinal football team but he was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a freshman, seeing no action during the 2012 college season. During his redshirt freshman season in 2013, he was used sparingly as a running back and kick returner. He played in 12 of the Cardinal's 14 games, finishing the year with 34 rushing yards, 5 rushing attempts, and 1 touchdown. He played in all 13 games his sophomore season, finishing the 2014 season with 59 carries for 315 yards and 7 receptions for 47 yards. Sanders returned in 2015 for his redshirt junior year and contributed as a back-up running back, kick returner and special-teams player. He played behind sophomore All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist

Christian McCaffrey Christian Jackson McCaffrey (born June 7, 1996) is an American football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Stanford and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers eighth overa ...

. Amongst his many other accomplishments that season, McCaffrey broke the elder Barry Sanders' longstanding record for most all-purpose yards in a season. The younger Barry Sanders played well in his limited backup role. During the season opener on September 5, 2015, at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, he gained 9 yards on 2 carries. The following week, he would have a career game against the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. Sanders finished the game with 8 carries, 39 rushing yards, and 1 touchdown. On September 25, 2015, he continued producing for the Cardinal, rushing for a career-high 97 yards, on 7 carries, for a career-high 2 rushing touchdowns against

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. During the contest he had 65 yards come on a rushing touchdown play. Sanders continued his streak the next game against the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, ending the game with 76 yards on 4 rushing attempts, and a single touchdown. On October 15, 2015, Sanders had a career-high 10 carries for 39 yards against

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. On January 5, 2016, Sanders announced that he had been granted a release from his scholarship by Stanford and intended on exploring his options to transfer to another school. He graduated in June 2016 after four years on campus, including his redshirt season; hence he had one year of eligibility left as a fifth year senior. As a graduate transfer, he would be eligible to play immediately at his new school.

Oklahoma State

On February 11, 2016, Sanders announced that he was planning to enroll in a master's degree program at Oklahoma State, his father's alma mater. Since he was a graduate transfer, he was eligible to play immediately for the 2016 season. Wearing number 26 (the same number he wore at Stanford), Sanders returned the first punt of his Oklahoma State career 57 yards, down to the half-yard line, nearly scoring on his first return. For the season, he had 28 carries for 93 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught nine passes for 45 yards, and returned 18 kickoffs and seven punts. After the season, he accepted a marketing job with the video game company

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

, and he announced that he had no plans to try to play professional football.

References

External links

Stanford University football bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Barry J. 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Oklahoma City Players of American football from Oklahoma American football running backs Stanford Cardinal football players Oklahoma State Cowboys football players