With week 2 of the college season upon us, I wanted to put out my top 20 running backs for you to be able to watch this weekend (and the rest of the season). There are plenty of players trying to make a name for themselves heading into the 2025 NFL Draft but these 20 I expect to see in the running to make it in one of the 7 rounds of the draft this next year. If you look at the historical results from the NFL Drafts of old, typically around 20 running backs hear their names called.
This year’s crop has a really strong top 7-10 players that could make a case that they are the best running back in the class but as you’ll see, I leaned towards Boise State’s Jeanty as my top runner as of the time of this writing. Jeanty is a dual-threat back with great balance, vision, and some elite athletic abilities (I’d expect him to run in the low 4.4’s come combine time).
2025 NFL Draft – Top Running Backs
| MY RANK | # | POS | NAME | SCHOOL | HGT | WGT |
| 1 | 2 | RB | Ashton Jeanty | Boise State | 5-9 | 215 |
| 2 | 1 | RB | Quinshon Judkins | Ohio State | 6-0 | 219 |
| 3 | 28 | RB | Omarion Hampton | North Carolina | 6-0 | 220 |
| 4 | 0 | RB | Ollie Gordon | Oklahoma State | 6-2 | 215 |
| 5 | 7 | RB | Donovan Edwards | Michigan | 6-1 | 210 |
| 6 | 32 | RB | TreVeyon Henderson | Ohio State | 5-10 | 208 |
| 7 | 4 | RB | Devin Neal | Kansas | 5-11 | 215 |
| 8 | 1 | RB | Jaydn Ott | Cal | 6-0 | 210 |
| 9 | 13 | RB | Kaytron Allen | Penn State | 5-11 | 225 |
| 10 | 1 | RB | Trevor Etienne | Georgia | 5-9 | 205 |
| 11 | 2 | RB | Trey Sanders | TCU | 6-0 | 222 |
| 12 | 28 | RB | Tahj Brooks | Texas Tech | 5-10 | 230 |
| 13 | 10 | RB | Nick Singleton | Penn State | 6-0 | 226 |
| 14 | 27 | RB | Jarquez Hunter | Auburn | 5-10 | 209 |
| 15 | 31 | RB | DJ Giddens | Kansas State | 6-1 | 212 |
| 16 | 6 | RB | Damien Martinez | Miami (FL) | 5-10 | 220 |
| 17 | RB | Jamal Hynes | Georgia Tech | 5-9 | 180 | |
| 18 | RB | Makhi Hughes | Tulane | 5-11 | 205 | |
| 19 | 1 | RB | Montrell Johnson | Florida | 5-11 | 213 |
| 20 | 27 | RB | Gavin Sawchuk | Oklahoma | 5-11 | 195 |
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Depending on which team dives into running backs first will determine the style of back that gets targeted first. If a team wants a dual-threat type back that’s bigger you could go either Ollie Gordon or Donovan Edwards as both could be that player. They’re both taller/bigger backs that can do a lot of what Jeanty does.
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out in the Ohio State backfield as Judkins and Henderson both could see a ton of reps this season. In week 1 Judkins received 6 more snaps than Henderson but they graded out very similarly if you look at PFF, and I would expect it to fluctuate from week to week based on matchups and hot hand during the game.
There are a couple of teams (OSU & PSU) with multiple backs in my top 20 and I’m interested in seeing if these teams lean on their backfield. Ohio State has plenty of talent in its wide receiver room, so how it shares the ball this season will be intriguing. Penn State, on the other hand, could lean on their two-headed monster at running back while Allar builds rapport with his wideouts.
Either way, the stats through week 1 show that Jeanty’s on the top of the leaderboards after racking up 267 yards rushing against Georgia Southern, and plenty of the other top backs on my boards got heavily involved with their offenses last week. It’ll be fun to watch and see if the workloads can increase and see who’s at the top after week 2.
Thanks for Stopping By!
I hope this has helped you prepare for week 2 of the college football season. If you want to talk all things football, hit me on Twitter. Or over on the Draft Countdown Discord! And check out the rest of my work here.
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