Ranking the 10 Best Running Backs in College Football So Far in 2021
As we approach the mid-point of the 2021 college football season, the lack of dominant individual running backs is readily apparent.
After eight consecutive seasons with at least one running back who averaged better than 160 rushing yards per game, the current leader is Michigan State's Kenneth Walker III with a mark of 136.0. He is one of just six players with a rate of 115 rushing yards per game or better.
But while the bar for excellence isn't as high as we're used to seeing, having a go-to running back is still a colossal advantage.
Not only is Walker leading the nation in rushing, but he's also pacing one of the most surprising undefeated teams in the country. So is Kentucky's Chris Rodriguez Jr. And there are a bunch of surprisingly better than .500 squads—Duke, East Carolina, Minnesota, Syracuse, etc.—who clearly have their featured back to thank for their early success.
Honorable mentions: Breece Hall, Iowa State; Tyler Allgeier, BYU; Brian Robinson Jr., Alabama; Jarquez Hunter, Auburn; Sincere McCormick, UTSA; Jashaun Corbin, Florida State; Zach Evans, TCU; Blake Corum, Michigan; CJ Verdell, Oregon; Logan Wright, Georgia Southern
10. Chase Brown, Illinois
1 of 10
Season Stats: 52 carries, 379 yards (7.3 YPC; 94.75 YPG), 3 TD; 7 receptions, 99 yards
Considering Chase Brown didn't record a single touch in Weeks 2 or 5 and wasn't anything special in previous games against Nebraska, Virginia and Maryland, he wasn't even remotely on our radar for this piece heading into play this past Saturday.
But when you go off for 257 rushing yards in a single game, you officially have our attention.
Sure, it was against Charlotte's defense, which has been responsible for two of the four 250-yard rushing performances of this season. However, it's not like Brown was just one part of a field day for the Illini's offense.
He was pretty much everything in the 24-14 victory.
No one else on the team had a gain of more than 15 yards, but Brown had consecutive runs of 20, 31 (TD) and 80 (TD) yards in the third quarter, turning a 14-10 deficit into a 24-14 lead.
The Illini will face Wisconsin this coming weekend and they still have road games remaining against Iowa, Minnesota and Penn State. In terms of rushing yards allowed per game, those are the four best defenses in the Big Ten, so Brown may well be a one-hit wonder. Even a flash in the pan is exciting news at Illinois, though, where offense has been difficult to come by for quite a few years now.
9. Deuce Vaughn, Kansas State
2 of 10
Season Stats: 90 carries, 444 yards (4.9 YPC; 88.8 YPG), 5 TD; 20 receptions, 206 yards, 2 TD
After finishing the 2020 season with back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances, Deuce Vaughn broke loose for at least 120 rushing yards in each of Kansas State's three nonconference games (all wins).
He averaged nearly 10 yards per carry against Stanford. The Wildcats surprisingly needed all three of his rushing touchdowns for a come-from-behind win over Southern Illinois. And he had nine first downs (plus a touchdown) while setting the pace for an impressive win over Nevada.
But against two of the Big 12's better defensive front sevens, Vaughn has pivoted into a much bigger role in the receiving game—an exciting development for those of us who had already spent more than a year comparing the pint-sized running back to former KSU star Darren Sproles.
Through the first 13 games of his college career, Vaughn averaged 2.3 receptions for 35.6 yards. He had a few huge gains early last season, but he never had more than four receptions in a game until making five catches for 73 yards and a score against Oklahoma State two weeks ago. He doubled down with 10 receptions for 104 yards and another touchdown this past weekend against Oklahoma.
Vaughn has had at least 95 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in each game this season.
8. Trey Potts, Minnesota
3 of 10
Season Stats: 112 carries, 552 yards (4.9 YPC; 110.4 YPG), 6 TD
When the Golden Gophers lost Mohamed Ibrahim to a season-ending lower leg injury in the Week 1 loss to Ohio State, it felt like their year was already over. The preseason AP second-team All-American had rushed for 2,840 yards and 31 touchdowns over the past three seasons and it didn't seem likely that he would be easily replaced.
But Trey Potts stepped straight into that void and has thrived.
Potts only had 34 yards in relief of Ibrahim in the second half against the Buckeyes, but he averaged nearly 150 rushing yards over the next three weeks against Miami-Ohio, Colorado and Bowling Green. He had 442 of Minnesota's 969 yards of total offense during that three-game stretch, pacing what has otherwise been a mediocre-at-best offense.
For the most part, they haven't been big runs, either. He did have a 54-yard gain in the stunning loss to Bowling Green, but that was his only carry of more than 21 yards thus far. Potts has simply been a workhorse, averaging more than 25 carries per game since the start of Week 2.
If the Gophers are going to make a legitimate run in the Big Ten West, it's going to be on the legs of Potts. And he should put up some serious yardage over the course of Minnesota's next four games against Nebraska, Maryland, Northwestern and Illinois.
7. Keaton Mitchell, East Carolina
4 of 10
Season Stats: 60 carries, 574 yards (9.6 YPC; 114.8 YPG), 4 TD; 14 receptions, 145 yards, 1 TD
We don't expect the average college football fan to know a single thing about East Carolina's rushing attack, but the Pirates have a bit of a thunder and lightning thing going on with second-year running backs Rahjai Harris and Keaton Mitchell.
Harris is the 5'10", 224-pound bowling ball while Mitchell is the 5'9", 188-pound speedster who has been money in the open field. They have almost an exact 50/50 split of backfield touches (75 for Harris, 74 for Mitchell), though it's getting hard to justify why the Pirates would ever want to give the ball to anyone other than Mitchell.
In the season opener against Appalachian State, Mitchell scored the first points of the game on a 63-yard touchdown reception. Against what has typically been one of the best Group of Five defenses in recent years, he finished the night with 129 yards on just nine touches.
South Carolina held Mitchell in check in Week 2, but he has been out of control since then, rushing for 135, 125 and 222 yards against Marshall, Charleston Southern and Tulane, respectively. He had an 88-yard touchdown run against the Thundering Herd, a 74-yard rushing score against the Buccaneers and a 68-yard TD scamper against the Green Wave. Mitchell also had a 62-yard run on the second play of the game against Tulane, meaning he already has five gains of more than 60 yards this season.
Not only is that more than any other player can boast in 2021, but there wasn't a single player with five or more gains of 60 yards in all of 2020.
Up next for Mitchell is a UCF defense that has been shredded for 539 rushing yards and six touchdowns between its two most recent games against Louisville and Navy. It wouldn't be surprising in the least to see him break free for another huge gain or two.
6. Chris Rodriguez Jr., Kentucky
5 of 10
Season Stats: 104 carries, 620 yards (6.0 YPC; 120.0 YPG), 5 TD
Chris Rodriguez Jr. has quietly been one of the most effective running backs in the nation over the past several years.
He averaged 7.5 yards per carry in 2019, but he was merely Kentucky's No. 4 rushing option and was overshadowed by Lynn "All Purpose" Bowden Jr.
Last year, he led the Wildcats in rushing, but he was still just one piece of the puzzle. He had 119 carries, but both Asim Rose (106) and Terry Wilson (104) weren't far behind him. And it wasn't until late in that losing season that they started leaning heavily on Rodriguez.
This year, though, he's the clear featured back for an undefeated team, and he's currently leading the SEC in rushing yards by a slightly ridiculous margin. (The closest runner-up is Missouri's Tyler Badie with 458 yards.)
Rodriguez had 206 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown against Missouri in what was the first of four consecutive victories by a one-possession margin. He also had 144 rushing yards against South Carolina, as well as 99 yards and what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown this past weekend against Florida.
If he comes anywhere close to that 149.7 yard average against SEC foes in the forthcoming Week 7 game at Georgia, things could get mighty interesting in Athens.
5. Mataeo Durant, Duke
6 of 10
Season Stats: 106 carries, 636 yards (6.0 YPC; 127.2 YPG), 8 TD; 12 receptions, 170 yards, 1 TD
Friday, Sept. 3 was a big one for individual rushing performances. Michigan State's Kenneth Walker III stole the show by rushing for 264 yards against Northwestern, but Duke's Mataeo Durant wasn't far behind with his 255-yard, three-score gem against Charlotte.
Durant entered the year as one of the two running backs on the All-ACC first team, though with Travis Etienne, Kyren Williams, Javonte Williams, Michael Carter and Khalil Herbert all out of the picture, it felt like more of a "process of elimination" than a "vote of confidence" situation.
However, Durant has been every bit deserving of that preseason honor, as he is currently leading the nation in yards from scrimmage per game.
What's comical about Durant's year-to-date game log is that his lone mediocre performance came against the only FCS opponent on Duke's schedule. He had three rushing touchdowns against North Carolina A&T, but he had a subpar 41 yards on 15 carries.
But similar to Chuba Hubbard—who had 44 rushing yards against McNeese State but eclipsed the century mark in every other game en route to an eighth-place finish in the 2019 Heisman Trophy vote—Durant has rushed for at least 100 yards against each of Duke's FBS foes. And he has been a huge part of the Blue Devils' receiving game, ranking third on the team in both receptions and yards.
4. Sean Tucker, Syracuse
7 of 10
Season Stats: 107 carries, 638 yards (6.0 YPC, 127.6 YPG), 7 TD; 9 receptions, 175 yards, 1 TD
Sean Tucker has been Mr. Everything for Syracuse this season and the Orange—in stark contrast to a 1-10 disaster in 2020 in which only Kansas and Massachusetts averaged fewer total yards per game—look surprisingly competent because of him.
In each of Syracuse's three wins, the second-year running back has accounted for at least 181 total yards from scrimmage. He rushed for 169 and a score in the somewhat surprising win over Liberty, he had 181 yards and a touchdown in the opener against Ohio and he destroyed poor Albany for 132 rushing yards, 121 receiving yards and five total touchdowns.
The rest of Syracuse's offense has combined for 507 rushing yards—more than 60 percent of which has come from quarterbacks Garrett Shrader and Tommy Devito. The next-closest Syracuse running back behind Tucker's 638 yards is Abdul Adams with 12 carries for 54 yards.
Incredibly, with just nine receptions, Tucker is also leading the Orange in receiving yards.
He has accounted for slightly more than 40 percent of Syracuse's total offense. After about 10 minutes of searching, I can't even find another player at 35 percent, let alone 40.
3. TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State
8 of 10
Season Stats: 54 carries, 510 yards, (9.4 YPC; 102.0 YPG), 7 TD; 3 receptions, 87 yards, 1 TD
There aren't many players more dangerous with the ball in their hands than Ohio State's true freshman TreVeyon Henderson.
On the third touch of his college career, Henderson took a dump-off pass 70 yards for a touchdown, sprinting straight through Minnesota's defense as if it was standing still.
He never really got going in the subsequent loss to Oregon, but in the Week 3 win over Tulsa, Henderson had not one, not two, not three, but four carries of at least 30 yards. He finished that game with three touchdowns and 277 yards on the ground, demolishing a near half-century-old Ohio State freshman record of 239 set by the only two-time Heisman winner in college football history, Archie Griffin in 1972.
The Buckeyes didn't need to give their star many touches in recent wins over Akron or Rutgers, but he still had a combined 16 carries for 164 yards and three touchdowns in those contests.
Despite not even averaging 11 carries per game, Henderson is leading the nation in carries of at least 30 yards, as well as carries of at least 40 yards.
Henderson did suffer an apparent injury this past weekend against Rutgers, and it's unclear at this point if the Buckeyes just didn't see the point in putting him back into a game that was 45-6 by halftime or if it's something a little more serious. Something to monitor, though, given how electric this dude has been.
2. Bijan Robinson, Texas
9 of 10
Season Stats: 105 carries, 652 yards (6.2 YPC; 130.4 YPG), 7 TD; 10 receptions, 167 yards, 2 TD
As far as preseason Heisman odds are concerned, there was no more noteworthy non-quarterback than Texas' Bijan Robinson.
It took the highly touted recruit a little while to get rolling last year, but he had 651 yards from scrimmage (on just 55 touches) and six touchdowns over the final four games of 2020. Naturally assuming he would be Texas' main rusher in 2021, big things were expected.
And thus far, Robinson has delivered.
In each of Texas' four wins, Robinson rushed for at least 100 yards and had more than 140 total yards from scrimmage. That includes a career-best 216 rushing yards in the Week 5 victory over TCU.
By the end of that game, it was exclusively "Robinson Time." He carried the ball six straight times for 35 yards and three first downs to get the Longhorns into the victory formation.
They aren't riding Robinson anywhere near as hard as they did D'Onta Foreman back in 2016 (323 carries for 2,028 yards), but the Longhorns are clearly better when this young star gets cooking.
1. Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State
10 of 10
Season Stats: 100 carries, 680 yards (6.8 YPC; 136.0 YPG), 8 TD
Say this much for Kenneth Walker III: He made one heck of a first impression at Michigan State.
Walker rushed for 13 touchdowns in just seven games last fall with Wake Forest, but he did so as part of a timeshare in the Demon Deacons' backfield. And rather than spend another year or two splitting touches with Christian Beal-Smith, he entered the transfer portal in search of a program willing to make him the undisputed featured back.
And in rushing 23 times for 264 yards and four touchdowns in MSU's season-opening win over Northwestern, he showed he made the right decision in betting on himself.
Walker had a dud in the Week 4 overtime win over Nebraska, carrying the ball 19 times for 61 yards. In his other four games, however, he's averaging better than 7.6 yards per carry and has been the most important piece of the offense for the undefeated Spartans.
Walker has yet to face Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State, so we'll see if his numbers hold up when the schedule intensifies. But he should at least continue to thrive for the next two weeks against Rutgers and Indiana.
