Ole Miss RB Room Ranked No. 6 in the Country by PFF

Pro Football Focus ranked Ole Miss' running back unit outside the top 5 in the country.

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss Rebels arguably have the No. 1 returning running back in college football entering the 2023 season in Quinshon Judkins, but some outlets do not believe the Rebels even have a top 5 backfield.

On Friday, Pro Football Focus released its rankings for the 10 best running back units in college football and Ole Miss came in at No. 6, despite returning the No. 1 tailback in the Southeastern Conference.

The Michigan Wolverines took the No. 1 spot with talented running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards taking the bulk of the snaps in Ann Arbor this fall, and their bitter rivals, the Ohio State Buckeyes, took second place. The Big Ten has the top three running back rooms with the Penn State Nittany Lions taking third place. 

The SEC is represented by the Georgia Bulldogs (No. 4), Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 5), Ole Miss (No. 6),  and Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 7). The Oregon Ducks (No. 8), Florida State Seminoles (No. 9), and Wisconsin Badgers (No. 10) round out the rest of the top 10.

Here is PFF's explanation for ranking Ole Miss' running back unit as No. 6 in the country.

OLE MISS REBELS

While [Nicholas] Singleton (Penn State) and [Kaytron] Allen (Penn State) were stars, neither of them was the best true freshman running back last season. That title belongs to Quinshon Judkins, who’s my No. 2 returning back in college football. The former three-star recruit was a true workhorse for the Rebels, ranking in the top 10 in the FBS in rushing yards, yards after contact and forced missed tackles. Judkins also recorded 91 combined rushing first downs and touchdowns, the fourth most in the country.

Behind him is Ulysses Bentley IV, whose wrist injury limited him to just six games this past season. The year before at SMU, the redshirt senior’s 90.6 rushing grade was 11th among FBS running backs with at least 275 snaps. The Rebels also added Kedrick Reescano to the mix, one of the top-10 running back recruits in the 2023 class.

Both Alabama and Georgia are projected to have better units than Ole Miss this fall even though neither program had a running back finish top 5 in the SEC in rushing last year. Jahmyr Gibbs led Alabama with 926 rushing yards last fall and he was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 2023 NFL Draft. Georgia's No. 1 rusher from 2022, Daijun Edwards, only rushed for 769 yards.

Those numbers are chump change compared to the production Judkins churned out for the Rebels as a true freshman last fall. The Pike Road, Ala., native led the SEC in rushing attempts (274), rushing yards (1,567), and rushing touchdowns (16) in 2022 and is the unquestioned bell cow for Lane Kiffin's offense entering 2023.

While the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year will take the bulk of the snaps, returning tailback Ulysses Bentley IV will be back this season to give Judkins a rest once in a while. Bentley only appeared in six games last fall due to injury, but showed promise with the SMU Mustangs from 2019-21 before he elected to transfer to Ole Miss.

True freshman Kedrick Reescano will also be in the mix for the Rebels this fall. The former four-star was rated as the No. 7 running back in the 2023 cycle and the No. 23 recruit in the state of Texas, according to On3 rankings. 

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You can follow Ben King on Twitter at @BKing_2023.

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