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FSU Football: Key numbers for Cam Akers to reach 2,000 rushing yards

By Kelvin Hunt

WINSTON SALEM, NC - SEPTEMBER 30: Cam Akers #3 of the Florida State Seminoles runs with the ball against the defense of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during their game at BB&T Field on September 30, 2017 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
WINSTON SALEM, NC - SEPTEMBER 30: Cam Akers #3 of the Florida State Seminoles runs with the ball against the defense of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during their game at BB&T Field on September 30, 2017 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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FSU football should have an explosive rushing attack with Willie Taggart’s Gulf Coast offense in 2018.

All eyes seem to be on FSU football and how they’ll bounce back from their worst season in a decade in 2018.

A great deal of it will depend on how the team adapts to Willie Taggart’s offense with sophomore running back Cam Akers is expected to be the straw that stirs the drink.

Akers set the FSU freshman rushing record with 1,025 yards in 2017. He averaged 5.3 ypc on 194 rushes over 13 games.

What’s one of his main goals besides winning a national championship in 2018? He wants to rush for 2,000 yards. However, is that goal possible to obtain?

How He Gets There

Florida State Seminoles Football
Florida State Seminoles Football /

Florida State Seminoles Football

Let’s start with what will likely be the number of carries he’ll get in 2018. Coach Taggart ran the ball 628 times at Oregon in 2017 with Royce Freeman getting 39 percent of the carries(244)carries.

Akers ran for 194 carries last season with Jacques Patrick receiving 132 carries as the No. 2 running back.

Redshirt freshman Khalan Labron and Amir Rasul also will factor into the rotation along with another 100 or so carries by the quarterback.

Because of the talent in the backfield it’s possible FSU will run the ball 650 times in 2018. If we give Akers 40 percent of the carries that’s similar to what Freeman received in 2017 at Oregon.

Forty percent of 650 would be 260 carries and Akers would need to average 7.7 ypc to get to 2,000 rushing yards. He averaged 5.3 ypc carry in 2017 as a true freshman but felt like he left a lot of yards on the field.

It’s true as he didn’t exemplify enough patience to wait for holes to open up or blockers to engage all the time. That’s something Dalvin Cook struggled with early on at FSU as well.

However, Cook saw a huge increase in production from year one to year two.

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Royce Freeman averaged 6.05 ypc carry last season and Akers is a better running back with the ability to break longer runs.  A 2.4 ypc increase is asking a lot, but it’ll be fun to watch Akers shoot for this goal.

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