Running Backs

1. Georgia

Thomas Brown, Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin all return for Georgia after finishing 1-2-3 on the team in rushing last fall. Brown, at 5'8", 185, relies on elusiveness. He ran for 736 yards and four touchdowns as last year’s starter. Ware and Lumpkin, both 6'1" and in the 220-225 range, add thump to the ground attack. Ware added 492 yards and a touchdown in 2005 after starting eight games as a true freshman in ’04. After their first two seasons in the red and black, Brown and Ware have combined for 2,827 yards at 5.1 per carry. Lumpkin is the most explosive of the three and appears to be rounding back into form after a knee injury temporarily derailed him. As a true freshman in 2003, he ran for 523 yards and capped off the campaign with 90 yards in the Dawgs’ Capital One Bowl victory over Purdue, when he scored the winning touchdown.

2. California

California returns players who accounted for 98 percent of its rushing yards last fall, most of it in the persons of Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett. The 5'11", 223-pound Lynch rumbled for 1,246 yards and 10 touchdowns despite missing two games and most of another with a hand injury. Forsett, at 5'8", 183, darted for 999 yards at 7.6 per carry with six scores. They enter their junior year with a combined 2,922 career yards and averaging over seven yards per carry. Lynch, in fact, averaged 8.8 yards on 71 carries with eight touchdowns as a 2004 freshman backing up J.J. Arrington. Marcus O’Keith also returns after averaging 11 yards on 22 carries in ’05, including a 71-yard touchdown run against Washington.

3. Louisville

Louisville running back Michael Bush missed two games last season with a sore foot and still finished second nationally in rushing touchdowns with 23, one behind USC’s LenDale White. Bush tallied another TD catching the ball, and his 14.40-points-per-game scoring average topped the NCAA charts. For the season, he ran for 1,143 yards at 5.6 per carry to go with 21 pass receptions. All of the depth returns at the position for the Cardinals as well. Kolby Smith netted 523 yards on the ground with six touchdowns while battling through an assortment of injuries. George Stripling finished second on the team with 621 yards and seven scores, averaging a team-high 7.9 per carry. He dented the Syracuse defense for 137 yards and two TDs, including an 89-yard run.

4. Oklahoma

Adrian Peterson alone is enough to land Oklahoma in the Top 5 of any backfield ranking. His backup — four-year stalwart Kejuan Jones — is gone, but Peterson is the best and most complete running back to hit the national scene in quite some time. He is a 6'2", 215-pounder who can run over, around or through a defense, and usually does. Two years ago, he set an NCAA freshman rushing record with 1,925 yards. He ran for 15 touchdowns, averaged 5.7 per carry and passed the 100-yard mark in 11 games, including nine in a row to start the season. Last fall, he missed one game entirely and most of three others while battling a season-long ankle injury, and he still ran for over 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns.

5. Arkansas

Darren McFadden, the 2005 SEC Freshman of the Year, set Arkansas freshman rushing records with 1,113 yards and 11 touchdowns, posting five 100-yard games along the way. His backup, Felix Jones, was a first-team All-America kick returner and also also picked up 626 rushing yards from scrimmage with three more scores. McFadden and Jones each averaged an SEC-high 6.3 yards per carry. Fullback Peyton Hillis picked up 947 total yards by rushing, receiving and returning kicks and punts.

6. Clemson 7. Texas 8. Ohio State 9. TCU 10. Rutgers 6th Annual Athlon Awards Quarterbacks – Published Thursday, June 29, 2006 Running Backs – Published Friday, June 30, 2006 Receivers – Published Saturday, July 1, 2006 Offensive Line – Published Monday, July 3, 2006 Defensive Line – Published Tuesday, July 4, 2006 Linebackers – Published Wednesday, July 5, 2006 Defensive Backs – Published Thursday, July 6, 2006

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