After rushing for 1,158 yards for Ole Miss in 2023, had the opportunity to become the seventh player in SEC history to have three 1,000-yard rushing seasons in 2024.
Instead, the former Pike Road High School standout transferred to Ohio State without joining the ranks of Herschel Walker, Kevin Faulk, Darren McFadden, Alex Collins, Nick Chubb, and Benny Snell Jr., leaving the SEC with no returning 1,000-yard rusher this season – at least theoretically. The conference’s remaining four 1,000-yard rushers for 2023 are currently on NFL rosters.
Raheim Sanders rushed for 1,426 yards for Arkansas in 2022. However, after an injury-plagued season that resulted in only 209 yards on the ground for the Razorbacks in 2023, Sanders has switched teams in the SEC and will play for South Carolina in 2024.
Just like Ohio State acquired a 1,000-yard rusher for the 2024 season, SEC teams recruited ball carriers who rushed for 1,000 yards for non-SEC programs in 2023.
Last season, Oklahoma running back Sam Franklin rushed for 1,386 yards and 11 touchdowns on 223 attempts for UT Martin.
Marcus Carroll, a Missouri running back, amassed 1,350 yards and 13 touchdowns in 274 rushing attempts for Georgia State previous season.
Rashad Amos, an Ole Miss running back, recorded 1,075 yards and 13 touchdowns on 210 rushing attempts for Miami (Ohio) past season.
In 2023, the SEC’s other 1,000-yard rushers included Missouri’s Cody Schrader (1,627 yards), LSU’s Jayden Daniels (1,134 yards), Kentucky’s Ray Davis (1,129 yards), and Tennessee’s Jaylen Wright (1,013).
Wright ended Tennessee’s seven-season streak without a 1,000-yard rusher, leaving Florida with the longest active streak without one. In 2015, Kelvin Taylor became the Gators’ most recent 1,000-yard runner.
Auburn has the conference’s longest streak of a 1,000-yard rusher, which lasted nine seasons from 2009 to 2017.
From 2012 to 2019, the SEC has at least seven 1,000-yard rushers per season, with a record 11 in 2016.
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the SEC limited its teams to ten regular-season games in 2020, and just three league players rushed for 1,000 yards that season.
There were six in 2021, four in 2022, and five in 2023.
For the first 37 seasons of SEC football, clubs were limited to 10 regular-season games, and bowl statistics did not count toward the season total. During those 37 years, the SEC had seven seasons with 1,000 yards rushing.
Starting in 1970, teams could schedule 11 regular-season games. The SEC had 71 1,000-yard rushing performances over the course of 32 seasons with an 11-game schedule.
In addition to adopting the 12-game regular season in 2002, the NCAA agreed to include bowl numbers in season totals beginning that year, making it easier to record a 1,000-yard rushing season.
SEC players have rushed for 1,000 yards in 137 games over the past 22 seasons.
The SEC’s most recent season without a 1,000-yard rusher was 1974. Sonny Collins of Kentucky led the Southeastern Conference with 970 running yards in nine games in 1974. In total, 166 SEC players have had 218 1,000-yard seasons.
