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Sean Tucker Left Off Analyst's List of Top 10 Running Backs in College Football

The Syracuse football star was somehow not considered a top 10 back by one analyst.
Mike McAllister|
Sean Tucker Left Off Analyst's List of Top 10 Running Backs in College Football
Sean Tucker Left Off Analyst's List of Top 10 Running Backs in College Football

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Sean Tucker is unquestionably one of the best running backs in college football. He has been named to four Preseason All-American teams after being one of the most productive backs in the country during the 2021 campaign. Despite that, PFF Lead College Analyst Anthony Treash did not include Tucker in his top 10 running backs entering the 2022 season. 

The tweet put out by PFF included the following running backs in order from one to 10: Deuce Vaughn (Kansas State), Bijan Robinson (Texas), Blake Corum (Michigan), TreVeyon Henderson (Ohio State), Zach Evans (Ole Miss), Devon Achane (Texas A&M), Braelon Allen (Wisconsin), Jahmyr Gibbs (Alabama), Zach Charbonnet (UCLA) and Tank Bigsby (Auburn). 

Total yards does not necessary reflect a stellar season in comparison to others. The type of offense, an offensive line, work load, etc are all factors in how productive and efficient a running back is overall. However, Tucker was first in the ACC and seventh in the nation (minimum 150 attempts) in yards after contact per attempt (4.11). In fact, Tucker ran for over 1,000 yards after contact in 2021. The only other ACC running backs to do that since 2014? Travis Etienne (Clemson), AJ Dillon (Boston College) and Dalvin Cook (Florida State), all currently in the NFL. 

To be fair, Treash did put Tucker at #11 on his list of top 25 running backs. However, being outside of the top 10 is one of the more pessimistic views of Tucker you will find. It is not new that Tucker is left of Treash's top 10 backs, either. In January, he listed the top returning backs in college football and did not include Tucker there either. His explanation for that, provided in a direct message on Twitter, was as follows. 

"This group of returning running backs is probably the best PFF College has seen in a given year," Treash said. "With exception to Kenneth Walker, all of the top performing players at the position last year are returning. So this isn’t PFF saying 'Tucker isn’t that good' rather 'Tucker is a good running back but is in a loaded group returning.' Other positions are a lot weaker than RB. These returning player rankings should be viewed as 'you need to pick one player at X position to go help you win a game this week, who are you picking and in what order.' Tucker put up unreal volume numbers this past year and exceeded expectations, but those 10 edged him out in a lot of our metrics for their career and have higher ceilings — Tucker’s value generated according to PFF Wins Above Average wasn’t nearly as high as many would expect."

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Mike McAllister
MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting.  EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans.  After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years.  Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports.  Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College. 

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