SEC Football: Ranking the Top 10 Running Backs entering 2023 season

2. Raheim “Rocket” Sanders – Arkansas

2022 Stats: 222 carries, 1,443 rushing yards, 28 receptions, 271 receiving yards, 12 total TD’s

Heading into year three, there are not many players with more excitement surrounding them than Rocket Sanders. The nickname “Rocket” just about perfectly encapsulates Sanders as a player. He averaged 6.5 yards per carry a year ago, ranked second in SEC football in rushing yards, and tied for fourth in the SEC in rushing TD’s. Sanders is such a key piece to Arkansas’ offense (which ranked third last year as a team in rushing yards in the SEC (3,075 rushing yards as a team).

Sanders had a solid freshman season (114 carries, 578 yards, 6 total TD’s) in 2021, but then had a breakout season this past year. Sanders earned second team All-SEC honors in 2022, and was named preseason first team All-SEC heading into this season. For his career, Sanders has 336 carries, 2,201 rushing yards, 6.0 yards per carry, 39 receptions, 380 receiving yards, and 18 total touchdowns.

1. Quinshon Judkins – Ole Miss

2022 Stats: 274 carries, 1,567 rushing yards, 15 receptions, 132 receiving yards, 17 total TD’s

Talk about an immediate impact. Judkins burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2022 as one of the best backs not just in the SEC, but in the nation. Judkins led SEC football in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in 2022, winning SEC Freshman of the Year. Nationally, Judkins ranked 7th in rushing yards and was tied-for-10th in rushing TD’s. All while sharing a backfield with Zach Evans (who tallied 936 rushing yards a year ago, but is now no longer competing with Judkins for carries after heading off to the NFL). Evans was expected to come in and be the star in the backfield for Ole Miss after transferring in from TCU after a great career there, but Judkins was so good as a freshman that he beat him out to be the #1 guy (even though they both got the rock a lot).

Judkins has an argument to be the best player in the SEC regardless of position. Judkins earned first team All-SEC honors in 2022 (to go along with his FOTY award), and was named first team preseason All-SEC heading into this upcoming season. Ole Miss led the SEC in team rushing yards a year ago by over 250 yards (3,336 as a team), and a lot of that had to do with the play of Judkins. Can Judkins, Sanders, or one of the other RB’s make a run at the SEC Offensive Player of the Year Award or even the Heisman? It would not surprise me, but we will have to wait and find out.