Oklahoma football: Sooner coaches need to put the football in Trey Millard's hands

Earning his degree. Chasing championships. Having another year with his OU teammates and classmates. Playing at Notre Dame. Beating Texas a fourth straight season.

Noticeably absent from the list was an underclassman's typical reason for returning to college, but blocking fullbacks aren't typically a hot commodity on NFL Draft day.

No one quite knows how high Oklahoma's jack-of-all-trades might climb with one more college football season, but there's one way to all but guarantee his stock rises. It also might help the Sooners win some games.

Give him the football.

Millard (6-foot-2, 256 pounds) picked up 198 yards on 33 rushes — a 6-yards per carry average.

He also caught 30 passes for 337 yards and four touchdowns, including one of Oklahoma's plays of the year; Millard caught a pass in the flat, jumped over Texas defender Mykkele Thompson while simultaneously forearming Adrian Phillips to the ground, then sprinted for a 73-yard gain.

In Oklahoma's 41-13 Cotton Bowl loss to Texas A&M, Millard picked up 11 yards and a first down on the Sooners' fourth play from scrimmage. Three plays later, he caught a pass for another first down.

Millard didn't touch the ball again until the third quarter, and finished with four carries and 28 yards.

A week after the Cotton Bowl, Bob Stoops told reporters that it was fair to question Millard's lack of touches in 2011.

“We weren't as productive offensively,” Stoops said of 2011. “This year we were. It worked this year. Meaning we didn't have to get him more touches.