FSU football: Does Florida State have a top 10 running back unit?

The FSU football offense prided itself on running the football during the 2022 season, where they averaged 214.1 rushing yards per game (13th in the FBS).

The Seminoles return redshirt junior Trey Benson (990 yards), redshirt junior Lawrance Toafili (457 yards), redshirt junior Caziah Holmes (who was not eligible to play in 2022), redshirt sophomore CJ Campbell Jr. (64 yards), and redshirt freshman Rodney Hill (144 yards).

They also added talented four-star prospect Sam Singleton Jr., who will enroll during the summer.

However, Florida State did lose ultra-productive redshirt junior Treshaun Ward (628 yards), who transferred to Kansas State.

Even with the loss of Ward, On3’s National College Football columnist Jesse Simonton still ranked the Seminoles’ running back position unit as the No. 8 ranked unit in all of college football. The list included Michigan, Alabama, Penn State, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida State, Oregon, and Auburn (in that respective order).

It became abundantly clear that Florida State head football coach Mike Norvell knows how to get the most out of the running backs on his roster, even looking back during his coaching tenure with the Memphis Tigers. During his seven-year head coaching career, Norvell has had three 1,000-yard rushers.

Here are some notable rushing season totals from his time at Memphis and Florida State:

-Doroland Dorceus: 810 yards (2016)

-Darrell Henderson Jr: 1,154 yards (2017)

-Patrick Taylor: 1,122 yards (2018)

-Darrell Henderson Jr: 1,909 yards (2018)

-Kenneth Gainwell: 1,459 yards (2019)

-Jashaun Corbin: 887 yards (2021)

-Trey Benson: 990 yards (2022)

The running back room as a whole will be utilized at an efficient rate, given their preference of establishing the run to open up passing opportunities for do-it-all quarterback Jordan Travis. The position unit had four running backs obtain at least 100 rushing yards last season.

FSU football running backs coach David Johnson coins the term “On fries” when discussing his position group because they all have a “next man up” mentality and want to see each other succeed. However, the discussion of the position group has centered around redshirt junior Trey Benson, who is looking to become the first Seminole running back to eclipse 1,000+ rushing yards in a season since Cam Akers (2019).