The BYU Football Rushing Leaders of the Last 10 Seasons

The players that have led the Cougars in rusing in the Kalani Sitake era

BYU RB LJ Martin against East Carolina | BYU Photo

Kalani Sitake has been BYU's head coach for the last 10 seasons. In those 10 seasons, there have been highs and lows. While it may be oversimplified, one trend stood out as we looked back at the last 10 seasons: in good years, BYU has a really good lead back that gets the lion's share of the carries. In down years, BYU relies on a by-committee approach.

In this article, we'll go over the last 10 years of BYU's leading rushers.

2025: LJ Martin

Yards: 1,305 | Carries: 236 | Touchdowns: 12

Martin went from good to great in 2025. Opposing defenses knew that Martin was going to get the ball 20 times per game, but there was very little they could do to stop him.

Martin won the Offensive Big 12 Player of the Year award. Despite playing with an injured should during the back half of the season, Martin carried BYU to the Big 12 championship game with a road win at Cincinnati.

Martin was excellent - it remains to be seen if he has another gear to reach in 2026.d

2024: LJ Martin

Yards: 718 | Carries: 137 | Touchdowns: 7

Martin missed a large chunk of the 2024 season due to injury. Still, he finished the season with a team-high 718 rushing yards. Martin was named the MVP of the Alamo Bowl - a performance that turned out to be a sneak peek of his junior campaign in 2025.

2023: LJ Martin

Yards: 518 | Carries: 109 | Touchdowns: 4

In BYU's season opener against Sam Houston in 2023, the offense scored on its first possession of the season. Then, BYU came to a grinding halt, going scoreless the rest of the first half and a chunk of the second half.

BYU was looking for a spark, and that's when true freshman LJ Martin got the first carries of his BYU career. BYU leaned on Martin on an 11-play drive in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 14. Martin had a team-high 91 yards on 16 carries. Martin made an immediate impact at BYU.

Despite missing multiple games due to injury, Martin led the Cougars in rushing ahead of veterans Aidan Robbins and Deion Smith.

2022: Chris Brooks

Nov 26, 2022; Stanford, California, USA; Brigham Young Cougars running back Christopher Brooks (2) runs the ball against the Stanford Cardinal during the first half at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images | John Hefti-Imagn Images

Yards: 817 | Carries: 130 | Touchdowns: 6

Chris Brooks was only at BYU for one year, but he made an impact after a slow start. He finished the season with over 800 yards, including 164 yards in the regular season finale against Stanford. Then Stanford commit LJ Martin was watching that game, and BYU's dominance on the ground made Martin consider the Cougars. Martin flipped to BYU and became the leading rusher the following season.

2021: Tyler Allgeier

Nov 27, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; BYU Cougars running back Tyler Allgeier (25) scores a touchdown against the Southern California Trojans in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Yards: 1,606 | Carries: 276 | Touchdowns: 23

Tyler Allgeier broke the single-season rushing record in 2021. Allgeier was phenomal throughout the season and carried the Cougars to multiple wins. He had two games of 200+ yards. Against Utah State, he ran for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 22 carries. In that game, BYU quarterback Baylor Romney left the game with an injury and freshman Jacob Conover struggled. Allgeier put the offense on his back and helped BYU improve to 5-0.

Against Virginia, Allgeier ran for 266 yards in Bronco Mendenhall's return to Provo. Allgeier was a major part of BYU's 66-point outburst.

2020: Tyler Allgeier

Yards: 1,130 | Carries: 150 | Touchdowns: 13

Tyler Allgeier played linebacker in 2019. He moved to running back in 2020 and had a breakout season, including a breakout performance in the season opener against Navy. Allgeier ran for 132 yards on 14 carries against the Midshipmen.

He finished the 2020 campaign with a 173-yard outing against UCF in the Boca Raton Bowl.

2019: Sione Finau

Yards: 359 | Carries: 59 | Touchdowns: 2

BYU's offense was stunted by its lack of a consistent rushing attack. After Ty'Son Williams suffered an ACL injury, the Cougars struggled to run the ball consistently. Sione Finau led the team in rushing with only 359 yards.

2018: Lopini Katoa

Sep 1, 2018; Tucson, AZ, USA; Brigham Young Cougars running back Lopini Katoa (4) runs the ball under pressure from Arizona Wildcats defensive end Lee Anderson III (51) during the second half at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-Imagn Images | Casey Sapio-Imagn Images

Yards: 423 | Carries: 76 | Touchdowns: 8

As a redshirt freshman Lopini Katoa led the Cougars in rushing in 2018, narrowly edging out Squally Canada. Katoa became a fixture in BYU's running back rotation through 2021.

2017: Squally Canada

Yards: 710 | Carries: 120 | Touchdowns: 6

2017 was a low point for the Kalani Sitake era. That year, the Cougars went 4-9. It took a few years for the BYU offense to recover from the 2017 rock bottom. In 2017, Washington State transfer Squally Canada led the Cougars in rushing.

2016: Jamaal Williams

Dec 21, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Brigham Young Cougars running back Jamaal Williams (21) scores on a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Wyoming Cowboys during the 2016 Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Yards: 1,375 | Carries: 234 | Touchdowns: 12

Jamaal Williams became BYU's all-time leading rusher in 2016. Williams led a BYU offense that heavily relied on the rushing attack. BYU was 9-4 this season, but every lose came by one possession. The 2016 season was very close to being a special season, if not for a few narrow losses.

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