In the midst of the Bijan Robinson drama, I decided to do an analytical study of RB's. I compared 5* RB's from non-elite schools, and the best 4* & 3* RB's from schools w/ superior OL recruiting. The data used covers the years 2011-2017.
OL talent was measured by counting Top-20 OT's signed. I used OT's specifically bc they have the most likely NFL-traits, plus they can more easily move positions later on. Ex. ND 12+5 means 12 from 2011-2017 and 5 from 2018-2020, as I also wanted to see future trends. The 1st-Tier is only getting stronger. The 2nd-Tier has been more stagnant, notably USC has declined. The 3rd-Tier has seen risers (Texas most notably, TTUN, A&M, TENN), and fallers in AUB and FSU.
I left out RB's inside the Top-10, w/ a few exceptions where I included the lowest-ranked RB I could or one from 2009-10 (UGA virtually always has a 5* or very high 4* RB producing in any given year).
17 ND 12+5
Dexter Williams #12 (1798, 22 TD)
Tarean Folston #16 (2003, 12 TD)
Josh Adams #34 (3537, 22 TD)
11 BAMA 8+3
Eddie Lacy #13 (2740, 32 TD)*09
Kenyan Drake #14 (2065, 22 TD)
Josh Jacobs #36 (2062, 21 TD)
5* Najee Harris, Damien Harris, T.J. Yeldon
12 UGA 6+6
Todd Gurley #9 (3900, 42 TD)
Elijah Holyfield #9 (1403, 9 TD)
Washaun Ealey #10 (1636, 14 TD )*09
5* D'Andre Swift, Sony Michel, Nick Chubb, Keith Marshall, Isaiah Crowell
9 tOSU 6+3
Ezekiel Elliott #13 (4410, 44 TD)
Carlos Hyde #29 (3469, 41 TD)*09
Jordan Hall #46 (1857, 18 TD)*09
(AVG. 2573, 25 TD) 5* HIT 88% (K. M. w/ good FR-year then oft-injured, 7th-rd pk)
6 USC 6+0
Justin Davis #15 (2865, 21 TD)
Javorius Allen #30 (3016, 27 TD)
Aca'Cedric Ware #54 (1631, 10 TD)
5* Dillion Baxter
6 LSU 5+1
Kenny Hilliard #14 (1626, 28 TD)
Nick Brossette #21 (1422, 14 TD)
Jeremy Hill #27 (2410, 28 TD)
5* Leonard Fournette
6 MIAMI 5+1
Mark Walton #11 (2630, 28 TD)
Travis Homer #15 (2400, 13 TD)
Mike James #31 (1925, 22 TD)*09
5* Duke Johnson
6 STANFORD 5+1
Christian McCaffrey #11 (5128, 31 TD)
Cameron Scarlett #15 ATH (1119, 18 TD)
Bryce Love #26 (4330, 32 TD)
---------------------------------------------------------------------(AVG. 2542, 23 TD) 5* HIT 67%
8 TEXAS 4+4 5* Jonathan Gray, Malcolm Brown
7 TTUN 4+3
6 A&M 4+2
4 AUB 4+0 5* Roc Thomas
4 FSU 4+0 5* Dalvin Cook, Mario Pender
5 TENN 3+2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------5* HIT 60%
5* RB's from schools w/ non-elite OL recruiting and average class rankings over 15.0.
2017: Cam Akers/FSU* (1991, 16 TD) Stephen Carr/USC* (971, 5 TD) Khalan Laborn/FSU* (37, 0 TD)
2016: Miles Sanders/PSU** (1842, 13 TD)
2015: Sosa Jamabo/UCLA (1641, 13 TD)
2014: Royce Freeman/OREGON*** (6435, 64 TD)
2013: Thomas Tyner/OREGON**** (1824, 18 TD) Derrick Green/TTUN**** (1072, 9 TD) Alex Collins/ARKANSAS (3870, 36 TD)
2012: Trey Williams/A&M***** (1673, 19 TD) Rushel Shell/PITT (3095, 24 TD)
2011: Brandon Williams/OU - transferred to A&M***** (955, 5 TD) Savon Huggins/RUTGERS (938, 9 TD)
*2019 FSU 19, USC 20 (OL-recruiting has been poor dating back to 2016/17)
**2014-2017 PSU 18.3
***2012-2015 OREGON 17.5
****2011-2014 OREGON 16.5, TTUN 15.0
*****2010-2013 A&M 18.8
5* HIT 38%, counting Cam Akers, Miles Sanders, Royce Freeman, Alex Collins and Rushel Shell. Only Freeman, Collins and Shell were able to eclipse the average production of the lower-star RB's on the more talented teams.
Decide for yourself, do we need Bijan, or do we want Bijan?
