Stampeding Through the 2025 USF Football Roster: #4 RB Sam Franklin
Franklin should be in line for quite a few carries this season.
PLAYER: Sam Franklin
POSITION: Running back
YEAR: Redshirt senior
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5’10”, 204 lbs.
HOW DID HE GET HERE? Originally an unrated running back out of Little Rock Central High School, Franklin has come a long way in a short time. He enrolled at FCS program UT Martin in 2021 and played in a couple games as a true freshman, totaling seven carries for 67 yards and a score. He saw a big uptick in playing time as a redshirt freshman in 2022, rushing for 676 yards and eight touchdowns on an electric 8.0 YPC average. Things got even better in 2023: Franklin blossomed into one of the best running backs in FCS, putting up 1,378 rushing yards on 6.2 yards per carry and finding the end zone 11 times. He added another 129 yards and a score receiving. For his efforts, he was named a Second-Team FCS All-American.
After the 2023 season, he entered the transfer portal and parlayed his excellent performance into an Oklahoma offer. He joined the Sooners for the 2024 season and wasn’t quite able to break into the running back rotation, but he did see some special teams work and late-game snaps. After spring practices, he entered the portal again and ended up at USF.
HOW WAS HIS 2024 SEASON? Quiet, but promising for evaluation purposes. Franklin just never cracked the rotation for the Sooners, but he appeared in all 12 games and got offensive touches in six. His more substantive performances came in a season-opening blowout over Temple (four carries, 45 yards), a late-season matchup against FCS Maine (six carries, 26 yards, plus two catches for 15 yards), and late in the Sooners’ regular season finale vs. LSU, which they lost by a lot (six carries for 61 yards, including a 34-yarder that was OU’s longest run on the season). He was also one of the team’s main kick returners; he returned six kicks for an average of 22.2 yards.
All in all, he ended up with 18 carries for 132 yards (7.3 YPC) and five catches for 18 yards. None of that came in high-leverage situations, but he was productive when he touched the ball.
You can see some of Franklin’s best plays from this past season below:
WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT IN 2025? Quite a lot! USF loses their top three rushers from 2024, and they brought in Franklin to be the lightning to Cartevious Norton’s thunder. I suspect we’ll see a similar split between the two to how Kelley Joiner and Nay’Quan Wright were used, with a third back (Alvon Isaac?) serving as the Ta’Ron Keith replacement.
Franklin’s modest numbers at Oklahoma are a bit deceptive. He’s been a tremendously productive college player and is only a couple years removed from being a second-team FCS All-American. He’s got all the tools to thrive this season.