Stanford leaned heavily on running back Christian McCaffrey last season as he set an FBS record for the most yards in a single season while carrying his team to a Pac-12 championship. McCaffrey is back as the focal point of the offense again in 2016 and the Cardinal will lean even more on him early on this season with the hope that he can lead them to another conference title. Oregon, Washington State and Washington can take their cues from Stanford and realize they need a strong rushing attack in order to have any shot at challenging for supremacy atop their division this season. Here is a look at the top four running backs in the Pac-12 North division right now.
Christian McCaffrey
Stanford Cardinal
Kevin Hogan’s exit means the Cardinal will lean even more on McCaffrey in 2016 with the hope that he can pick up from where he left off when he ran for 2,019 yards and eight touchdowns. McCaffrey finished second in Heisman voting a year ago as he came on very strong to end the season. He ran for at least 147 yards in five of his last six games, and that came against Oregon, Notre Dame, USC and Iowa. It’s efforts like that that have made him one of the betting favorite to win that award this year. As the centerpiece of a Stanford offense, they will need him to step up early on in the season in particularly as they break in a new quarterback. The offensive line lost some major talent as well leaving David Shaw to fill multiple positions and it will be interesting to see if they can come together and produce at a high level for the entire year. There will be a lot of pressure on McCaffrey to carry the Cardinal offense this season and there is no doubt he has the potential to do it as one of the top running backs in the country.
Royce Freeman
Oregon Ducks
The Ducks are in a similar position to Stanford in that they will need their running game to carry the load early on in the season while breaking in a new quarterback in Dakota Prukop. Freeman ran for 1,836 yards and 17 touchdowns last season and while he didn’t get as much attention as he likely deserved on the national stage that won’t be the case for much longer. The junior back averaged 6.5 yards per carry and more than 141 yards per game a year ago and his unique dual-threat ability will make him the key to the Oregon offense this season.
Myles Gaskin
Washington Huskies
There has been a lot of talk about Gaskin as a potential sleeper to lead the Pac-12 in rushing yards this season following a dominant freshman year in which he ran for 1,302 yards and 14 touchdowns. Gaskin flashed his big play ability while averaging just over 100 rushing yards per game and he was a big reason why Washington closed the year with three consecutive years including a blowout win over Washington State. Lavon Coleman is an intriguing complimentary back but it will be Gaskin leading the way as one of the most dangerous running backs in the Pac-12.
Gerard Wicks
Washington State Cougars
Wicks is the best of a trio of Cougars’ running backs that has the potential to dominate in the Pac-12 this season. Wicks averaged 5.7 yards per carry for 610 yards and three touchdowns a year ago and he has the potential to be even better with another year of experience and development at the college level. Wicks will split touches with Keith Harrington and Jamal Morrow this season as part of a trio that has been given the nickname “Earth, Wind and Fire”. Head coach Mike Leach will lean heavily on his ground game this season and the Cougars’ ability to run the football will be a big factor in their overall success in 2016 with Wicks leading the way. We all know that this offense will light up the scoreboard in 2016, which means plenty of stats for Wicks and company.
