NORMAN ? University of Oklahoma head football coach Lincoln Riley announced Sunday evening that preseason All-Big 12 running back Rodney Anderson will miss the rest of the 2018 season due to a knee injury sustained in the first quarter of OU's 49-21 win over UCLA on Saturday.

"We're heartbroken for him," said Riley of Anderson. "He's overcome so much in his career, and if anybody can do it again it's Rodney.

"He's played a lot of great football and has a lot more ahead of him. He's just a tremendous person and player and we'll miss him on the field. But we know he'll be with us every step of the way as a team captain, and that other players will step up in his place."

"We're heartbroken for him. He's overcome so much in his career, and if anybody can do it again it's Rodney."

? Lincoln Riley

A redshirt junior from Katy, Texas, Anderson started seven of 14 games in his first full season of action last year and finished with team highs of 1,161 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. He was also impactful as a receiver, registering 17 catches for 281 yards (16.5 average) and another five scores.

The majority of Anderson's 2017 production came the last half of the season. Starting with OU's Oct. 21 game at Kansas State, he led all Power Five players the rest of the year (eight games) with 1,333 yards from scrimmage (166.6 average) and 16 total TDs.

Anderson's debut season of 2015 was cut short when he sustained a season-ending broken leg in the second game of the year at Tennessee. Then during 2016 preseason camp, a fractured vertebra again sidelined him for the season.

In this year's opening game against Florida Atlantic two weeks ago, Anderson carried five times for 100 yards and two touchdowns. He added 19 yards and another touchdown against UCLA before leaving the game.

Anderson graduated in May and is pursuing a master's degree in human relations.