Last year the SEC was a QB driven league, but this year it looks like the year of the RB as the league is deep with talented in the backfield. In 2013, Tre Mason led the league in rushing yards per game at 129.71 and in total yards rushing with 1,816. That was the subject of the latest SEC-focused round-table on Athlon Sports this week. I was asked to share my opinion and once I started looking at question, I came away with an answer I never would have thought of when I started answering.
Here is what I had to say…
Last year, the SEC was a QB driven league that was deep at that position. This year, those QBs have exited but a bunch of great RBs remain. Todd Gurley, TJ Yeldon, Mike Davis, Alex Collins and Derrick Henry just to name a few. In looking at this question, I looked back at the last four years in the SEC and noted that the player that led the SEC in rushing was either the best RB in the league (Tre Mason, Trent Richardson) or a QB (Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton).
So the way I figure, it’s either going to be Todd Gurley, Mike Davis, Derrick Henry, Nick Marshall or Dak Prescott. Alabama and Georgia are deep at RB and I think that will take some carries away from Gurley and Henry (and you also have to factor in Gurley’s past durability). South Carolina will rely more on Davis this year but I still wonder how much the Ol’ Ball Coach wants to pound the rock play after play. I might be going outside the box a bit but my pick is Nick Marshall.
He finished 7th in the league last season in rushing, but he also had to learn Gus Malzahn’s offensive system and he had a feature back in Tre Mason to hand the rock to. He had at least 89 yards rushing in six games last season and he got better at making decisions as the season went on. Auburn will still have some good RBs in the backfield but I foresee more of an onus being put on Marshall to carry the load in 2014 and it will result in more carries and more yards and maybe, just maybe, for the third time in five years a QB will lead the SEC in rushing yards.
To see what the rest of the Athlon Sports round-table had to say on this subject click here.
