J.D. Runnels Leads From Experience

J.D. Runnels | Senior | Football

NORMAN, Okla. -- Being a good leader doesn't mean just successfully giving directions. Senior J.D. Runnels has learned from his own challenges and uses his experiences to help his teammates, on and off the field.

"I try to be devoted to the team," Runnels said. "I want to show them what being a part of this program is really about."

Runnels understands that one person can't do it all, says his older sister, Tessa Martin. He knows he needs to lean on others to get something done successfully. Runnels learned this by using the support of his family to get through life's speed bumps.

J.D. Runnels Bio & Stats | Runnels Photo Gallery

"Our family has been through a lot of rough times," Martin said. "There aren't too many branches you could throw at us that can trip us."

A team captain, Runnels found himself going through the roughest time in August 2003 when he lost his mother to renal carcinoma. He says that losing his mom affects his day-to-day decisions.

"I still live to impress my mother," Runnels said. "Losing her helps me to stay the way I am, the way that she raised me to be."

Runnels says it's his family that got him where he is today and molded him to who he has become.

"They have been my backbone," Runnels said. "Since losing our mother, my brother, sister and I have become one. I know that's what my mom would have wanted."

Runnels uses his personal experience facing adversity to support other teammates who might be going through tough times.

"Some of J.D.'s teammates have found themselves in similar situations," Martin said. "He sees that as an opportunity to support them."

Dane Zaslaw, fellow Sooner fullback, says Runnels is a true leader and is respected by his teammates.

"J.D.'s a guy on the team people can look up to," Zaslaw said. "He knows so much about football and makes himself available to players outside the locker room, too."

Runnels says he has no hesitations using his challenges to help another player with any problems they could be dealing with in their personal lives.

"Facing such adversity has helped me relate to teammates' problems," Runnels said. "I am genuinely able to understand and offer my support."

Lenny Hatchett, Runnels' older brother, says that he is proud of how hard Runnels has worked and knows their mother would feel the same.

"He is keeping the legacy alive," Hatchet said. "He knows he needs to be a role model and continues to implement values our mother has instilled in us. He is a respectable man who has class and dignity. He has always worked hard to do the right thing."

Runnels stays positive and thankful through everything and says he knows no matter what comes his way, life will go on. Runnels believes in sticking with it and knows he can make it through anything he faces.

"The best way to break through barriers is to run straight through them," Runnels said. "Don't go around. Face them head on."

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Sooner Feature by Katie Moon
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