5 Treasure Coast Florida running backs to watch in 2024

The Treasure Coast has rich history of sending great running backs to the NFL; here are the leaders of the next wave

Bill Kemp | Jul 24, 2024

Sebastian River's Buddha James runs to the end zone to score during the second quarter against South Fork on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023 in Stuart. The Sharks won 15-7. / BRYAN COONEY/TCPALM / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Treasure Coast area has produced several running backs that eventually reached the NFL including Cleveland Gary (Los Angeles Rams), Jim Gary (Seattle Seahawks), Lonnie Pryor (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), James Stewart (Minnesota Vikings). Randy Walker (St. Louis Cardinals), Robert Weathers (New England Patriots) and Iverson Williams (Detroit Lions).

Several Treasure Coast running backs rolled up multiple 100-yard games this past season. Here is a list of the top returning running backs from the area.

Buddha James, Sebastian River, Senior: He rushed for 850 yards and eight touchdowns this past season. He exploded on a 65-yard TD run and rolled up four 100-yard games.He also caught eight passes for 82 yards with one touchdown.

Jonathan Hillsman, Vero Beach, Senior: He rolled up 563 yards on 73 carries with three touchdowns this past season. His longest run was 82 yards and racked up two 100-yard games. He also collected up 548 yards receiving with eight touchdowns.

Dominic Lucci, Martin County, Senior: He rushed for 560 yards with seven touchdowns and three 100-yard games. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

Omar Mejia, South Fork, Senior: He rushed for 651 yards on 112 carries with 12 touchdowns this past season. His longest run was 60 yards and he posted four 100-yard games. He averaged 5.8 yards per carry. He also caught 12 passes for 145 yards and one touchdown.

Jordan Tolbert, Port St. Lucie, Junior: He rushed for 247 yards and two touchdowns on 65 carries. His longest run was 30 yards and he averaged 30.9 yards per game.

Published Jul 24, 2024

BILL KEMP

Bill Kemp is an award-winning sports journalist at the state and national levels. Over the course of 25 years, he’s covered more than 4,000 sporting events including the NFL regular season, playoffs and Super Bowls, Major League Baseball regular season and spring training, NASCAR racing at Daytona and Talladega International Speedways and major college football regular seasons and bowl games. He was named by the Associated Press Sports Editors as a Top 10 sports columnist and Top 3 by the Alabama Press Association for best sports column and sports page design. He has served as preps editor at the Lakeland Ledger as well as sports editor at five different newspapers in Florida and Alabama. He has been published in dozens of newspapers including USA Today, the Miami Herald, the Orlando Sentinel, the Jacksonville Times Union and the Tampa Bay Times. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Florida. He has been writing for SBLive Sports since 2022.