The chase for the FBS rushing crown is tightening, but after four weeks one name still sits well above the pack: Duke sophomore Nate Sheppard.
Sheppard has been unstoppable through the first month, piling up 644 rushing yards at 161.0 per game with 6 rushing touchdowns and 3 receiving touchdowns for the 4-0 Blue Devils. Even in Week 4, when Duke cruised past William & Mary 62-7, he barely had to break a sweat and still turned 9 carries into 116 yards and a score. That was his lowest rushing total of the season only because the Blue Devils never needed more from him.
His early-season run has been matched by big numbers from across the country, including a cluster of backs now sitting at 125 rushing yards per game or better. Jadan Baugh is right in the middle of that surge.
The Florida star has strung together five straight 100-yard rushing games dating back to last season, a streak matched at Florida only by Emmitt Smith and Fred Taylor. This year, Baugh has gone for at least 136 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns in all four games, including 142 yards and 3 scores on 29 carries in Florida’s 52-28 win over then-No.
4 Ole Miss. He has helped push the Gators to a 4-0 start and No. 8 in the country in coach Jon Sumrall’s first season.
Wayne Knight has also been a revelation in his move from James Madison to UCLA. The Bruins’ 4-0 start has been fueled by Knight’s 445 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns on a career-best 9.1 yards per carry.
In his first two Big Ten games, he ran for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 23 receiving yards, in a 52-38 win over Purdue, then added 100 rushing yards and a touchdown on just 10 carries while also catching 3 passes for 35 yards in a 54-3 win over Maryland. Knight had starred for Bob Chesney at James Madison last season, finishing with 1,373 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns during the Dukes’ CFP breakthrough.
Another transfer making a clean jump is Oklahoma State’s Caleb Hawkins. After rushing for 1,434 yards and 25 touchdowns as a true freshman at North Texas, Hawkins has kept rolling with 441 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns through four games for the No.
19 Cowboys. His biggest outing came in his true Big 12 debut, when he carried 31 times for 180 yards and a touchdown in Oklahoma State’s 41-24 road win at previously unbeaten West Virginia.
The Cowboys are 3-1 under first-year coach Eric Morris, who also came from North Texas, and their season already includes the Week 2 upset of Oregon.
West Virginia has its own transfer success story in Diore Hubbard. After leading all FBS players with 127.62 rushing yards per game and 1,659 yards last season at Jacksonville State, Hubbard has brought that production with him to Morgantown. Through four games, he has 510 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 5.2 yards per carry for the 3-1 Mountaineers.
Rutgers star Antwan Raymond is also living up to the billing after a slow opener. He managed only 42 yards on 14 carries against Massachusetts, but since then he has posted 134 rushing yards against Boston College, 122 yards and a touchdown against USC, and 140 yards and 3 touchdowns against Howard. Raymond has 438 rushing yards and is tracking right along with his breakout 2025 season, when he ran for 1,241 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Scarlet Knights.
Memphis sophomore Jaylin Carter remains in the mix too, even with his pace easing a bit. Carter had a season-low 62 yards on 12 carries, along with a receiving touchdown, in a 45-21 win over Tennessee-Martin in Week 4. He still has 437 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns on 7.95 yards per carry.
BYU’s LJ Martin is hanging around the top 10 as well after a Week 4 bye. He sits at 328 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 7.8 yards per carry, good for 109.33 rushing yards per game, and heads into a road game at TCU this week.
Torrance Burgess Jr. has been one of the season’s biggest surprises. The fifth-year senior had never really put together a run like this before, with his best work coming in 2023 at UTEP when he rushed for 620 yards.
He had 367 yards in 2024 in his first year at Texas State and was limited to four games last fall before an injury ended his season. Now he has 537 rushing yards on 8.5 yards per carry through four games.
After a quiet 34-yard opening game against Texas, Burgess has put together 149 yards against UTSA, 214 against North Texas and 140 yards and a touchdown on just 9 carries against Incarnate Word.
And then there is Riley, who has gone from a 1,125-yard, 10-touchdown season at Boise State to 592 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on a career-best 6.6 yards per carry through four games this fall. He has topped 138 rushing yards in each of his last three games, and that steady surge has pushed him up this leaderboard in a hurry.
In Other News...
WVUs Tennessee Game Carries A Charlotte Edge Fans Know Well
West Virginias 2028 trip to Charlotte just moved up a week, with the Mountaineers and Tennessee now set to meet on Aug. 26 as part of the Dukes Mayo Classic. The change from the original Sept. 2 date follows the broader shift in the college football calendar beginning next season, and it keeps one of the more notable neutral-site matchups on the books at a venue that has become familiar territory for the program.
Charlotte carries a bit of extra meaning for West Virginia, too, and athletic director Wren Baker pointed to the citys value as a neutral site for the Mountaineers. For fans, it is the kind of schedule tweak that does not change the opponent or the stage, but does sharpen the anticipation around a game already carrying plenty of early-season intrigue. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Faces A Bigger Problem Than Just Bouncing Back
West Virginia and Iowa State both enter Saturday in Ames carrying the sting of recent home losses, which gives this matchup a little more edge than a typical Big 12 meeting. Rich Rodriguez has already had to sort through what went wrong for the Mountaineers, while Jimmy Rogers is doing the same on the other sideline, with both coaches acknowledging the challenges that come with getting a team reset in a hurry.
The ground game could end up shaping the tone, with Cam Cook giving West Virginia a dangerous option and Aiden Flora bringing the same kind of punch for the Cyclones. If Iowa State is going to put its recent disappointment behind it, it will have to do so against a West Virginia group that knows it can make life difficult in a hurry, and that makes the response in Ames feel like more than just a routine bounce-back spot. [Read more 🡒]
Zac Alley Sees One Urgent Fix For WVUs Defensive Collapse
West Virginias defensive problems were front and center after the loss to Oklahoma State, and Zac Alley did not try to dress them up. The defensive coordinator said the unit has work to do in both preparation and execution, a blunt assessment for a group that has spent too much time chasing plays instead of setting the tone. His message pointed less to one bad quarter than to a larger issue with how the defense is being put in position to succeed.
Alley said the fix starts with cleaner technique, a simpler scheme and more rotation so players can keep their legs under them as the season moves forward. He also touched on individual development, noting that some guys are still being evaluated on readiness for the next stretch of games. For West Virginia, the challenge now is turning that self-scouting into something tangible before the defensive slide becomes a bigger problem. [Read more 🡒]