Kansas linebacker Michael Reynolds (55) tries to drag down Oklahoma running back Samaje Perine (32) during the third quarter on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.

Norman, Okla. ? It didn’t take Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops long to realize he had someone really special in freshman running back Samaje Perine.

“The first week we were working out here and training, and watch him lifting and running,” Stoops said, pointing to when he knew he had scored big-time by recruiting Perine. “When you see that strength and then that ability to train and run the way he does. The power, and you see the weights he is lifting and pushing around, he’s a powerful guy.”

Not all fast, powerful athletes know how to translate those traits into making football plays.

Obviously, Perine does, or he wouldn’t have been equipped to set the all-time, single-game NCAA rushing record with 427 yards in Saturday’s 44-7 clubbing of Kansas University.

Perine set the record with a 42-yard run on a play that ended with 12:02 left on the game clock.

“We were thinking about resting him and then someone said he only needs 38 more yards,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “That’s too close not to do it and there is still way too much time left in the game. Samaje overheard somebody say that and he told (running backs) coach (Cale) Gundy: ‘Coach that doesn’t matter to me’. That’s how special he is. He went in there and ripped off another long run and fortunately we were able to get him out.”

Stoops detailed the qualities that make Perine such a difficult running back to bring down.

“His timing, his pace, his strength, and then when he breaks it, he runs away from everybody,” Stoop said. “With his size, he is just exceptional in that way and every way and he is so strong at taking care of the football.”

Asked if this ranked as one Stoops’ top days at Oklahoma because the record, the coach answered in the affirmative in the way it made it seem as if it were so as much because of who broke the record as the record itself.

“You know, we have had a lot of them, but to see the young guy, a true freshman, do what he did, it is,” Stoops said. “It’s really special. Yeah, it is. Especially a true freshman and a guy that’s as humble as he is and so mature in everything that he does off the field is really special.”

Hours after the game, Perine was at “The Garage,” a popular local burger joint with a teammate, practicing the qualifies his coach preached about him. Smiling broadly, shaking hands and posing for pictures with those who congratulated him on his feat, did nothing to call attention to himself.