CFF Burning Questions For 2025: Running Backs
As we approach spring camps across the college football landscape, Purple Reign has looked at schools across the country and identified 42 Burning Questions at the running back position for the upcoming season. These are situations that need to be monitored throughout the college football offseason. As answers develop to these questions the College Fantasy Football world will begin to have the tools to refine their expectations for this year’s fantasy drafts.
Check out all the articles in this CFF Burning Questions For 2025 series here:
Air Force – Can Dylan Carson pick up where he left off in 2024?
After a slow start to the 2024 season Dylan Carson woke up in the last four games of the year. During that stretch he averaged 24.2 carries for 111.7 yards and 1.2 TDs per game. This is what we expected from Carson at the start of last season but an undisclosed injury slowed him from being showcased as the workhorse RB. For him to keep up the pace that he ended 2024 on, he’ll need to be healthy. I’ll be watching for any news of his old injury limiting him in spring camp.
Alabama – Can Jam Miller get 200 carries?
The departures of Jalen Milroe and Justice Haynes opens up 246 carries from last season. Jam Miller totaled 145 carries in 2024 and two things will come into play to see if Miller can reach the 200 carry landmark in 2025. The running game will need to feature less designed QB runs, so I’ll be watching to the coaches talking about that in the spring. The other thing that must happen is that Dre’lyn Washington and Richard Young will need to be “not ready for prime time” players. The only time head coach Kalen DeBoer had a 200 carry rusher was in 2023 at Washington when the RB2 was lost for the season due to injury and the other back-ups weren’t ready for a larger workload.
Arizona – Is it possible for Ismail Mahdi to put up Kairee Robinson numbers?
In two seasons at San Jose State, Kairee Robinson averaged 163.5 carries for 973 yards and 14 TDs per season for head coach Brent Brennan. In 2024 and 2021 his RB1’s averaged 158.5 carries for 750.5 yards and 7.5 TDs. Ismail Mahdi had a great 2023 season for Texas State but regressed last season. Is Mahdi a special enough back to command a higher workload like Robinson had? I’ll be watching for news out of spring camp to see if Mahdi is head and shoulders above the rest of the RB room.
Arizona State – Will Kanye Udo be overvalued in fantasy drafts?
Last season Cameron Skattebo had an amazing season scoring 404.6 fantasy points. This performance will surely garner lots of attention to the Arizona State RB1 position in fantasy drafts. Just the year prior, Skattebo only scored 187.9 fantasy points, and Darrell Henderson at Memphis in 2018 is the only other RB to score over 200 fantasy points for head coach Kenny Dillingham. Receiving usage is a huge part of fantasy success in this offense and Kanye Udoh only caught one pass at Army last season so we don’t know what type of a receiving threat he is. Add in the fact that Kyson Brown is better than some people think and could eat into Udoh’s workload.
Baylor – Can Bryson Washington be a top 10 CFF RB?
Bryson Washington had a phenomenal freshman season, racking up 213 fantasy points. This is the second highest fantasy total for head coach Jake Spavital’s RBs. The best was Jayden Ott in 2023 at California. Ott put up 274 more yards and the same amount of touchdowns as Washington last year, but he needed 69 more carries to do it. Washington has the efficiency stats edge over Ott, and if Washington can get 35 more carries than last year he would bring his fantasy point total up to 246 points with no change in his receiving number. I’ll be watching for quotes from spring camp about Washington’s role in the offense expanding.
To continue reading this article, sign up for a FREE 7-day premium subscription today! Premium subscribers get year-round full access to everything that Let Purple Reign has to offer.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Let Purple Reign to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.