Suddenly, running backs are cool again. This offseason, Jeremiyah Love went No. 3 overall in the NFL Draft, and Bijan Robinson, Jonathan Taylor, and Jahmyr Gibbs signed massive extensions. In college football, spending on the position is even more justifiable if you think you have a difference-maker.
Even so, it’s starting to look like Florida State got a bit overzealous with its major offseason acquisition: picking up former Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner out of the portal.
Head coach Mike Norvell and general manager John Garrett added the veteran to a room that already had Ousmane Kromah and Samuel Singleton Jr. coming back, and with both returners looking strong in fall camp as Wisner is sidelined by an injury, there may be too many mouths to feed in Tallahassee.
Quintrevion Wisner missed FSU’s second-straight fall camp scrimmage
Wisner did not miss spring with FSU and did not enter fall camp banged up, but he’s been held out of both scrimmages so far with “something minor,” as offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr. described it last week. On Sunday night, when Norvell revealed that Wisner was once again sidelined, he seemed to hint that the senior might be back soon.
#FSU RB Tre Wisner missed his second straight scrimmage.
— Dustin Lewis (@DustinLewisNG) August 10, 2026
Mike Norvell is hoping to have him back soon. #Noles
Wisner should be largely up to speed on the offense. He’s a reliable player with very few holes in his game. He can fill in as a third-down back with good hands in the passing game and a lot of compete as a pass-blocker, or if he’s given early-down work, he’s going to consistently make the right reads, get what’s blocked for, and maybe a little bit more.
That’s a useful player. The type of player who can paper over any remaining flaws in Kromah’s game as he looks to have a breakout sophomore season. But what happens if the buzz out of camp that Kromah has taken the next step is real?
He has the size to be a workhorse back, so there shouldn’t be much worry about him wearing down over the season, and new running backs coach Kam Martin has said he’s going to ride the hot hand. That’s something FSU fans would love to see, and if Kromah is as good as advertised in Year 2, it’s hard to imagine him cooling off.
A player like Wisner is useful because he can fill any role. But you know the flipside of being a jack of all trades. Wisner doesn’t have a speciality, and that could leave him on the sideline more often than not.
Samuel Singleton Jr. will be tough to keep off the field
Kromah’s breakout hasn’t been the only development during Wisner’s absence. It has also given Samuel Singleton Jr. the opportunity to shine, and it seems he did on Sunday night. Norvell told reporters that he “had a big run,” which shouldn’t be a surprise for a player who averaged 7.1 yards per carry last season and generated 54% of his total 360 rushing yards for the season on seven carries of 15+ yards (per PFF).
That type of explosiveness isn’t something you want to leave on the sidelines, especially in an offense that will see Kromah getting a significant workload and likely have quarterback Ashton Daniels rushing the ball anywhere from 5-15 times a game.
Norvell has a history of making it work with a multi-back system. He did it to great effect as the head coach of Memphis, relying heavily on 21-personnel. However, in that 2018 season when Darrell Henderson Jr. rushed for 1,909 yards, Patrick Taylor Jr. went for 1,122, and Tony Pollard added 552, quarterback Brady White finished with -43 rushing yards.
White was not a runner like Daniels needs to be to maximize his skill set. That’s another complicating factor. Even if FSU wants to run it 50 times a game, which is service academy numbers, there may not be more than 10 attempts for Wisner.
He can be productive in a limited workload, but that would beg the question: Could the money he was paid have been better spent elsewhere? Right now, that answer looks like yes, but everything can change once he gets back onto the field.
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