There was only one guy a running back growing up in Wichita during the 1990s wanted to emulate.

Barry Sanders.

Kansas University freshman running back John Randle remembers the look on Sanders’ face when he spoke at a “Stay in School” speech when Randle was just a little kid.

While the Wichita Southeast graduate said he admired Sanders’ off-the-field message, it was the Detroit Lions standout’s on-the-field moves that Randle really wanted to recreate.

“I like his style,” Randle said. “He made a lot of them miss.”

Soon after Sanders shocked the football world by walking away in his prime, another shifty runner from the Sunflower State didn’t miss Randle’s radar.

“I looked up to him, I looked up to anyone who was on TV,” said Randle, about Kansas State standout Darren Sproles.

“Not really in high school, I didn’t follow him as well,” Randle continued. “In college, I watched him, see how he moved and things like that.”

Saturday Sproles and Randle will meet on the football field for the first time, but the two are no strangers. They once ran head-to-head in a high school track meet. Randle said he probably was lucky to have a jump on the Olathe North graduate in that 4×100-meter relay, though.

Kansas freshman running back John Randle escapes UNLV's Daniel Jones earlier this season. Randle is eager to take on Darren Sproles and Kansas State for the first time Saturday.

“We were already ahead, so I kept the lead,” Randle said. “I don’t know if we wouldn’t have been ahead, if I would have beaten him or not.”

Now Sproles clearly holds the lead in collegiate accomplishments, and can add to his eyebrow-raising rushing numbers against the Jayhawks.

The junior needs just 17 yards against Kansas to break Eric Hickson’s K-State career mark of 2,537 yards.

“Darren Sproles with one carry he can take it to the end zone,” KU coach Mark Mangino said.

Randle said he hopes to share Sproles’ current success and Sanders’ stellar style.

“My favorite running back is Barry Sanders, so if I could be compared to anyone I would want it to be him,” said Randle, who scored his first collegiate touchdown on a three-yard spurt that capped KU’s emotional win over Missouri.

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While Randle got just two carries the next week against Colorado, he scooted for 55 yards on just seven attempts last weekend against Baylor, including a 12-yard touchdown run.

Mangino said while Randle’s role has been limited this season with Clark Green the starter, he’ll definitely play this weekend against the Wildcats — when he will be reunited with former Wichita Southeast running back Rashad Washington, who plays safety now for Kansas State.

“He is going to play on Saturday,” Mangino said. “He will not start the game, but he will play. We will get a feel for it when we finish up the game plan. We will just see where he fits in.”

So far, statistically speaking, Randle has fit in even better than Sproles did as a freshman at K-State.

Randle, who has a similiar running style to the shifty-sprinting Sproles, has 305 yards on 49 carries in seven games. Sproles — who is listed at 5-foot-7, 170-pounds, compared to the 6-0, 175 Randle — had 210 yards on 28 carries in six contests his first season.

Whether Randle can break out like Sproles did when he rushed for a KSU single-season best 1,465 yards last season remains to be seen, but he said he sure wouldn’t mind if that happened this weekend against the other in-state school that recruited him.

“I’m here at KU, I want to make something happen here,” Randle said.

Kansas running back John Randle, left, runs away from Missouri's Nino Williams, center, and James Kinney. Randle had 12 carries for 61 yards and a TD in the Mizzou game Sept. 17 at Memorial Stadium.