Three-star DeSoto (Texas) running back SaRod Baker had a very good regular season, rushing for 1,600 and 25 touchdowns in 10 games. Playoff Baker is different. Playoff Baker is making that three-star rating look far too low.
In five games, Baker has practically doubled his season’s output, totaling 1,503 yards and 19 touchdowns, according to Carter Yates of Dave Campbell’s TexasFootball.com.
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This has universities taking note. Since his most recent game, a 366-yard, three-touchdown game against then-nationally-ranked No. 5 Southlake Carroll (Texas)—that was capped by a 99-yard touchdown run to seal the 57-44 win—Baker has tweeted he has offers from several Div. I programs,
Two of those programs are in the College Football Playoffs.
Ohio State wasted no time. The No. 2-seeded program appears to have issued an offer the next day, as Baker tweeted about the offer the evening after the game. A few hours later, he posted that Colorado also issued an offer.
On Monday night, Baker posted that Oregon, No. 5 in the playoffs, offered him as well.
The junior now has 19 offers, according to 247Sports. He is ranked the No. 68 running back and No. 806 player in the class of 2027, which feels awfully like everyone is underrating him. Or at least, everyone was.
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Baker opened the Texas playoffs with 158 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries against Copperas Cove. The next week, in a 2024 quarterfinals rematch against Longview, he posted 375 yards and five touchdowns on 27 carries. DeSoto continued to hand him the ball the following game, against previously undefeated College Park, as he had 24 carries for 202 yards and a touchdown.
It was in the quarterfinals against Willis that he went from stellar performances to carrying the team. He had 37 carries for 402 yards and seven touchdowns, according to Yates, sending the team to the semis. That was against Southlake Carroll, the biggest test so far this season, and DeSoto’s second game against a Super 25 team. DeSoto continued to play through him, running the ball 38 times in the victory that sent the Dragons to the championship game.
There’s one more game for DeSoto: They’ll play King (Houston, Texas) for the championship on Saturday. Baker will have one more chance to further etch his name into the book of Texas high school football lore.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY High School Sports Wire: DeSoto’s SaRod Baker gets offers from Ohio State, Oregon, others
