Cal Football: Christopher Brown Jr. Among 10 Pac-12 Backs on Doak Walker List

Brown rushed for 914 yards as a sophomore last fall, despite nagging injuries

Photo by Troy Wayrynen, USA Today

Ten of the 76 running backs on the early-season watch list for the Doak Walker Award hail from the Pac-12 Conference, so Christopher Brown Jr.’s inclusion hardly represents a select membership.

But Brown brings credentials to his candidacy that exceed those of many of his conference brethren.

As a sophomore last season, Brown opened the schedule by rushing for 197 yards vs. UC Davis. Slowed during stretches of the season by injury, Brown was healthy down the stretch and got revved up again. He totaled 111 yards in a win over UCLA and 120 in the Redbox Bowl victory over Illinois.

Brown wound up with 914 yards in 2019 and caught 22 passes for 166 more yards. He totaled 12 touchdowns.

Presuming he’s healthy, Brown should flourish this fall behind a more veteran offensive line and with an established quarterback in Chase Garbers.

But achieving every running back’s goal of reaching 1,000 yards may depend on what the schedule winds up looking like. The Pac-12 already has canceled non-conference games, and if the conference schedule stays with just nine games reaching 1,000 yards will be more challenging.

The two biggest names on the Doak Walker watch list are Clemson senior Travis Etienne and Oklahoma State junior Chuba Hubbard.

Etienne rushed for 1,614 yards and 19 touchdowns last season and has impressive career totals of 4,038 rushing yards and 62 total TDs. Hubbard ran for 2,094 yards and 21 scores last season. It's easy to imagine one of them winning the 2020 award.

Here are the stats the other nine Pac-12 backs on the Doak Walker list bring to the 2020 campaign:

— CJ Verdell, Oregon: The most accomplished of the Pac-12 running backs, Verdell rushed for 1,220 yards and eight TDs last season and enters his junior season with 2,238 career yards and 20 total TDs. Among his eight career games of at least 100 yards was a 257-yard outing vs. Washington State last season and a 208-yard performance against Utah's usually stingy defense. With quarterback Justin Herbert gone to the NFL, Verdell will be a focal point of the Ducks' offense.

— Max Borghi, Washington State: The versatile junior ran for 817 yards and 11 touchdowns and caught 86 passes for 597 yards and five more scores last season. He had seven games with at least eight pass receptions in 2019, but also four 100-yard rushing efforts. In two seasons, Borghi has 1,183 rushing yards along with 139 catches for 971 yards and 28 total TDs. It will be interesting to see how Borghi is utilized in new WSU coach Nick Rolovich's system.

— Jermar Jefferson, Oregon State: Slowed by an early-season ankle injury last season, Jefferson still ran for 685 yards and reached the end zone 10 times. As a freshman in 2018, he had 1,380 rushing yards and 12 TDs, and turned heads with a 254-yard performance against Arizona State and a pair of four-touchdown games. Jefferson already 12th on OSU's career rushing list with 2,065 yards. 

— Alex Fontenot, Colorado: He rushed for 874 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore last fall and had three games of 100 yards or more.

— Vavae Malepeai, USC: By rushing for 503 yards last season (despite missing five games with a knee injury), Malepeai pushed his career totals to 1,265 yards with 15 touchdowns.

— Richard Newton, Washington.: Rushed for 498 yards and totaled 11 touchdowns as a freshman last fall, but managed just 219 of those yards and averaged 3.3 yards per attempt vs. Pac-12 opponents.

— Stephen Carr, USC: Carr rushed for 396 yards and five TDs last season while sitting out three games at mid-season due to a hamstring injury.  A former first-team high school All-American, Carr has yet to crack 400 yards in any of his first three years at USC.

— Gary Brightwell, Arizona: Rushed for 390 yards and five TDs last season after going for 525 yards in 2018. He has three career games of at least 100 rushing yards.

— Demetric Felton, UCLA: Felton rushed for 111 yards against Oregon State last season, but totaled just 24 yards on 27 carries over the final six games, an average of 32 inches per attempt.

.

*** SI's Ross Dellenger reports on the various scheduling models that were discussed at this week's Southeastern Conference meeting:

.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.