Ranking college football’s leading 10 running backs in 2024
We continue our college football top-10 lists by looking at running backs.There’s lots of
talent in this group, consisting of some breakout stars from last season and some players looking to shine even brighter in different roles or a new school. And we have a pair of colleagues that make up a formidable duo in what ought to be a powerhouse backfield.We surveyed our resident college football experts, asking
them to rank their leading 10 running backs entering the 2024 season. Points were appointed based upon their votes: 10 points for first place, 9 for 2nd location and down to one point for 10th place.Here are the results.Also: Ranking the leading 10 QBs Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports 2023 stats: 1,732 yards hurrying, 6.1 backyards
per rush, 21 hurrying TDs, 39 receptions, 330 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD Points: 98(eight first-place votes) Gordon, a 6-foot-1, 211-pound junior, exploded on the scene last season– a true breakout story. He rushed for 308 yards and 2 touchdowns as a freshman, then began last season with a total of just 19 brings in Oklahoma State’s first three games, consisting of 3 brings for 12 backyards in a 33-7 loss to South Alabama. The Cowboys retooled, focused the offense on the legs of Gordon, and magic occurred. Gordon dashed off eight 100-yard games over his next nine, consisting of a two-week stretch in October when he ran for 553 yards and 6 goals in games versus West Virginia and Cincinnati. He ended up being Oklahoma State’s first Doak Walker Award winner, finishing the season with 1,732 lawns and 21 TDs, consisting of five versus BYU, tying Barry Sanders’ school record.With quarterback
Alan Bowman returning for his seventh college season, and a skilled pass receiver corps consisting of Rashod Owens and Brennan Presley returning, defenses will have to respect the passing game, which might bolster the chances of another huge season for Gordon and OSU, which reached the Big 12 championship game last season. Gordon’s return has the Cowboys aiming for a College Football Playoff berth and Gordon considering a trip to the Heisman Prize ceremony.– Dave Wilson 2023 stats: 926 yards hurrying, 5.9 lawns per rush, 11 rushing TDs, 19 receptions, 229 receiving lawns, 10 getting TDs Points: 65(one first-place vote )Even though he wasn’t one hundred percent a year back, TreVeyon Henderson led Ohio State with 926 hurrying yards and 11 goals in just 10 games. He likewise had problem with injuries as a sophomore in 2022, when he broke a bone in his left foot and underwent surgery. However Henderson says he’s healthy now and ready to make his senior season the very best one yet at Ohio State. As a freshman, he hurried for 1,248 yards and scored 19 touchdowns.Henderson has it all– breakaway speed, acceleration through the hole and the capability to make protectors miss out on. The 5-foot-10, 212-pound speedster had the fifth-highest grade among Power 5 running backs last season, according to Pro Football Focus. With the Buckeyes ‘addition of Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins, Henderson will not need to bring too heavy a load in the Ohio State backfield, meaning he needs to be even fresher and more geared up to swindle big plays in the second half. If Henderson can stay healthy, he’s as dynamic a player as there is in college football.– Chris Low 2023 stats: 1,158 lawns hurrying, 4.3 backyards per rush, 15 hurrying TDs, 22 receptions , 149 receiving lawns
, 2 receiving TDs Points: 60 (one first-place vote)Editor’s Picks 2 Related After Judkins’blistering freshman season at Ole Miss in 2022, the idea that he would not be
the nation’s leading
running back as
a junior appeared absurd. He earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors and was a first-team all-league selection that fall, while ending up as a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award. His 1,567 rushing yards tracked only Herschel Walker as the most by a freshman in SEC history. Judkins followed with a strong sophomore season, leading the SEC with 15 rushing goals, however several of his other numbers fell off a bit. He now discovers himself in a different however interesting scenario entering his junior season.The 5-11, 210-pound Judkins entered the transfer portal in early January and landed days later on at Ohio State, part of the Buckeyes’unbelievable winter season workers haul.
The interesting part is that he joins Henderson, one spot greater in our rankings, to form the nation’s most accomplished backfield tandem. Judkins has 545 carries in his very first 2 seasons and now should share the ball with Henderson. However after his yards-per-carry average dropped from 5.7 in 2022 to 4.3 last season, Judkins might gain from being fresher when he touches the ball.– Adam Rittenberg 2023 statistics: 1,504 yards rushing, 5.9 backyards per rush, 15 hurrying TDs, 29 receptions, 222 receiving backyards, 1 receiving TD Points
: 57 North Carolina went into last season wishing to position a much bigger focus on running the ball. Mission achieved behind
Hampton, who had a breakout sophomore season en path to ending up being a Doak Walker Award finalist, and earning Walter Camp first-team All-America honors. Hampton hurried for 1,504 yards– 2nd on the school’s single-season list– with 15 hurrying goals, while including 29 receptions for 222 backyards and a touchdown. Hampton had 7 100-yard games and his total rushing backyards ranked 5th in the FBS.This season, the dynamic shifts a bit. With Drake Maye gone and an open quarterback competition set to start this spring, Hampton is the most known commodity on the North Carolina offense. Traditional knowledge states defenses will stack package to stop Hampton and force the new starting quarterback– projected to be transfer Max Johnson or Conner Harrell– to try to beat them.– Andrea Adelson 2023 stats: 1,541 backyards rushing, 5.3 yards per rush, 10 rushing TDs, 29 receptions, 69 getting backyards, 0 getting TDs Points: 43 Brooks is back for a super-senior year, which is a big win for Texas Tech as the Red Raiders come off a season when Brooks hurried for 1,538 yards and 10 TDs and was a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award despite acquiring only a total of 110 lawns in the season
‘s first 2 games. After that, though, the 5-10, 230-pound bruiser rattled 95 or more lawns in 11 straight games while ending up being the only Power 5 back to require more than 70 missed out on takes on. Boyd did this regardless of a Tech offensive line that struggled and an offense that ranked 64th nationally last season.There will be wholesale changes up front in 2024, with 5 O-linemen gone and transfers from Toledo, Memphis and Middle Tennessee joining the mix together with brand-new offensive line coach Clay McGuire, a Tech alum who worked for Mike Leach and Lincoln Riley. Boyd will be a centerpiece of the Red Raiders’offense for a group hoping
to jump back into Big 12 contention, and he’ll enter this season 1,167 backyards shy of Byron Hanspard’s school record for career hurrying backyards.– Wilson Robert Hanashiro/USA TODAY Sports 2023 stats: 1,347 yards rushing, 6.1 yards per rush, 14 rushing TDs, 43 receptions, 569 getting lawns, 5 getting TDs
Points: 38 Breakout bowl efficiencies aren’t constantly a hint of coming greatness. However they in some cases are precisely that. In the 2022 Frisco Bowl, Jeanty hurried for
178 yards and a touchdown in a 35-32 Boise State win over North Texas. He had actually served as a capable backup for George Holani that season, but he had styles on something larger. In 2023, with Holani hurt to begin the season, Jeanty took the RB1 task and(actually)ran with it. Despite missing out on 2 games himself with injury, he hurried for 1,347 backyards and 14 touchdowns while also functioning as the Broncos ‘No. 2 receiver in regards to both catches( 43)and backyards(569). He had at least 100 combined hurrying and getting lawns in 10 of the 12 games he played.Perhaps most impressively in the transfer portal period, Jeanty likewise returned.”Understanding the legacy I can leave behind and the effect that I can need to alter individuals’s lives is essential, and I value the opportunity to
do that for a program that altered my life by believing in me when no one else did, “he wrote in December. His return, plus the addition of former blue-chip quarterback Malachi Nelson, might offer Boise one of the most vibrant offending backfields in college football.– Bill Connelly 2023 statistics: 497 lawns hurrying, 4.2 yards per rush, 5 hurrying TDs, 30 receptions, 249 receiving yards, 0 getting TDs Points: 35 Edwards’rapid
rise to prominence in 2022– when he rushed for 150 lawns or more 3 times in the last six games of the routine
season and nearly 1,000 total yards on simply 140 brings– slowed a bit as Blake Corum returned from injury in 2023. Corum was the Wolverines’trusted No. 1 back and produced a 1,245-yard, 27-touchdown season.Edwards, however, still had his brilliant minutes as he tallied practically 500 lawns and 5 goals, including a 41-yard rating in the championship game game.
Edwards said later that he played most of the season with a partly torn patellar tendon. Now, with Corum off to the NFL and Edwards returning for his junior season, the phase is set for him to turn into one of the most electric and productive backs in the nation.– Paolo Uggetti 2023 statistics: 753 yards hurrying, 5.7 backyards per rush, 8 hurrying TDs, 21 receptions, 172
getting yards, 1 getting TD Points: 31 In among the most significant offseason transfer portal moves, Etienne moved on
from Florida to rival Georgia, immediately offering the Bulldogs a game-changer at running back as they aim to make another perform at a national championship. Etienne was extremely productive at Florida, however he was never the included back as he split time with Montrell Johnson Jr. In 2 seasons with the Gators, Etienne had 249 overall carries for 1,472 lawns with 14 touchdowns. He was utilized more extensively as a pass-catcher in 2023, with 21 catches for 172 backyards and one touchdown.At Georgia, he has the chance to be the included back in a tested system that values running the ball.
The Bulldogs lost their top two leading rushes in Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton, developing an opening for Etienne. Though Georgia shares the ball among its running backs, Etienne described in a current interview on teammate Tate Ratledge’s podcast”Genuine Talk Gamer Podcast, “”I could stay, be running back 2 on a losing group or go someplace and you know, possibly [be] running back 1 and win a natty.”– Adelson
2023 stats: 1,305 backyards rushing, 5.3 yards per rush, 12 rushing TDs, 26 receptions, 196 getting backyards, 2 getting TDs
Points: 26
Possibly it’s because he bet a team that went 6-7, however Ott was among the most underrated running backs in the nation last season. After a strong freshman year (897 backyards, 8 goals), Ott broke out in his second season at Cal. Ott averaged more than 18 carries per game and amounted to 1,305 backyards and 12 touchdowns.Ott was unquestionably the Golden Bears’finest player; in truth, 4 of Cal’s wins came when Ott had more than 150 hurrying yards– a feat he accomplished five times throughout the 2023 season. Ott’s decision to come back to Berkeley for another year is an advantage for the Bears, who need to enhance on their 2023 campaign. Improvement isn’t always linear in college football, but after an efficient sophomore season, the sky is the limitation for Ott in his 3rd season.– Uggetti 2023 statistics: 1,280 backyards hurrying, 6.3 yards per rush, 16 hurrying TDs, 25 receptions, 217 receiving backyards, 1 receiving TD Points: 24 Let’s do some whittling. There were 45 thousand-yard rushers in the FBS in 2023. Of those, only nine balanced a minimum of 3.0 yards before contact and at least 3.0 lawns after contact, displaying both the quickness to appropriately hit the holes as they open and the strength to require numerous tacklers to bring them down. Of those nine, just six had both the burst and finesse needed to average at least 6.2 backyards per carry both inside and outside the tackles. And of those, just one also caught a minimum of 25 passes: Devin Neal.Say hey there to possibly the single most well-rounded running back in college football. Like quarterback Jalon Daniels, Neal was instrumental in Kansas’program-changing upset of Texas late in 2021(he had 169 combined hurrying and receiving yards and 4 goals that night), and he’s been responsible for much of the Jayhawks ‘success because. He has actually rushed for at least 100 backyards in a game 12 times and a minimum of 1,000 yards in a season two times. He has actually forced a minimum of four missed out on tackles in a single game 15 times. We’ll see what changes new offending planner Jeff Grimes has in shop for the KU attack, however as long as he continues to feed No. 4, things will most likely go quite well.– Connelly Also receiving votes: Damien Martinez, Oregon State(21 ); Kaytron Allen, Penn State(17 ); Nicholas Singleton, Penn State(14 ); Raheim Sanders, South Carolina(7); RJ Harvey, UCF(5)
; Marcus Carroll, Missouri(4 ); Peny Boone, Louisville (4 ); Darius Taylor, Minnesota (1 )