Alabama football has no interest in relinquishing the title of RBU.
No one churns out running backs quite like Alabama football.
That’s the conclusion drawn by ESPN’s latest round of Position U rankings for 2020.
Alabama was RBU in 2019. And they’re RBU in 2020.
The title really shouldn’t be in question, though ESPN notes how Wisconsin is “a fraction of a point away” from the Tide. One can only imagine that’s because of the methodology.
Alabama football has produced running backs successful in college and the pros.
The scope for the project is limited to the BCS era and forward, beginning in 1998. They used data from Pro Football Reference and all-conference and All-America awards to tally point totals.
What about Heisman Trophies? Because Alabama has a couple of those too.
The Tide’s last Heisman winner was Derrick Henry in 2015, but the lack of recent winners is more about positions than quality. Alabama’s Henry and Mark Ingram Jr. in 2009 are the only non-quarterback Heisman winners going back to 2006. (To be fair, Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne sneaks into the Position U span as the 1999 Heisman winner).
Alabama has produced All-American running backs on top of Henry and Ingram. Trent Richardson was an All-American in 2011 while Shaun Alexander earned that distinction in 1999.
Even backs who didn’t reach the top of the college football honors system carved out strong careers. Essentially, they’ve also gone on to produce at the pro level. Those include Le’Ron McClain, Eddie Lacey, T.J. Yeldon, Kenyan Drake and Josh Jacobs.
Add it all up and Alabama rises to the top when it comes to producing running backs.
Even if Wisconsin, LSU and Georgia are coming up from the rear, the Tide should have enough to keep ahead with so many backs currently in the NFL. Drake, Jacobs, Henry, Ingram and Yeldon are still active along with Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris.
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