The State of SEC RB1's: Does Quintrevion Wisner have a claim to being the league's best?

How does the average Texas fan feel about the Longhorns’ RB room heading into 2025? More specifically, how confident are fans in Quintrevion Wisner as a potential No. 1 ball carrier for a second year?

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This idea divides opinions. While PFF claims Texas’ RB room is the third-best in the country, a quick look at posts on IT reveals anxiety about the RB room’s ceiling.

But after a 2024 season that featured over 1,000 yards on the ground, another 300 through the air, and star SEC running backs Dylan Sampson and Jarquez Hunter heading to the NFL, Wisner may just have a case to be the SEC’s returning RB1 heading into the 2025 season.

It’s never as cut and dry as taking the player with the most yardage from the season before and immediately picking them to be the RB1, but Wisner’s stats compared to his fellow returning starters paint a clear picture of where he stands in the SEC.

Texas is one of eight SEC teams returning a starting running back from last season, with the other half either elevating a backup RB or using the transfer portal to fill the position. Here’s how Wisner’s 2024 season compares to those seven other starters expected to return to the same role in 2025.

Some nuance must be considered with these runners. Jadan Baugh and Nate Frazier are a pair of rising sophomore RBs who started as backups but led their teams in snaps and yardage after injuries expanded their roles in the final seven games. On the other hand, Texas A&M’s Le’Veon Moss battled injuries throughout the year but was the true No. 1 in his healthiest seven games.

At a quick glance, it’s easy to tier where these players land. Sedrick Alexander (Vanderbilt), Davon Booth (Mississippi State), and Jam Miller (Alabama) have unspectacular numbers and are likely middle-of-the-pack RBs, though the nature of their offenses should be taken into account.

Wisner joins a group that features players like Frazier, Baugh, Moss, and LSU’s Caden Durham, a fantastic pass catcher out of the backfield who was a true freshman last season. This forms the baseline for next year’s top conference runners. Keep in mind, Baugh, Frazier, and Durham are all rising sophomores.

Narrowing some spots down, Auburn’s and Arkansas’s top rushers are both backups expecting expanded roles, but putting them in the same tier as the players mentioned above would be foolhardy. Ole Miss’ Logan Diggs sat last season with an injury, and he didn’t do much with LSU the season before. Where the real shakeup comes is in the transfers, who make up the starters for Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Ahmad Hardy and Jadyn Ott are the players to watch here. Hardy was one of the nation’s best RBs in 2024, even at ULM. He ranked top-15 nationally in yards, yards after contact per attempt, and PFF grade (minimum 100 attempts). He and Ott were two of the four transfer RBs ranked in the top 50 of On3’s rankings, with Ott’s 2024 numbers not fully telling the story. A season earlier, Ott eclipsed 1,300 rushing yards on over five per attempt for Cal, leading to high draft expectations heading into the 2024 season. An ankle injury sidelined Ott in big games, as he only eclipsed 15 attempts in a game once.

Wisner is one of seven RBs you can reasonably argue as the top dog heading into the year. Baugh and Frazier probably won’t receive much recognition before the season starts, but the two sharing top spots on the SEC yardage standings wouldn’t surprise anyone by year’s end.

Wisner’s case against the likes of Durham, Moss, Hardy, and Ott is simple: no RB has more production against SEC teams than Wisner. His 185 attempts, 787 yards, and 34 receptions against SEC opponents outpaced Moss and Durham last season. Wisner also faced Georgia twice and a stout A&M defense on the road.

If IT had to predict preseason All-SEC teams, Wisner would likely land on the second team. Moss is probably the best pure runner returning next season, and a fully healthy year could yield gaudy rushing numbers. Ott and Hardy are intriguing for their potential to explode in the SEC after past seasons at lower-level schools, but their limited sample size against top competition will hurt their odds. Hardy himself managed just 30 rushing yards against Texas last season.

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Wisner’s ceiling as a runner is hampered by his lack of elusiveness and breakaway speed, but the floor he sets in this Texas RB room is vital. He’s the SEC’s best pass blocker and receiving back next year (possibly outside of Durham), and a conditioning jump leading into his junior year will help him continue to carry the bulk of Texas’s workload. The best part is, Texas has three competent backs behind him to handle different matchups and wear and tear. While pessimism is understandable after a year like 2024, confidence in Wisner should be at an all-time high heading into 2025.