The Big 12 Is Quietly Stacked at Running Back

I’m quite bullish on the Big 12’s quarterbacks entering the 2026 season, but that’s perhaps led me to overlook the league’s talented stable of running backs.

Caleb Hawkins’ name has grown to be widely known in Stillwater, but the league’s talent at the position doesn’t stop there.

As August draws ever closer, here’s a look at what I like about the league’s rushers.

The Big 3

This is obviously subject to change when live bullets start flying (and in OSU’s case, hopefully Bullet starts running), but there seems to be an early delineation among Big 12 backs: Hawkins, LJ Martin (BYU) and Cam Cook (West Virginia).

Hawkins and Cook were each named Walter Camp Preseason All-Americans, while Martin was named the Big 12’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. And those preseason accolades have merit.

Hawkins led the nation in touchdowns as a true freshman with 29 and finished fifth nationally in rushing yards (1,434). Cook led the nation in rushing while at Jacksonville State, toting the rock 295 times for 1,659 yards and 16 scores. Meanwhile, Martin led the Big 12 with 1,305 rushing yards, good for 11th nationally, en route to being named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year.

And it isn’t just traditional stats that standout.

A good offensive line is paramount to a successful ground attack, but that trio is good at creating its own breaks, as they all finished in the Top 7 nationally in yards after contact, per PFF.

And they all ranked in the Top 15 nationally in missed tackles forced:

And they accounted for three of the Top 4 in terms of first downs rushed for:

So, they’re hard to tackle and good at moving the chains? This feels like a really good top tier of backs.

K-State’s Rushing Attack Looks Lethal

Although the Wildcats maybe don’t have a guy in that upper echelon of Big 12 backs, the Wildcats have two dang good ones.

Joe Jackson joined the Kansas State contingent at Big 12 Media Days after he ran for 911 yards and eight touchdowns last season. He’s the league’s third-leading returning rusher behind Martin and Texas Tech’s Cameron Dickey.

On top of that, K-State added Rodney Fields, who finished ninth in the Big 12 in rushing last season as a redshirt freshman. Fields was probably the biggest heartache OSU fans suffered when the portal opened after he ran for 614 yards and a touchdown on an otherwise woeful offense last season.

That tandem combined with Avery Johnson’s ability to run (1,378 rushing yards across the past three seasons) give new coach Collin Klein multiple options to attack foes on the ground.

The Sunflower State Switcharoo

Speaking of the state of Kansas: A transfer I haven’t seen many discuss outside of the Sunflower State is Dylan Edwards’ move from Kansas State to Kansas.

Edwards left K-State after four games last season before entering the transfer portal and turning his Wildcat purple into Jayhawk blue. Because he didn’t do a ton last season, the move has mostly flown under the radar.

But before last year, Edwards turned in a good season in Manhattan, running for 546 yards and five touchdowns on just 74 carries (7.4 yards per carry) in 2024. He also returned a punt for a touchdown that season.

That year led Edwards to being on the Doak Walker and Maxwell watch lists entering last season before his four-game exit.

Edwards also started six games as a freshman at Colorado in 2023.

How Teams Reloaded from Notable Losses

The league did, though, lose some of its better rushers from last season to the transfer portal.

After finishing second in the Big 12 in rushing last season, Raleek Brown moved from Arizona State to Texas. Iowa State had two guys rush for more than 700 yards last season in Carson Hansen and Abu Sama. Hansen followed Matt Campbell to Penn State, while Sama also moved to the Big Ten to Wisconsin. Then after running for 1,816 yards and 18 touchdowns across the past two seasons at Baylor, Bryson Washington jumped to Auburn.

So, how did each of those situations reload?

Arizona State: The Sun Devils appear to be promoting from within, as Kenny Dillingham brought Kyson Brown with him to Big 12 Media Days earlier this month.

Brown has spent all three of his college seasons to this point at Arizona State, running for 563 yards and two touchdowns in that time. An ankle injury saw him miss most of last season.

He’ll likely be complimented by Delaware State transfer Marquis Gillis, a 210-pound back who ran for 1,182 yards (13th in FCS) and nine touchdowns in 2025.

Iowa State: The Cyclones were hard done by the fact that Penn State took forever to hire Campbell, meaning the roster could (and did, for the most part) leave when Campbell got the job.

Jimmy Rogers brought redshirt sophomore Aiden Flora to Big 12 Media Days. Flora played sparingly at Iowa State as a redshirt freshman last season but showed promise, running for 58 yards and a touchdown on only four carries and returning a punt for a touchdown.

There’s also Cameron Pettaway, who was the MAC Freshman of the Year while at Bowling Green last season after running for 365 yards and 72 carries. He’s a weapon in more ways than one, as he returned a kick for a touchdown last season and also had eight catches for 139 yards (17.4 yards per catch) and two touchdowns.

Baylor: Despite losing Washington to the portal, Dave Aranda stood pat at running back this offseason, and you could see his reasoning as to why.

Dawson Pendergrass returns after missing last season because of a preseason injury. OSU fans will remember Pendergrass as the guy the Cowboys could not tackle in that 2024 game in Waco. Pendergrass turned six carries into 142 yards (23.7 yards per carry) and a touchdown that day.

Caden Knighten also returns after being the Bears’ second-leading rusher last season. He ran 104 times for 469 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and a touchdown while adding another 134 yards in receptions.