The college football transfer portal has revolutionized the sport, allowing teams to rebuild or retool rosters at the most critical positions. Ahead of spring practices, we take a look at some of the top running back transfers that could make an instant impact on their new teams in the 2023 season.
Running Back Transfers To Have the Most Impact in 2023
Brian Battie, Auburn
With Tank Bigsby heading to the NFL draft, Auburn dipped into the portal to snag one of the top running back transfers of this cycle. Although they return Jarquez Hunter, who averaged 6.4 yards per carry last season, former USF running back Brian Battie adds another dimension to Hugh Freeze’s team as a potential instant impact maker.
Battie came into his own as a rusher during the 2022 college football season. Averaging 6.7 yards per carry, he paced the Bulls with 1,186 rushing yards. He’s a cutback connoisseur who embarrasses would-be tacklers with his change-of-direction ability and speed. His special-teams value as a returner adds further value as one of the top running back transfers.
Jaylan Knighton, SMU
It’s easy to think of SMU as a pass-heavy offense, with Tanner Mordecai averaging eight yards per attempt and throwing for 33 touchdowns last season. However, in the first year under Rhett Lashlee, the Mustangs averaged 37.8 rushing attempts per game. The opportunity is there for a running back to have an explosive season, and that back should be Jaylan Knighton.
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With Lashlee as offensive coordinator in 2021, Knighton led the Miami Hurricanes with 561 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Demonstrating multi-use value, he tacked on 280 receiving yards and three scores. He’s fast, with a recorded 21.8 mph in-game speed, physical, and thrives in space as a dangerous weapon and one of the top running back transfers.
Aidan Robbins, BYU
Although they lose some pieces to the NFL draft and the transfer portal, the BYU Cougars offensive line is a running back’s dream. Last year, they allowed the ground game to average 5.25 yards per carry, ranking 16th in the nation. The landing spot alone allows for running back transfers to make an immediate impact, especially when they’re as talented as Aidan Robbins.
The former Louisville rusher led UNLV to their most successful season since 2017, notching over 1,000 yards while adding nine touchdowns in his first year as a starter. The 6’3″, 230-pound back is a physical force, a true man amongst boys, who barrels through tackles for fun while having the speed and vision to rip off chunk plays.
Mario Anderson Jr., South Carolina
South Carolina appointed Arkansas tight end coach — and former NFL offensive coordinator — Dowell Loggains to be the Gamecocks’ OC under Shane Beamer this season. His ability to engineer consecutive 1,000-rushing-yard campaigns for Jordan Howard with the Chicago Bears should make South Carolina an instant impact spot for the top running back transfers.
Newberry running back Mario Anderson Jr. might not be a household name right now, but it shouldn’t take long for him to become a standout in the SEC. The 5’9″, 210-pound rusher had 35 touchdowns and 3,301 in three seasons with the Wolves. Anderson has excellent speed for a physical back and is equally adept at churning between the tackles and breaking big runs outside.
Carson Steele, UCLA
Carson Steele has turned a brilliant season with Ball State into a berth on the UCLA Bruins as one of the top running back transfers in this cycle. Steele pounded the rock 289 times for the Cardinals last fall, averaging 5.4 yards per carry on his way to 1,556 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. The 6’1″, 215-pound RB has rushed for 2,447 yards and 22 total TDs in two years.
Steele fills the hole left in the UCLA roster by the departure of Zach Charbonnet to the NFL. Furthermore, with a change of scene under center, the Bruins may need to rely on their ground game more. Steele is a machine who breaks tackles for fun — only Bijan Robinson had more broken tackles in 2022 — and led the nation in yards after contact during his breakout year.
Sean Dollars, Nevada
A former four-star recruit in the 2019 class, Sean Dollars’ career never really took off at Oregon. In four years, he has just 49 carries and is coming off the most productive season of his college career with 188 yards. While the numbers are hardly indicative of an instant impact maker, he has averaged 6.4 yards per carry across his time in Eugene.
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Dollars is in line to be the lead back for the Nevada Wolf Pack in the 2023 college football season. They lose leading rusher Toa Taua, who was the bell cow with 217 carries, 911 yards, and 11 touchdowns last fall. While he boasts exciting speed, Dollars has proven he can do the dirty work between the tackles at the goal line.
Ray Davis, Kentucky
In both seasons where he’s been the bell-cow back — 2019 in Temple and last year with Vanderbilt — Re’Mahn “Ray” Davis has proven he can be a devastating and productive rusher. Last fall, he tallied 1,211 scrimmage yards as a touchdown-scoring threat in both the passing and running game. He switches to Kentucky, where he projects to be one of the top running back transfers.
The Kentucky offense has allowed Christopher Rodriguez Jr. to thrive, and Davis can pick up exactly where the NFL-bound RB left off. His quick feet, vision, and patience as a rusher should allow him to shine behind an offensive line that has also made use of the transfer portal to upgrade what was viewed as a weakness for the Wildcats during the 2022 campaign.
Harrison Waylee, Wyoming
The Wyoming Cowboys offense rides through the ground game, and they’re replacing a 1,000+ yard rusher in Titus Swen. Swen himself has replaced Xazavian Valladay’s 1,000+ yard production from the previous season. The next man up in the Cowboys’ offense should be Harrison Waylee, one of the top running back transfers for 2023.
Waylee didn’t break 1,000 yards in the Northern Illinois offense, but his 5.2 yard-per-carry career average suggests he can with elevated touches in Wyoming. The 5’10”, 180-pound back has the vision to hit a hole, is elusive in the open field, and with a verified 20.8 mph speed, is capable of leaving defenders trailing in his dust once he gets around the outside.
Blake Watson, Memphis
Memphis hasn’t had a 1,000-yard rusher under Ryan Silverfield. Kenneth Gainwell was the last running back to surpass that mark in 2019. As a result, the Tigers don’t instantly jump out as an immediate impact spot for the top running back transfers from the college football portal.
MORE: College Football Transfer Portal Tracker
However, they haven’t had a running back of Blake Watson’s talent until now. As a multi-use weapon at Old Dominion in 2022, Watson tallied 1,232 scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns. His combination of contact balance, speed, and impressive lower-body strength make him a tough player to take down. Watson also has special-teams experience.
Sean Tyler, Minnesota
You don’t simply replace a program legend like Mohamed Ibrahim. However, Minnesota has to a least try to for this coming season with the record-setting running back headed for the NFL. The Gophers’ solution was to dip into the portal, emerging with one of the top running back transfers available in the shape of former Western Michigan rusher Sean Tyler.
Tyler has tallied consecutive 1,000-yard seasons for the Broncos, averaging 5.7 yards per carry over his career with 26 total touchdowns. The 5’8″, 185-pound RB is a jittery back who can make a man miss with subtle direction changes and exciting elusiveness. He has the long speed to simply escape but also plays with patience behind the line to maximize opportunities.
