2022 Top 50 Running Backs of College Fantasy Football
Many college football teams have spring practice underway (spring game and practice dates link) and we’re launching our first edition of 2022 college fantasy football rankings!
The focus zeroes in on the best college football running backs for fantasy football in 2022. This is yet another position that is loaded with transfer portal movement – and some that are still somewhere in that portal without their destination.
We’ve got some known commodities at the top – which will likely result in the 1st and 2nd draft picks in many college fantasy football drafts (also shown in our mock drafts). Bijan Robinson (Texas) and Treveyon Henderson (Ohio State) are the majority consensus #1 and #2.
Stock Up
Kendall Milton – The former 5-star running back took the RB3 role in the beginning of last season before ending the season with and injury that should fully heal going into spring practice. UGA is looking to replace 1,584 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns and they’ve got a stable including Kenny McIntosh, ready to run the ball.
Tye Edwards – Over the last two seasons, Sincere McCormick has been a fantasy star with back-to-back 1400+ yard seasons rushing and added 28 touchdowns (15 last season). Edwards transfers in as a JUCO and has already received high praise from the coaching staff.
Devon Achane – 2021’s lead RB Spiller is off to the NFL vacating 1200 yards and 7 touchdowns. Achane is a game breaker, showcasing elite speed and pass-catching ability – is likely to become a household name after his 900 yard, 9 touchdown performance as a backup. The fantasy concern is the potential of LJ Johnson earning the bulk of the goal line carries.
Stock Down
Sean Tucker – Make no mistake about this stock down evaluation, Sean Tucker is a baller. On the surface level, Tucker should be one of the hottest running backs in college football. However, the new offensive coordinator Robert Anae has not allowed the touches necessary for a RB to produce in his system dating back to BYU and most recently at Virginia. Hopefully we’re wrong here.
Ulysses Bentley IV – Bentley IV hopped into the transfer portal and it landed him at Ole Miss. The once breakout star will backup Zach Evans which severely downgrades his potential in fantasy football, dropping him out of our top 50.
Tiers, Draft Strategy, and Expectations
Deciding when to draft the right running back for the right value is different in every draft.
Let’s take a look at the tiers of RB performance from 2021 as an example, using groups of 12 based on fantasy points per game.
- Tier 1 RB – 25.4 fppg
- Tier 2 RB – 20.1 fppg
- Tier 3 RB – 17.4 fppg
- Tier 4 RB – 16.4 fppg
The top 12 running backs averaged 25.4 fppg last year. Drafting a running back in this tier earned you 5 fppg against someone in your league starting a tier 2 running back!
Conversely, the difference between a tier 5 running back and a tier 10 running back was only 4 fppg. Whoa! So there’s a load of players averaging a very similar amount of points.
It’s all about value in the draft. So how do we determine value? We evaluate the “fantasy points per game earned” as the main metric for determining fantasy value within your draft.
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2022 Top 50 Running Backs of College Fantasy Football
Rank | Position | Pos Rank | Player | Team | Class | 2021 FPTS | 2021 FPPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | RB | RB1 | Treveyon Henderson | Ohio St | So | 317.2 | 24.4 |
2 | RB | RB2 | Bijan Robinson | Texas | Jr | 257.2 | 25.72 |
3 | RB | RB3 | Deuce Vaughn | Kansas State | Jr | 370.3 | 28.48 |
4 | RB | RB4 | Lew Nichols III | Central Michigan | So | 360.7 | 27.75 |
5 | RB | RB5 | Rasheen Ali | Marshall | So | 364 | 28 |
6 | RB | RB6 | Braelon Allen | Wisconsin | So | 221.7 | 18.48 |
7 | RB | RB7 | Blake Corum | Michigan | Jr | 213.5 | 17.79 |
8 | RB | RB8 | Zach Charbonnet | UCLA | Sr | 237.4 | 19.78 |
9 | RB | RB9 | Tavion Thomas | Utah | Jr | 254.5 | 19.58 |
10 | RB | RB10 | Tank Bigsby | Auburn | Jr | 198.8 | 15.29 |
11 | RB | RB11 | Zach Evans | Ole Miss | Jr | 128.8 | 21.47 |
12 | RB | RB12 | Keaton Mitchell | East Carolina | So | 246.9 | 20.57 |
13 | RB | RB13 | Jahmyr Gibbs | Alabama | So | 209.5 | 17.46 |
14 | RB | RB14 | Mohamed Ibrahim | Minnesota | Sr | 29.3 | 29.3 |
15 | RB | RB15 | Alton McCaskill | Houston | So | 250.2 | 17.87 |
16 | RB | RB16 | Devon Achane | Texas A&M | Jr | 213.2 | 17.77 |
17 | RB | RB17 | Will Shipley | Clemson | So | 171.6 | 17.16 |
18 | RB | RB18 | Dewayne Mcbride | UAB | Jr | 232.2 | 17.86 |
19 | RB | RB19 | Travis Dye | USC | Sr | 302.3 | 21.59 |
20 | RB | RB20 | Jaylan Knighton | Miami | So | 175.1 | 19.46 |
21 | RB | RB21 | Chris Rodriguez Jr. | Kentucky | Sr | 217.3 | 16.72 |
22 | RB | RB22 | Sean Tucker | Syracuse | So | 303.3 | 25.28 |
23 | RB | RB23 | Jo'Quavious Marks | Mississippi State | Jr | 187.3 | 14.41 |
24 | RB | RB24 | Sean Tyler | Western Michigan | Jr | 232.8 | 17.91 |
25 | RB | RB25 | Jaren Mangham | USF | Sr | 166.6 | 13.88 |
26 | RB | RB26 | Eric Gray | Oklahoma | Sr | 99.2 | 7.63 |
27 | RB | RB27 | Xazavian Valladay | Arizona St | Sr | 174.1 | 13.39 |
28 | RB | RB28 | Braydon Bennett | CCU | So | 183.6 | 14.12 |
29 | RB | RB29 | Jarek Broussard | Michigan State | Jr | 92.7 | 8.43 |
30 | RB | RB30 | Jordan Mims | Fresno State | Sr | 183.9 | 14.15 |
31 | RB | RB31 | Chris Smith | Louisiana | Jr | 173.8 | 13.37 |
32 | RB | RB32 | Isaiah Bowser | UCF | Sr | 138.4 | 17.3 |
33 | RB | RB33 | Camerun Peoples | App | Sr | 191.5 | 15.96 |
34 | RB | RB34 | Kendall Milton | UGA | Jr | 30.9 | 3.43 |
35 | RB | RB35 | Byron Cardwell | Oreg | So | 69.6 | 4.97 |
36 | RB | RB36 | Dylan McDuffie | Buff | Sr | 201.7 | 16.81 |
37 | RB | RB37 | Tye Edwards | UTSA | Jr | #N/A | #N/A |
38 | RB | RB38 | Kendre Miller | TCU | Jr | 151.2 | 15.12 |
39 | RB | RB39 | Jirehl Brock | IASt | Jr | 41.2 | 3.17 |
40 | RB | RB40 | Jabari Small | Tenn | Jr | 149.4 | 13.58 |
41 | RB | RB41 | Chase Brown | Ill | Jr | 164.7 | 16.47 |
42 | RB | RB42 | Harrison Waylee | NIU | So | 92.6 | 18.52 |
43 | RB | RB43 | Tyjae Spears | Tul | So | 174.4 | 14.53 |
44 | RB | RB44 | Ellis Merriweather | UMass | Sr | 187.6 | 15.63 |
45 | RB | RB45 | Jevyon Ducker | Mem | So | 142.4 | 10.95 |
46 | RB | RB46 | Israel Abanikanda | Pitt | Sr | 162.2 | 12.48 |
47 | RB | RB47 | Donovan Edwards | Michigan | So | 103.5 | 8.62 |
48 | RB | RB48 | Blake Watson | OD | Jr | 173.2 | 15.75 |
49 | RB | RB49 | Frank Gore Jr. | SMiss | So | 180.4 | 15.03 |
50 | RB | RB50 | Titus Swen | Wyo | Jr | 140.4 | 10.8 |
Rank | Position | Pos Rank | Player | Team | Class | 2021 FPTS | 2021 FPPG |