The Michigan Wolverines' football program should have an outstanding running back stable in 2020, with sophomore Zach Charbonnet, redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins, fifth-year senior Chris Evans, freshman Blake Corum and redshirt sophomore Christian Turner expected to serve as the headliners of the group.
With the amount of talent, proven production and depth the unit possesses, is it set to be the best group of running backs in the Big Ten?
TheWolverine's Austin Fox and Clayton Sayfie provide their takes below:
Austin Fox — Sell
Michigan's group of running backs this season should be the best head coach Jim Harbaugh has had during his time at U-M, not only due to the talent the group possesses at the top with Charbonnet and Haskins, but also the depth and experience it has.
Evans is expected to be third-string (at best), and yet has 1,722 career rushing yards and 16 touchdowns under his belt. The group doesn't necessarily have an elite back (yet), but makes up for it with depth.
Ohio State has been 'Running Back U' in the Big Ten in recent years, and it's fair to expect that to continue in 2020, despite the early loss of J.K. Dobbins to the NFL. The Buckeyes appeared set to drop down a notch or two on the league's running back totem pole this past winter, but then saw former Oklahoma running back Trey Sermon (2,023 yards during his three years in Norman) transfer in as a senior.
The addition of Sermon should once again give OSU the best group of running backs in the league, with redshirt sophomore Master Teague (789 yards in 2019) leading the way as well.
A lot of fans would probably give Penn State's unit the nod as the Big Ten's best, with redshirt junior Journey Brown (890 yards last season) and sophomores Noah Cain (443 yards) and Devyn Ford (294 yards) all capable of carrying the load.
We'll slot Michigan's unit third in the league behind Ohio State's and Penn State's, though the Big Ten's top three running back stables are all comparable and could be flip-flopped by season's end.
U-M's gets the nod over three other notably talented running back groups, however, in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Charbonnet has to prove he can stay healthy before we move Michigan's unit up the list, while Evans' effectiveness is another legitimate question mark surrounding the position.
There is bound to be rust following his year away from football, but if he can return to his freshman form of 2016 when he ran for 614 yards and averaged seven yards per carry, it would raise the group's ceiling as a whole tremendously.
Clayton Sayfie — Sell
Michigan’s running back room is in good hands. Position coach Jay Harbaugh has a deep and talented room that has a mix of experienced, proven players and youthful underclassmen who have a bright future.
But it’s not the best stable in the Big Ten for one main reason — the Wolverines still have yet to prove they possess an elite ball carrier, one that will eventually be drafted in the NFL. The last time a Maize and Blue running back was selected by an NFL club was Mike Hart back in 2008 — an amazing, but telling, fact.
That’s not to say Zach Charbonnet, Hassan Haskins, Chris Evans, Blake Corum or Christian Turner won’t one day walk across the stage to shake Roger Goodell’s hand (or whatever the formality will be in a post-COVID world). In fact, we’d say it’s more than likely that at least one of those names are called by the commissioner on a draft night. The point is: we just haven’t seen that type of skill on full display just yet, and we have seen that elite potential out of several other backs in the Big Ten, which makes the difference when looking at the best bunch of backs in the league.
Penn State is set to have the top group of rock-toters in 2020, with arguably the conference’s best player at the position, Journey Brown, leading the way, followed by a more than capable backup in Noah Cain (who would start on many other teams in the Big Ten).
Ohio State is next, and could’ve topped this list if it weren’t for the achilles injury Master Teague is tasked with returning from. The Buckeyes added Oklahoma transfer Trey Sermon, who amassed over 2,000 yards rushing and scored 25 touchdowns during his three seasons in Norman.
Though there’s multiple teams that have more proven ball carriers (Minnesota with Mohamed Ibrahim, Indiana with Stevie Scott III and possibly more), the Wolverines’ depth helps them win out in the end, making Jay Harbaugh’s stable the third best in the conference with a chance to improve on that mark as the season (hopefully) progresses.
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